Leep Impact launches recruitment platform for “conscious jobseekers and forward-thinking employers”

Leep Impact’s employment matching platform is now taking on prospective employees and employers.

The launch of the service puts a premium on shared values and preferences around social and environmental impact, diversity, equity, inclusion, and company culture.

Previously only available as a pilot, the platform “harnesses values to match conscious jobseekers with forward-thinking employers committed to being responsible stewards in society”.

Currently participating in the Accelerate Cambridge programme, Leep Impact was co-founded in 2021 by COO Cassie McMaster and CEO Julie Michlal.

“We are thrilled to formally introduce our innovative values matching platform which brings a new dimension to talent acquisition,” said Julie. “Our vision is to revolutionise the hiring process by creating a platform rooted in the needs of today’s jobseeker that enables them to find organisations that meet their unique values and preferences quickly and easily.”

While Leep’s platform is currently focused on early career recruitment, Leep aims to expand into general recruitment in 2024 and has already amassed a candidate pool of high-quality, values-driven candidates.

“We currently have an average of 1,000 high-quality recent university graduates in our candidate pool each month and we expect this number to grow now that Leep’s platform is formally launched,” said Cassie.

With the formal launch of its innovative Employment Matching Platform, Leep Impact aims to transform the way organisations and candidates connect, promoting a values-driven approach to recruitment that will have a lasting impact.

Speaking to the Cambridge Independent, Cassie added: “We were in R&D last year building the platform. The pilot over the last six months has involved testing with 10 companies in Cambridge, Oxford and London.

“We’re sector-agnostic but the market tends to be start-ups in the technology space.”

Julie says: “Given our focus on values we attract mission or values-oriented companies, so that’s often in the tech sector, where it’s driven by socially-driven objectives – they’re from digital companies, start-ups, deeptech, AI and machine learning, to a bicycle company. The jobs tend to be in Cambridge, Oxford and London; they tend to be focused in that area so we’re onboarding job seekers in those locations and naturally those clients will be located in those areas, though not exclusively.”

Based at IdeaSpace on Laundress Lane, Leep Impact is differentiated by a values-driven match-making framework. How did that come about?

“Based on our own user testing, social and environmental impact and diversity inclusion is most of what people are looking for in an employer,” says Cassie. “The market is now in favour of the jobseekers, so companies need to be a lot more competitive, and one way to do that is improving their business practices and show it is a good place to work and that we care about your mental health, even if we have a profit motive.

“We’re saying these are things which we also prioritise and they should be held to a higher standard and we want to be able to bring whatever practices are required to the fore. We care about giving jobseekers what they’re looking for. We do value benefits.”

The application process starts with standard assessments in education, skill level, and the applicants’ preferred industry, plus three further criteria:

- Social/environmental impact: “We ask them what they want from their company, for instance working for a company with a philanthropic arm, or which engages with the community – or even a precise institution with a sustainable focus.”

- Diversity and inclusion: “What they offer in policy and inclusion, ie pay gap, breakdown of the board in terms of gender and race, maternity/paternity practices.”

- Company culture: eg how formal is the dress code, hierarchical structures, are there social gatherings, is there flexible working, maybe a cycle-to-work scheme – “everything that informs the prospective applicant about what the company believes in.”

“Recent graduates are core to the demographic,” adds Julie. “We care about growing our business in a way that’s sustainable, onboarding the core elements. The next stage is we will be going out there and we have had conversations with investors, just to see where things stand.”

More here.