Recruitment platform targets top talent for time-pressed organisations

Occupop, the Irish tech firm focused on recruitment software, plans to double its headcount by next year after passing €1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

The business was founded in 2016 and traded for three years as Bid Recruit before rebranding in 2019.

Occupop, which has backing from Enterprise Ireland, helps small and medium businesses improve their recruitment processes with a platform that lets them find talent more quickly and in a cost-efficient way.

The firm, which currently employs 18 people around the world, expects staff levels to reach twice that number by 2023 amid strong organic growth. It is now aiming to achieve €10 million ARR – a metric of predictable and recurring revenue, of particular importance to subscription businesses – in the coming years.

Caroline Gleeson, Occupop’s co-founder and operations director, came up with the idea for the business after spending a number of years working in recruitment at Morgan McKinley.

“Myself and my co-founder David were both working in the industry, so we could see the challenges that were faced by candidates, hiring managers and recruiters,” Gleeson told the Business Post.

Citing the example of Airbnb in the hospitality sector, she said technology had transformed other industries, but recruitment was lagging behind.

“It felt quite archaic and quite traditional,” she said. “That’s where we started, coming up with a tech solution that would make recruitment easier, more accessible and more cost-effective.”

In its days trading as Bid Recruit, Gleeson’s business was a platform where recruitment agencies could bid for work but, over the years, the company started targeting clients that were doing their own hiring, and three years ago it made the switch to Occupop.

“The product has evolved so much to meet market demand,” Gleeson said. “We have a much bigger range of services now, so we wanted to rebrand to a name that we could carry globally, and that could unlock future product potential.”

Today, Occupop counts the Beacon Hospital, Avoca and Prem Group, the British and Irish hotel chain, among a growing client list. It sells its software on a subscription basis, charging clients monthly and yearly subscriptions depending on their size and uses.

“Our tool is an end-to-end recruitment solution,” Gleeson said. “From posting your job, to screening candidates and managing them through the hiring process, to closing off and making a hire, you do everything using our software and automation tools.”

The company has clients in Ireland, Britain and America, where it is actively seeking to grow its operations, Gleeson said. One of Occupop’s major selling points, she added, is its “laser focus” on simplicity.

“Recruitment is challenging and can be complex, but what we have created in our tech is a really effective and simple solution that allows our customers to find the best talent quickly and efficiently,” she said.

In the future, the firm is aiming to become a globally recognised recruitment software provider.

“We want to be a market leader, certainly in the English territories, and we’d like to move into Europe as well,” Gleeson said. “Within the shorter term we want to hit that €10 million mark [in ARR], and really consolidate our US business,” she said.