Our first real employer recruiting event went off without a hitch. We directly pitched 20 employers and have 30 requests for follow up info. We also have a list of 50 more employers that we didn't have an opportunity to pitch, but will call up in the next couple of weeks. We will be doing it all over again in about 10 more days and should be even more successful given our experience.
Additionally, we gained so much insight into how hard it is for recruiters to get great entry-level talent. We will be implementing several features based on what we heard from employers.
Finally, our pitch at the Upstart Competition is on 9 May. I feel extremely confident that we are going to have one of the top pitches of the day.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Civi-Side's Second Week Done
We have just finished our second week of life and everything is going as planned. We are now heading out to Vancouver for a week to meet with receptive employers. We expect from this trip to sign up an additional 50-75 new employers.
On the development side we are still iterating according to your requests. We are planning to bring in additional ways to differentiate Class A, B, and C service as requested. We are also bringing in a very exciting new feature in June that will exponentially increase the utility of the service for you.
Finally, over the next couple of days we are bringing in a "refer a friend" button to make it easier to share civiside with fellow reservists.
If you have any feedback feel free to share...we are listening.
On the development side we are still iterating according to your requests. We are planning to bring in additional ways to differentiate Class A, B, and C service as requested. We are also bringing in a very exciting new feature in June that will exponentially increase the utility of the service for you.
Finally, over the next couple of days we are bringing in a "refer a friend" button to make it easier to share civiside with fellow reservists.
If you have any feedback feel free to share...we are listening.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Civi-Side's First Week
The first week of life for civiside.com is just about done. A promising number of people have signed up to take advantage of the features we offer to help military people communicate how they are the best job candidates for prospective employers.
On the development side, we continue to iterate new features as quickly as we can. We are moving up by several months the release of an outstanding feature that we know that users will love. Expect to be blown away by how it increases the utility of civiside.
On the business side, we are continuing to build our employer base. Turns out that there is a tremendous latent desire for military people. Our simple promise that "military people will show up to work on time, work with those they are assigned, and get the job done", has struck a chord with employers.
With all that we are doing, we still can't do it all alone. We encourage you to let other reservists know that the service exists and how it can benefit them. The more reservists that sign up the more employers will want to post jobs, so do yourself a favour and let others know.
If you have feedback for us you can leave it here, or better yet, leave it on civiside.com by clicking on the feedback button on any of the webpages.
On the development side, we continue to iterate new features as quickly as we can. We are moving up by several months the release of an outstanding feature that we know that users will love. Expect to be blown away by how it increases the utility of civiside.
On the business side, we are continuing to build our employer base. Turns out that there is a tremendous latent desire for military people. Our simple promise that "military people will show up to work on time, work with those they are assigned, and get the job done", has struck a chord with employers.
With all that we are doing, we still can't do it all alone. We encourage you to let other reservists know that the service exists and how it can benefit them. The more reservists that sign up the more employers will want to post jobs, so do yourself a favour and let others know.
If you have feedback for us you can leave it here, or better yet, leave it on civiside.com by clicking on the feedback button on any of the webpages.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Civi-Side.Com is Live!!!!
Civiside.com is live!!! Or at least it will be in a few hours. We are putting the final few touches on the Beta, and will be sending out the notification email to those that requested one.
This is a really exciting moment because this represents a tremendous turning point in the effectiveness of the Canadian Forces Reserve. Over time as more reservists take jobs with employers that give them time off in addition to vacation for training and deployments, the experience level of our organization will grow exponentially.
It's a personally exciting moment because I knew that there was a latent need for this service, and now I can see the momentum building among military people, as well as industry, to mutually benefit one another.
I feel very lucky that I have had the opportunity to bring the civiside.com service to this point, and I look forward to maximizing the benefits that both reservists and employers receive from their association together.
I want to thank Jamie Smith for sharing my vision. He isn't military, but he sure works like he is. I also want to thank Hon. Lt. Col. Kevin Reed for seeing the potential of this right from the start, and giving us the seed capital we needed to get this off the ground. A thank you wouldn't be complete without the business advisors that helped me think how to highlight for employers how reservists are better potential employees. Finally, I want to thank my C.O, Lt. Col. Jenny Newton, for encouraging me to pursue this opportunity. You couldn't ask for a better C.O.
This is the start of something beautiful!
This is a really exciting moment because this represents a tremendous turning point in the effectiveness of the Canadian Forces Reserve. Over time as more reservists take jobs with employers that give them time off in addition to vacation for training and deployments, the experience level of our organization will grow exponentially.
It's a personally exciting moment because I knew that there was a latent need for this service, and now I can see the momentum building among military people, as well as industry, to mutually benefit one another.
I feel very lucky that I have had the opportunity to bring the civiside.com service to this point, and I look forward to maximizing the benefits that both reservists and employers receive from their association together.
I want to thank Jamie Smith for sharing my vision. He isn't military, but he sure works like he is. I also want to thank Hon. Lt. Col. Kevin Reed for seeing the potential of this right from the start, and giving us the seed capital we needed to get this off the ground. A thank you wouldn't be complete without the business advisors that helped me think how to highlight for employers how reservists are better potential employees. Finally, I want to thank my C.O, Lt. Col. Jenny Newton, for encouraging me to pursue this opportunity. You couldn't ask for a better C.O.
This is the start of something beautiful!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Sketchy No More!!!
I want to thank Shadow for posting his comment about the sketchiness of our sign-up page. Shadow indicated that he had decided not to post his information on our temporary sign-up page b/c we failed to provide enough information to make him comfortable with disclosure. Now looking at it I can totally see why he would feel this way.
I was beginning to suspect that people were being scared off by the request for information. You see, I have been posting an ad on Facebook and getting a lot of clickthroughs, but only about 25% of them were signing up. It really goes to show that trust is as important a factor in attracting users on the net as it is in the real world.
Well the good news is that we are going live next week. Remember that it is just a beta, so you may find browser errors, little things undone still, etc. Have faith that we are working as fast as we can to create the best possible experience for you. I think that you will find that civi-side.com will be one of the most innovative and useful job sites to help you in your job search.
If you have more feedback when the site launches feel free to share.
Thanks again Shadow.
I was beginning to suspect that people were being scared off by the request for information. You see, I have been posting an ad on Facebook and getting a lot of clickthroughs, but only about 25% of them were signing up. It really goes to show that trust is as important a factor in attracting users on the net as it is in the real world.
Well the good news is that we are going live next week. Remember that it is just a beta, so you may find browser errors, little things undone still, etc. Have faith that we are working as fast as we can to create the best possible experience for you. I think that you will find that civi-side.com will be one of the most innovative and useful job sites to help you in your job search.
If you have more feedback when the site launches feel free to share.
Thanks again Shadow.
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