Why you want the ‘I’ll show them’ mentality in your entrepreneurs — and how to find it

Do you worry your organisation might be missing out on exceptional candidates? Consider the CV below. We always like to ask EU-based companies, if they would have invited someone with one of these CVs to an interview. Most answered, “we’ve never heard of the universities listed, and the extracurriculars aren’t exceptional for the candidate.” Then we reveal who the CVs actually belong to.

Osterus will provide companies with accurate data to help hiring managers understand data points they might not be familiar with. For example, a university they don’t recognise the name of, or the link between extracurricular activities and positive performance in certain positions.

Thanks to the large data sets, recruiters using Osterus automatically receive all the information they need in order to understand foreign and unfamiliar backgrounds within a CV. In a globalized world, the internet can build bridges and reduce barriers to any application.

Now let’s go back to these two CVs and see who they belong to. No organization wants to miss out on candidates like these.

When Gilad and I started Osterus, we were driven by the idea of finding and increasing the opportunities of the “underdogs”, the under-represented people who are often overlooked. These people appear to be on the outside and have a difficult time getting their foot in the door.

We knew applicants from abroad e.g. Asia, South America and Eastern Europe had a difficult time receiving interviews at reputable companies across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

We did our homework and found out that reputable companies receive up to 2000 applications for a single job opening. N26, a company that is in the process of using Osterus software, receives up to 15,000–20,000 CVs per month. It’s impossible to understand the backgrounds of every applicant.

There are over 18,000 universities in the world, millions of companies, thousands of extracurricular activities, and skills. Talent recruiters, irrespective of experience, can’t possess insight into every hobby, work placement, school etc. that a candidate could present to them. Furthermore, it’s beneficial for companies to understand the correlation between certain data signals and employees who excel at their firm or in a certain role. For example, there might be a correlation between BMW employees who were previously working at Toyota outperforming colleagues with previous experience at Mercedes Benz. We haven’t yet answered this question but the data is there and we will find out.

At Osterus, we’ve interviewed hundreds of H.R. professionals as we were forming our product roadmap; most were well-intentioned, kind, progressive, inclusive, and open-minded. The reality is that people often lack the resources to assess the complete potential of a CV within a short period of time.

Our research already shows correlations between specific data points and indicators of motivation. We see positive data signals between playing a musical instrument, multi-language fluency, location, but there is so much more to learn!

Osterus is building the technology to maximise the probability of a successful hire by analysing every data point within a CV. We look at which non-traditional experiences lead individuals towards becoming star performers. Together with our pilot partners; companies such as N26, Teclead, Pinnacle Staffing, Talentwunder, and many others, we are creating insights and analytics to help employers hire better, build better functioning teams, and empower employees to upskill and become more marketable.

I’ve highlighted what are, in my opinion, two of the best learnings so far below:

To our surprise, we learned that some of the best software developers never received a formal computer science education but learned their skills from bootcamps or on the job. I believe worker unions and H.R. departments can gain a lot of value in learning about which training, certificates, or education programs provide the workforce with the best skills.

We also found a cluster of very rapid career progression around graduates from NYU Abu Dhabi and the DHBW University of applied sciences Mannheim. There are a lot of indicators with companies such as SAP that students from DHBW progress faster within the company. NYU Abu Dhabi has an incredibly low acceptance rate of 2.1%. Most students who study here receive a scholarship. This university is very diverse, with students from over 130 nationalities attending. These students were able to succeed against all odds. From Cuban, Ukranian, Moldovian to Albanian attendees, we found a lot of rising stars within this student body.

We are incredibly fortunate to have investors on board who believe in our vision to become the leading intelligence company in understanding the correlations and insights a CV has to offer. The venture arm of Axel Springer and Porsche are some of our investors and gave us the opportunity to also identify traits and statistics among entrepreneurs who received a Series A investment.

Today we analyse the success factors and capabilities of companies based on their employees. Tomorrow, we will be able to make predictions and matchmaking. In the future, we will be able to address global recruitment and procurement while giving insights into career advisory services and make sure the underrepresented demographics, minorities, and foreign citizens are given the same access to the job market as any ordinary German citizen.

Beyond the altruistic agenda which is embodied in our company’s mission, we want to save time, money, and resources for companies so that they can focus on growing their business.

‘I’ll show them all’ syndrome

We want to find extremely resilient people, who will push forward and overcome obstacles. I joke sometimes with my investors Prof. Rasa Karapandza, Igor Ulis, Tony Schumacher and Meyer Aaron, that we are looking for patterns to help find unique individuals similar to themselves. They and many others share the ability to go through startup hell, “when going through hell, keep on going” there is a rumor that Winston Churchill said this during World War II, I once picked it up, while reading an article about Elon Musk. This quote resonated very well with me.

Osterus is currently building out a sophisticated methodology to extract and structure data from CVs. We also have the desire to understand which CV applications show data signals of being very resilient, who have the “ I will show them all” syndrome, something that I do not only see within our team but also across almost all my investors.

Rasa, who lived for a while in an orphanage within a war-torn zone, where it was his dream to be able to afford one hamburger a day, is now a Professor of finance and serves as a Vice Dean at EBS University & NYU, is a Founder of a successful company, is on a board of directors of a listed company and last but not least a proud investor in Osterus and other startups.

Igor Ulis, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union as that country fell apart and struggled like most other newcomers and foreigners …. became a successful serial entrepreneur and is now investing in and back teams that aim to digitally transform the world’s largest industries. Teams like ours.

I remember going on vacation with one of my investors, he had earpods in his ear, his computer on his towel, and was answering emails left and right. This all took place while laying on the beach in Spain. An hour later, he took off his earphones and said to me; “I am so happy we are on a vacation”. He ordered a Coca Cola Zero, came back to his sunbed, put his earpods back in, gave me a thumbs up, and kept on going.

While Gilad and I probably should not lecture anyone on work-life balance, we do want to emphasize to enjoy the upcoming holidays and make sure to take a moment to relax and reflect. 2020 took a toll on all of us. But remember, when you are going through hell…

We wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Healthy New Year. If you guess who the person with the earpods and the thumbs up was correctly, I may or may not confirm it :-)

PS: If you are a company, who believes that you are giving your employees the opportunities and skills to become not just successful within the organization but often end up starting their own company or being independent, please reach out to me. We want to learn which environments empower and support their employees. At the end of the day, it is always all about people. Team up with us and let’s let the data speak!