It’s not just for hiring anymore: In February, Recruitmax rechristened itself Vurv (pronounced “verve”) Technology, explaining that it now offers performance and compensation management applications in addition to e-recruiting tools.
Recruiting management systems, however, have been its core business since it was founded 10 years ago. At clothing retailer Ann Taylor Stores, Vurv’s recruiting system has eliminated 100 hours per week assembling manual job reports by 30 corporate and field recruiters, says Christine Lourenco, senior manager of talent resources operations for the company.
“Even for simple things—like when two recruiters would make contact with a candidate—we had no history or tracking,” she says. Ann Taylor’s e-recruiting site, launched in October 2005, now receives 5,000 applications per month. Vurv was also able to automatically screen applicants against one of Ann Taylor’s background-checking databases that tracks reports of shoplifting, provided by US Investigations Services.
For Wynn Resorts, Vurv “came through 110%,” according to Arte Nathan, the company’s chief human resources officer. Wynn’s 2,700-room Las Vegas hotel had to hire about 10,000 employees in five months to meet its scheduled opening day in April 2005. Vurv worked with Nathan’s team to tailor its recruiting application for Wynn. “They over-delivered,” he says. For example, Vurv built a scheduling system to let applicants pick interview times when the appropriate managers were available. Nathan notes that since going live on Oct. 31, 2004, the system has had 22 minutes of total downtime.
And how about Vurv’s name change? “I don’t like those funky names,” Nathan says, “but whatever their name is—they’re good.” Vurv executives say the Recruitmax name outlived its usefulness. “Vurv does a better job of telling our story,” CEO Derek Mercer said in announcing the change.
Some customers believe the Vurvians have given themselves a huge marketing hill to climb. “I totally understand why they [changed names], but it’s going to boil down to a pretty significant investment to get that name recognition,” says Scott Johnson, Culligan International’s director of staffing and recruitment.
Johnson says the company is very “customer-centric”: “They actually care about their customers.” But, he adds, Vurv should form a client advisory board to solicit feedback “in a more formal way.” Vurv is listening, at least: The company says it has “researched” creating such a board.
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FINANCIALS
Revenue, 2004: $20M
Revenue, 2005: Undisclosed
Revenue growth: 108% three-year
compound annual growth rate
Total funding to date: $17.2M
Investors: QuestMark Partners,
Tudor Ventures, Montagu Newhall Associates
No. of total customers reported: 2,000
No. of enterprise customers: 300
KEY CUSTOMERS
Financial services: Aetna, HSBC, Lehman Brothers
Manufacturing: Archer Daniels Midland, Boeing,
Coca-Cola Enterprises, Whirlpool
Retail: L.L. Bean, Save-A-Lot Food Stores,
Wegmans Food Markets
Telecommunications: T-Mobile
Transportation: JetBlue Airways
MAIN OFFICES
Jacksonville, Fla. (headquarters); London; Sydney, Australia
