Rocket: Streamlining Talent Acquisition through Cutting Edge Solutions

Abhinav Agrawal, Co-Founder

Talent Acquisition plays a pivotal role in the growth of a company. Recruiting the right set of people can be the difference between success and failure and can determine which company emerges as the winner out of a set of competitors. Some visionary companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook have realized this competitive advantage and invest heavily in their recruiting and talent acquisition functions from both a technology and staff perspective. However, for the vast majority of companies, recruitment remains an under-funded and non-strategic function. These companies continue to use the same recruiting strategies, methodologies and tools that they did more than a decade ago. The challenge is exacerbated by the impact of the global pandemic which shifted work to the virtual space and accelerated remote work and hiring. Recognizing these pain points in the market, a team of experienced Indian entrepreneurs in the US (previous companies sold to SurveyMonkey and Zynga) built Rocket (www.getrocket.com)—a company that pairs human recruiters with cutting edge machine learning to deliver seamless recruiting.

Rocket’s initial offering in the space was retained executive searches for engineering and product leaders. Drawing on their varied professional and educational networks (McKinsey, Amazon, Zynga, SurveyMonkey, NetApp, IIT Delhi, Princeton, Harvard Business School etc.), they built the first search firm staffed by former entrepreneurs and operators.

Over time, the company realized that there was a massive potential to apply machine learning in recruiting as it is difficult for recruiters to manage an encyclopedic knowledge of companies, schools and skills in order to properly evaluate candidates for a role.

We believe that the only way we are going to succeed is if our customers succeed and are unambiguously enthusiastic about the experience

Rocket’s machine learning algorithms now categorize candidates across 32 different attributes spanning experience, skills, career progression and education in order to determine the best fit for each individual role. They train the machine learning system to identify the right candidates that match a company’s specific needs and the system self learns over time based on how candidates perform and progress through a client’s interview process. Rocket now offers professional, contingency and contract recruiting across functions and counts hundreds of clients including Carta, Robinhood, Coinbase, StubHub, PayPal, NerdWallet, TripActions, Hippo Insurance and more.

Recently, the company introduced a self-serve all-in-one outbound recruiting platform called Hireflow (www.hireflow.ai).Hireflow automates the process of recruiting even further by providing AI sourcing, outreach automation and diversity metrics to companies.

Hireflow uses AI to automatically source candidates who match a company’s criteria and users can then quickly approve or reject candidates with one click. Once approved, the software will automatically reach out to the selected candidates and track those who have responded. Interested candidates are then prompted towards an application process saving the company substantial time in sourcing and engaging candidates.

As the go-to talent partner for growing businesses, Rocket has garnered significant validation from clients in the health care, consumer, e-commerce and enterprise industries.
“A good example of a client whom we helped with the hiring process is a company called Osmo, which was eventually acquired by Byju’s, the e-learning company from India. We helped them hire senior leaders across the company,” says Abhinav Agrawal, one of the co-founders of Rocket.

According to Agrawal, the reason recruiting functions are often not using the latest technologies is that unlike sales and marketing, recruiting is not allotted an adequate budget. “Top management frequently discuss how they want to recruit the right people, and how people are the most important asset of a company. But unlike sales and marketing, most companies do not spend enough money on recruiting, resulting in the lack of innovative hiring solutions,” he added. Hireflow addresses this challenge by providing a self-serve and free-to-start solution that is budget friendly and allows companies to use the latest recruiting technology.

Amidst Indian-owned startups that continue to make a mark on the global map, Rocket tops the list of companies that offer HR technology solutions. The company has provided its services for some of the most prominent players in the market, including eBay, StubHub, and PayPal. Agrawal adds, “We’ve been able to grow quite tremendously, more thandoubling every year because we believe in providing unparalleled customer service.We believe that the only way we are going to succeed is if our customers succeed and are unambiguously enthusiastic about the experience.”

The pedigree and operational expertise of the founding members, the use of cutting edge technology and the focus on client service distinguishes Rocket from the rest of the players in the market. Rocket has also stayedahead of the curve by transforming into a devoted partner that works closely with clients to help them build the teams necessary for success tomorrow.