hackajob: Why We Invested

Volition Capital Leads $25M Series B in hackajob

While the biggest technology companies are currently performing mass layoffs, the demand for technical talent remains at a record high across the broader economy. This is largely driven by companies in historically non-tech industries like retail, financial services, and healthcare investing in massive digital transformations. The demand for technical talent isn’t slowing down; the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the number of software developer jobs to increase five times faster than the average job over the next decade.

Although demand for these professionals has increased dramatically, the platforms used to recruit software developers have not kept pace. For companies that have historically not hired software developers, the pain point around effectively sourcing and screening technical talent has been even more pronounced.

Enter hackajob

We are excited to announce our investment in hackajob, a two-sided marketplace that enables technical talent looking for their next job to connect with enterprises with technical hiring needs.

hackajob flips the recruiting experience on its head, putting candidates in the driver’s seat. The process starts with candidates filling out a brief, free survey that includes job preferences such as salary expectations, location, etc. Employers are then only able to contact candidates with job opportunities that match the candidate’s preferences, creating a more personalized experience for candidates than other generic, high-volume job marketplace platforms. Due to this pre-vetting process, candidates on hackajob’s platform respond to 80% of employer requests and conduct interviews with 70% of those requested – both significantly higher than industry standards. All of this leads to better candidate experiences and faster times to hire; the average job posting on hackajob takes just 17 days to close.

hackajob also offers employers a suite of solutions on top of its marketplace that helps with other aspects of technical hiring, such as coding tests, employer branding, and talent insights. Over the past several years, hackajob has established itself as a leader in its home UK market and after seeing strong initial traction in the US, decided to bring on Volition as a partner to help them further penetrate the US market.

Why Volition Invested

There are several reasons why we are excited to be hackajob’s lead investor for their $25 million Series B.

We believe there is a fundamental issue when it comes to the hiring process for technical talent across a wide range of industries. Pursuing this opportunity at a contrarian time of market uncertainty provides hackajob with a unique opportunity to tap into a large, talented pool of US developer candidates who are more open to working at stable, historically non-tech companies. 

Our diligence process gave us an appreciation for the delightful experience hackajob’s matching platform gives to both candidates and recruiting leaders. Candidates love not only the number of quality job opportunities available, but also the efficiency in which the hackajob platform connects them with jobs that match their preferences. On the other side of the marketplace, recruiting leaders at hackajob’s enterprise customers love the large, quality pool of candidates with uniquely high response rates, saving their HR teams meaningful time and money.

Finally, and most importantly, we are true believers in the team leading hackajob. Mark Chaffey, founder and CEO, started the company in college and has spent his entire professional career scaling this platform and serving his customers. Mark has the ambition to match the size of the market opportunity in front of him. He has hired an impressive management team who shares his passion for building a differentiated job platform for technical talent that puts developers first.

We could not be more excited to partner with the hackajob team and look forward to the journey ahead.

-Sean and Jake