Detroit’s Re:purpose Will Hit the Road in 2018 to Draw More Technology and Mobility Employees

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Re:purpose, a digital job recruitment platform in downtown Detroit, will hit the road next year in a bid to draw more technology and mobility workers to the Motor City. The company, which uses algorithms to match employees and their cultural preferences with employment opportunities from small and midsize firms, reports the top three cities it recruits from are Brooklyn, N.Y., San Francisco, and Chicago.

Launched in March, today re:purpose has 12,000 users on its platform, including job seekers, employers, and blog readers. “What we’re finding is that quite a number of people are moving to Detroit and following their passion, and the salary is secondary,” says Ryan Landau, founder and CEO of re:purpose, located at WeWork, a collaborative workspace in the central business district.

“Our road show will appeal to people who grew up in metro Detroit, including the Ann Arbor region, who are looking at an opportunity to return, or people genuinely looking to move here,” Landau says. “Candidates don’t have to fly here. We’ll take our platform to them, whether they’re looking for a job in technology, mobility, or with a startup.”

Next year, the company plans to expand to Grand Rapids, as well as the Midwest. In a recent blog post, Landau notes the Midwest is the fifth largest economy in the world, while California has the eighth largest economy globally. “In fact, Chris Olson from Drive Capital reports that in the next few years, the Midwest is slated to have more startups than Silicon Valley,” Landau writes.

In addition, next year the company will launch Office Hours, where people can give and get advice. More than 65 companies are using re:purpose, including Rocket Fiber, Quikly, Castle, Level Eleven, Benzinga, Health Rise Solutions, Farm Logs, Sift, StockX, Detroit Labs, and Nutshell.

The company generates revenue by charging a fee from a participating employer once they hire someone. “We offer a 90-day money back guarantee,” Landau says. “We get paid a placement fee, and down the road we’re looking at introducing a subscription plan. It’s free for the job candidates. We have dozens of companies on our platform who want to be connected with curated talent.”

Landau says both job candidates and participating businesses are curated to ensure the best possible connection. Candidates also can be matched with a talent agent to assist with negotiations, available housing, and other needs. In turn, the company periodically hosts the Detroit Startup Happy Hour with such sponsors as Detroit Venture Partners and SalesForce.

To get started, job candidates fill out an online talent application where they are asked, for example, to select the values from an employer that are most important to them, including execution, passion, efficiency, creativity, communication, resourcefulness, among others.

“People, especially young people, are looking to work for brands they believe in,” Landau says. “They are typically looking to work with established companies that have between 20 and 500 employees.”

More information can be found here.