A pair of Westport entrepreneurs is giving a leg up to local women with conneCTalent, a boutique recruiting agency that specializes in helping mostly mothers re-enter the workforce.
“Neither one of us had started a business before,” said co-founder and director of operations Jasmine Silver. “But we met while we had children going to a preschool together and decided to pool our resources.”
Silver was a senior associate at Advocate & Lichtenstein, a matrimonial and commercial litigation law firm in New York City, while co-founder and director of business development Runa Knapp was a senior manager at KPMG and a CPA. Both had left those jobs to spend more time with their children but found a general lack of response when they were ready to return to their careers.
As a result, “We started a recruiting company for moms ready to get back to work,” Silver said. “We knew firsthand that, after taking a couple of years off, it was difficult to find work ”” especially something that had flexible hours and was more local.”
Knapp said the pair”™s diverse backgrounds helped in building conneCTalent, which launched a year ago in Westport.
“We spoke to a mentor who told us that sometimes people without a background in a particular industry can actually do it better” than those already in that industry, she said. “We had no preconceived notions of what would and wouldn”™t work.”
The pair set about finding potential employers through their existing professional connections, attending networking events, and cold calls.
“Now that we”™ve been doing it for a bit,” Silver said, “we”™re getting a lot of word-of-mouth interest, and we”™ve been doing some marketing, advertising and PR.”
Once they have joined conneCTalent”™s platform, job seekers ”” about 79% of whom are parents re-entering the workforce after a career break, or commuters looking for a local or flexible position ”” meet with Silver and/or Knapp in person or over the telephone for a consultation. The company contacts the applicant when a potentially suitable position is available.
Employers ”” largely small and mid-sized companies ”” post a job opening on the platform and receive curated candidates from conneCTalent”™s database whose qualifications fit that position”™s requirements. Knapp said the company has hundreds of potential employees in its database, and only the employer, never the employee, is charged once a match is made.
The firm boasts that 97% of the candidates placed over the past year are local moms who secured part-time, contract or remote positions with businesses, nonprofit organizations and individuals throughout lower Fairfield County. (Knapp noted that the firm works with men as well.) Its areas of employee expertise include finance, marketing, legal, accounting, HR/sales and administration.
She noted that, due to their size, many of the companies on conneCTalent”™s roster can”™t afford to pay a full-time worker with benefits but are interested in bringing in an experienced employee looking for a local opportunity with flexible hours.
“And by hiring someone who”™s experienced,” Silver added, “they get someone who can jump in, roll up their sleeves and get going.”
Promoting work/life balance is also an important part of conneCTalent”™s platform, she continued.
“That”™s the missing piece for a lot of women,” Silver said. “They want to work with companies that allow flexible hours or working from home and the companies want more diversity ”” which means more women ”” in their workforce.”
Silver further noted that the firm is receiving more inquiries from Westchester County companies. As a result, conneCTalent is looking to expand its business there, while Knapp said they are also considering tapping into the growing number of workers who are commuting to New York City but looking for local opportunities.
conneCTalent is now both women”™s full-time jobs, “because we”™re also taking care of our children,” Silver laughed. Each has two, ranging from 5 to 8 years old.
