Where the Applicant and Employer Choose Each Other

MERITOCRACY IS A PLATFORM THAT HAS OPTIMIZED THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS AND ALLOWS APPLICANTS TO SEE THE COMPANY EVEN BEFORE THE FIRST INTERVIEW. AND IT WAS CREATED BY TWO BOCCONIANS

“Each employer has its own personality, its own color. And each applicant has their own personality, their own color. We want green employers to attract green applicants and red employers to attract red applicants.” This is the essence of Meritocracy, as described by its CEOs and founders, Riccardo Galli and Alberto Manassero, both graduates of the Discipline Economiche e Sociali (DES) program at Bocconi University. But let’s take a step back. Riccardo and Alberto are friends as well as classmates. After graduation, they completed their first internship and then things got complicated: “It was frustrating to know that our applications were getting scattered across the huge sea of CVs. That’s how Meritocracy was created. The idea was just being outlined, but over time it took on a more complete form,” says Riccardo.
 
Meritocracy is a platform that, on one hand, optimizes the recruitment process and selects applicants that best match the profile sought out by employers. On the other hand, it allows applicants to get to know the employer and its culture even before the first job interview, through a virtual tour made up of photos and video-interviews, allowing them to understand if it’s the right place for them. Applicants need to prove themselves, but so do employers, who need to introduce themselves as the ideal place to work. “The aim is promote talent and break down the barriers between employers and applicants. There is more than a simple description of the job, we provide applicants with elements for more in-depth analyses, which isn’t provided by other platforms,” explains Alberto. “Our project translates into a technology that analyzes the complete resume, not through empty keywords. The system learns from human resources managers: if a recruiter continues to choose people who don’t have the highest graduation mark, but who worked while at university, that becomes a selection criteria to adopt for that employer.” Applicants are thus not reduced to a mere list of grades and skills, but a set of experiences, aspirations, characteristics, potential, as well as ability.   
 
The startup was officially founded in 2013. Then, after lots of hard work, the first funding arrived in early 2014, which will allow the service to reach its objective: to become a European platform. “For now, in addition to Italy, we have expanded to the UK and we would like to concentrate on these markets. Then we’ll expand further in Europe,” says Riccardo.
 
“When we were still students, not long ago, we never would have imagined that we’d found a startup. But it was one of the many possibilities, because of our choice of university and program,” adds Alberto. “Bocconi, and in our case the DES program, didn’t direct us towards a pre-established career, but provided us with solid theoretical foundations to get a well-rounded approach to the world as well as the job market. And it was just this overview that allowed us to carry out our project.”

by Benedetta Ciotto
Translated by Jenna Walker