Recognition and momentum for IMPRESSO

Based at EPFL Innovation Park, IMPRESSO helps recruiters shortlist candidates faster, by verifying their career information. Each year 900 million people actively look for a new job. Launched last Christmas, IMPRESSO has already more than 12K users on its Android app and is set to launch soon the iOS version, further increasing its reach.

IMPRESSO positions itself at the heart of the online recruiting ecosystem with a mobile application that provides Verification as a Service (VaaS) to both job seekers and recruiters. The process is simple explains the CEO and Founder Ben Beh. Upon request by the recruiter, the candidate will take less than 10 mins to submit all their required professional information via their mobile device. And within 72 hours, IMPRESSO’s verification engine will provide the verification results back. Pro-active job seekers can also verify their information before their job application.

The IMPRESSO verification engine (IVE) verifies work dates, references, certificates and salary (WRCS), all valuable information to find and close a hire. Ben Beh adds that its professional information verification service app can be integrated on platforms such as LinkedIn or any other HR/careers platform or ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) companies where it can particularly relevant.

Recruiters and businesses spend valuable time and energy on a candidate’s profile. Harvesting, Sorting, Verifying (HSV) in a typical scenario takes 4 to 8 weeks to finalize a shortlist of candidates. When quality takes the front seat instead of speed, an additional 4 to 8 weeks are needed. The good news is that time can be significantly reduced by at least 25% through IMPRESSO’s pre-vetting process. That's 0.5 to 1.5 months of time saved.

Mobile Authenfication 24/7

Repetitive verification works each time a CV is submitted. What is truly special about IMPRESSO's solution, is it's “Time Stamp” status and direct access to real time data. Is the information true or false at the time you view and access the information? With time stamps you see that the information can not only be used at any time but it’s "recyclable". That means the startup needs only to verify once and reuse again and again without the need to revalidate. With pre-vetted information on a candidate’s CV, never again you have to worry about the authenticity. Ben Beh’s team calls it PET - Pass Every Time, as the status is always usable. IMPRESSO is very much like a mobile notary open 24/7.

Another strength of IMPRESSO’s solution is that it gives direct access to potential candidates that are not actively looking for a new job. These are usually the ones you wish you could hire. IMPRESSO allows you to actually “follow” its users like on any social media. 

All verified data belongs to the user so IMPRESSO’s business model revolves around the use of digital tokens used on the app for all interventions. This covers verification requests and obtaining access to the verified information. "In certain scenarios job seekers or users on IMPRESSO would profit by monetizing their professional data" adds the founder while reflecting. 

Selected by Manpower

IMPRESSO was recently chosen by Manpower Group as one of its 12 sponsored startups out of more than 170 world competitors, fitting the recruiting giant’s innovation focus pillars on reinventing recruiting and digitizing HR processes to bring candidates and recruiters closer. In addition to the commercial validation, a collaboration with the 3rd largest recruitment company in the world would be a big win for IMPRESSO from a learning perspective as it would enable it to optimize its app and make it more profitable.

Speaking of the future, Ben Beh notices a growing interest in the market for GDPR compliant companies such as his. Today IMPRESSO is today focused on B2B with recruiters and ATS companies. But the CEO sees potential on the B2C side with fresh graduates where it hopes to pivot into. Ben is also eager to pitch on stage at VivaTech 2021, Europe's biggest Startup and Tech event starting in Paris on June 16th.