Two years ago we made our very first foray into the land of careers events.
The premise of the event was simple, to bring to life what Jobbio does online every day – match amazing companies with exciting, relevant talent.
We wanted to change the stale nature of careers fairs; to do away with the mass distribution of CVs and give Jobbio users a genuine opportunity to meet the real people behind real digital innovation. We wanted the key takeaway of our event to be lasting connections, not branded biros.
In short, we felt it was time for something different.
We began close to home with our excellent network of like-minded startups, in the heart of London’s tech scene. We partnered with Microsoft Ventures, General Assembly, UCL and Hackney Council to bring together the brightest minds in the industry for a night of networking, interactive workshops, participatory panels and enlightening keynotes. Among the wonderful speakers that lent us their wisdom, were Jessica Butcher, Co-Founder of Blippar, Jeff Lynn, Founder of Seedrs and Barry Maloney, Founder of Balderton Capital.
Exhibitors raved about the calibre of digital talent they met on the night while the attendees felt that the facetime they got with actual hiring managers was unprecedented.
We had created a careers event like no other, and it was just the beginning.
From a modest but mighty initial guest list of 600, we expanded to an impressive 60 exhibitors, 20 speakers and over 5000 talent attending.
What we learnt very quickly was that while evolving tech has made talent acquisition more efficient, the value of face-to-face offline connections cannot be underestimated. HIGHER, for us, found the sweet spot between embracing the power of cutting edge technologies and rediscovering the value of authentic, human relationships.
By positioning our event as a place where professionals could build their networks, skill sets and personal brands we were not only catering for graduates or job seekers but for any ambitious individual to come and assess their options, think about their career trajectory and realise their potential.
Jobbio HIGHER served, and continues to serve, as a unique branding exercise for companies too. Companies who may not have the resources or distribution power to convince a hungry developer that their organisation is the best fit. It’s a chance for them to continue what they do on the Jobbio platform daily, connect with highly engaged candidates and build an important pipeline of talent for current and future roles.
It’s not just the evolution of tech that has affected hiring so drastically, changing employee priorities mean candidates now seek out a cultural fit as much as a professional one. While traditionally perks, salaries and perceived esteem were the big draws for job seekers, we’ve seen more and more candidates seek out flexibility, aligned values and growth opportunities. New priorities require new approaches and that’s what we feel we’re offering talent and companies alike, with our online marketplace and our unique offline event.
Houzz, Nexmo, Shazam and TransferWise are just some of the companies joining us this September to celebrate our dynamic hiring landscape and London’s boundless tech potential.
