User:NBSIT15s2/sandbox

Glints is an online talent recruitment and matching platform head-quartered in Singapore. It is a platform for young talent to build up the career readiness through internships and online challenges; seeking out skill sets required in different careers.

The company was founded in August 2013 by Oswald Yeo, Looi Qin En and Seah Ying Cong. The website was launched in January 2014. Through the website, users can apply for internships, full time, part time or project based positions with partnered companies. The website targets job hunters aged 16 to 26. Companies which are currently registered with Glints include Adidas and Puma. It is currently seeking to expand to other countries in South-East Asia.

History of Glints
The company was founded by Oswald Yeo, Looi Qin En and Seah Ying Cong, who got to know each other back in high school, Hwa Chong Institution. Aged 22, 21 and 21 respectively, they are the youngest entrepreneurs in the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI) program. Realising that employers are struggling to fill entry-level vacancies, despite the fact that there are 75 million unemployed young people worldwide, Glints sought to bridge this mismatch between employer needs and skills young talent had to offer. Glints had a relatively simple upbringing, They started by helping theirs friends source for internships by building up their career readiness through practical, real-world experiences. From 38 people in google spreadsheets it has grown to over 7000 active members today. . They have put their computer science degrees and scholarships on hold at Stanford, University of California Berkeley, and Wharton Business School respectively, in order to pursue the business. Glints mission is to bridge the gap between education and employment by being a professional platform for young people focused on career discovery and development.

Funding
Glints is an alumnus of accelerator Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI.Asia), having gone through the programme in 2014, it had previously received US$59,940 in pre-seed money from private business angels and JFDI. On October 20 2014, it has managed to secure $475,000 in an oversubscribed seed round from venture capitalists, led by East Ventures, with participation from 500 Startups, Infocomm Investments, Darius Cheung, John Tan, SPH Media Fund, 8 Capital and Pix Vine Capital, which will be used to grow its engineering team to develop the platform. According to co-founder Oswald Yeo, they have turned away about US$250,000 as they "didn't want to raise so much money right now".

Website Features
=User Profile= Glints allows users to create profiles to showcase their relevant skills and experiences. Skills can be certified when users demonstrate proficiency in the skills to a minimum standard, although the feature is currently in beta. To complete the profile, users can upload their resumes and their own photos to aid in identification. The account can then be used to source for relevant job opportunities.

Job listings
Employers create job postings and describe their needs and skill requirements. They are segregated into different industry functions and could be filtered with the industry filter function. Users can further narrow their search down to four different types of position, namely, internships, full-time, part-time and project-based type of jobs. Prospective employers are then able to receive applications from users and review each application individually; Glints uses a mix of human and algorithmic screening to bring companies quality candidates.

Future developments
The company is working on a key feature called the “dynamic skills tree”. It works by recommending career paths to users based on their indicated interest. Each career path comes with a "skill tree" that shows projects, internships, and courses he can take. Once completed, these stints will reflect on his Glints profile, which employers can discover and then reach out to the person for an interview.

Business Model
On the business model side of things, Glints will only charge employers once they contact a potential match. Alternatively, companies can also pay a monthly subscription fee to access Glints’ entire database of jobseekers.

Reception
Within the first three months, the firm has gained revenue of US$10,000. It has over 800 intern accounts and 200 internship petitions from companies. Line, Goldlion and Puma are hiring interns through Glints Intern. It is currently in talks with financial giant Goldman Sachs to discuss possibility of it using the portal to hire future interns as well. Glints Intern was one of the top 50 startups listed to attend Echelon Ignite in Singapore. The trio made a pitch at the Singapore Echelon 2014 Satellite. The team though missed the coveted “winner” rank, but it certainly has managed to catch the eye of investors. The company claims that it has been approached by angel investors who are keen to pool in seed capital into the company, mainly because of the traction and the vision of the company.

Expansion
Glints has plans to expand to the larger American market, with plans to settle in Blk 71 San Francisco as a member of the pioneer batch of occupants, using it as a base to further their venture through building their network in this space first.