Many startups are active in the recruiting and HR world. One of them is Talentcube with a refreshingly different approach that saves both HR managers and applicants a lot of time: Using the Munich startup's mobile recruiting platform, applicants can easily apply via video on their smartphone.
In turn, companies gain an innovative application channel, the right access to the young target group of applicants, and a personal and comparable impression of all their applicants. This saves them half the interviews, time, and costs.
Sebastian Niewöhner, co-founder of Talentcube, gave us answers to our 7 questions.
1. Who are you and what do you do?
The three minds behind Talentcube are Hendrik Seiler (29), Sebastian Hust (28), and I (27). We all met a good eight years ago during our bachelor's studies together and are now supported by two excellent team members in online marketing and development.
What we do? We simplify the application process for applicants and companies. Instead of applying with a cover letter and resume, candidates can import their resume from existing networks using our app and simply answer three questions via video during the application process. The highlight: The three questions are previously unknown to the candidate.
Once the question appears, they have 30 seconds to prepare and then another 30 seconds to answer the question via video. Similar to a job interview. Once the application is uploaded, companies view the videos and all other documents via the Talentcube web portal.
The video shows how it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2oZMMNFiN0
2. But that's been around for a long time!
While there are a wide range of job portals that now also allow mobile job searches via apps, direct application is only possible with a few providers, and certainly not authentically via video.
At Talentcube, we don't operate as a job portal; instead, we focus entirely on mobile application processing. This means that thanks to us, companies can offer direct application via smartphone on any job portal and, thanks to the videos, get an authentic impression of the applicants right from the start. Candidates, in turn, can apply for any job or to any company using just one app.
3. What are the three main ingredients for your recipe for success?
- Listen to the customers!
From the very first minute, we were in very close contact with the companies and, above all, with the applicants in order to adapt Talentcube precisely to their needs and to further develop the platform in a targeted manner.
- Perseverance!
Since our founding, we've naturally experienced a few setbacks. While it's not always easy to bounce back, looking back, these setbacks have always brought us a huge step forward. After a bad week comes a good one! 😉
- The team!
Since we founders have known each other for eight years now, we can rely on each other very strongly. Even if one of us has a bad day, we keep moving forward and overcome every challenge.
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
We can't complain. In the last few months, we've gained more than 30 companies from a wide range of industries and sizes as clients. We now work with several well-known companies in the automotive and insurance sectors, as well as with medium-sized consulting firms and fast-growing startups.
We are now able to finance our (still) small team through ongoing revenue and continue to grow. However, the exact figures remain our secret.
5. What does Munich mean to you?
Since we all originally come from different parts of Germany – Berlin, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe – we had no personal connection to Munich at the beginning and were only here sporadically to attend events or trade fairs such as the Bits & Pretzels to participate.
Thanks to the LMU Entrepreneurship Centers In April of this year, we took the opportunity to move to Munich and benefit from the local startup scene. It was definitely the right decision, as Munich is not only a beautiful city but also offers us an ideal network.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
By establishing the video application via Talentcube as the new application standard and the term “cover letter” disappearing from the vocabulary of applicants and HR managers!
7. Fish on a stick or pork knuckle?
Although we have a vegan on the team, the pork knuckle 😉
