Described as an ‘eHarmony’ for jobs, a new company that aims to match young people up to potential employers is making waves in the recruitment industry.

Rise-To, started by leading start-up expert, Duncan Cheatle, who is based in Old Street, uses algorithms and data points to connect young people with roles to fit them.

Duncan said: “I think where we are interesting is that we have been working with young people for about five years and employers for 15 years and this platform brings an online dating element to recruitment.

“It is about growing businesses that don’t have employer brands of any sort and young people will mostly have never heard of them. This is a way for them to build an all year round brand on a subscription and interact with young people before even looking to hire them by putting what they are looking for into a system.”

Young people are also able to input their skills and values, and as they are being auto-matched, can see roles that they might not have thought about before.

Duncan said: “It is quick and easy to use, but the other key element is that if a young person does actively apply for a role they like but they are not up to it, we are able to give them direct feedback because we know what is in their profile through data points and algorithms.

“We can see where they have fallen short and what they can to do improve so it’s trying to change the way when young people apply for jobs and never hear back.”

He added: “We also have a range of tests where people can build up and understand their own capabilities. There are tests around creativity, analytical skills and more – and young people can work out and test for themselves how good they are.”

The platform also differs to traditional recruitment agencies as businesses can post up an unlimited number of roles, open days, industry events and other opportunities to connect with young people, after paying a subscription, rather than paying per role.

This is cost-effective and companies lacking the big budgets to do large scale graduate fairs nationally still have access to a pool of relevant talent which is tailored to them.

Duncan said: “There are lots of small agencies which might only hire one young person a year and that would be one opportunity.

“But if they did an open day and ran that twice a year, that is 21 opportunities to lift the aspirations of a handful of kids.

“Another area in which I see considerable growth is around the learning platform. Through their profiles young people can take control of their own futures. We have created a dashboard of tools and ways of improving employability, and the things we curate are scored and graded by employers so young people get a feel for what looks good on their CV and what doesn’t.

“Things have never been more exciting; we are now in recovering economy, much has changed and most of these digital roles are absolutely suited to Generation Y.”

Rise-To has just launched a Seedr campaign for its second stage of growth. To find out more, visit its seedr page here or rise-to.com