GrowingAbout three weeks ago, we quietly launched Talon.
Before the launch, I personally messaged 113 people who had previously reached out to me asking for help finding work.
I thought these would be our easiest first users.
They were already looking for jobs. Talon had jobs. It was free for applicants. It seemed pretty straightforward.
Out of the 113 people, only about seven signed up.
Maybe three actually used the platform.
Then came the funny part.
Some of the people who didn't sign up later messaged me again asking if I knew of any jobs. 😅
That really got me thinking.
Because while we were struggling to get applicants onto Talon, the other side was doing surprisingly well.
Employers were joining. Recruiters were joining. Career coaches were joining.
We were bringing in hiring partners and making sure the jobs coming onto Talon were legitimate.
Before long, we had 213 members.
But only around 87 of them were applicants.
That was not what I expected at all.
The jobs were there. The job seekers were not.
So we started asking people why.
And that's when things got interesting.
Some people told us they didn't have a CV.
But you don't need a CV to get started on Talon.
Some weren't ready for interviews.
Others didn't feel confident enough to apply.
And some had simply dealt with so much rejection that the thought of sending another application wasn't particularly exciting.
That's when something clicked.
We had spent all this time thinking about how to make applying for a job easier.
Sign up. Find a job. Apply. Track your application.
Simple.
But maybe applying wasn't actually the hardest part.
Maybe getting someone ready to apply was.
And that's a very different problem.
We also kept getting another question
As more people discovered Talon, I started getting emails asking the same thing.
"You have over 300,000 open roles. Where are they coming from?"
And usually:
"Are you scraping jobs from other websites?"
No.
For what we're trying to build, scraping jobs wouldn't really make much sense.
If we take a job from another website and simply send you there to apply, we lose the connection.
We can't properly help you track what happens next. We can't connect you with the recruiter. We basically become another website with a very large collection of links.
That's not what we want Talon to be.
And there's another interesting part.
We don't actually have access to 300,000 open roles.
We have access to more than 800,000.
Around 300,000 are publicly visible. The rest are available through recruiter and hiring networks.
And that matters because Talon isn't supposed to work only one way.
You shouldn't always have to find the job
Most job platforms work the same way.
You search.
You scroll.
You find something interesting.
You apply.
Then you do it all over again.
But while you're looking for jobs, recruiters are also looking for people.
That's something we want Talon to make much more useful.
You create your profile once.
You can search for jobs and apply normally, but recruiters can also discover you when they're looking for someone with your skills and experience.
So sometimes you find the opportunity.
Sometimes the opportunity finds you.
The funny thing about building a product
You start out thinking you know the problem you're solving.
You research it. You design around it. You build something you think makes sense.
Then you give it to real people.
And suddenly you realise there are parts of the problem you hadn't really thought about.
That's exactly what's happening with Talon.
We started with:
How can we make finding and applying for jobs easier?
Now we're also asking:
What happens when someone doesn't have a CV?
What if they're nervous about interviews?
What if they don't know how to present their experience?
What if they need advice from someone who understands their industry?
What if they've been rejected so many times that they've simply stopped applying?
Those problems aren't solved by adding another "Apply" button.
And that's probably the most interesting thing we've learned so far.
We're still figuring it out
Talon is still very early.
We're learning what works, what doesn't and, more importantly, what people actually need.
Talon is free for applicants, and we intend to keep it that way. We don't think you should have to pay just to find work.
But we've also learned that making something free doesn't automatically mean people will use it.
Making something easy doesn't mean you've removed every barrier.
Sometimes the biggest barrier isn't the technology at all.
So that's what we're working on now.
If you're looking for your next opportunity, try Talon:
Create your profile. Find jobs. Apply. Track your applications. Let recruiters find you too.
And if something doesn't work, doesn't make sense or you think we're missing something, tell us.
We're still building.
And at this stage, that's exactly the kind of feedback we need.
Talon. Your next step, clearer.