November 11, 1999
Contact: Mark Wdowik, ITTC Director for Applied Technology, (785) 864-7697 or wdowik@ittc.ukans.edu.
LAWRENCE -- The Information and Telecommunication Technology Center at the University of Kansas and DiscoverME LLC of Prairie Village have entered into a new three-year agreement. Under the terms, ITTC will develop advanced software that will enable the Web-based job placement firm to expand its services.
Started in 1998 by CEO Carol Rudder, DiscoverME will grow rapidly from eight employees to an anticipated 20 by December. Its projected 1999 sales of less than $500,000 are expected to hit $260 million in five years. When it launched its services earlier this year, DiscoverME had no company clients and 5,000 job candidates registered at its Web site. Today it has six clients and 20,000 candidates, with more registering every day.
DiscoverME is the first known online job placement service that uses established personality-based profiling methods to match the personalities of job seekers with those of a company's top performers. From the beginning, its unique matching approach and technology meant Rudder and Brian Johnson, company president and COO, had to find software and Internet expertise. They met with ITTC's technology people and software engineers in 1998; six months later ITTC had created a technology that seamlessly integrated the company's Internet and software needs.
"The new agreement establishes DiscoverMe and ITTC as strategic partners," said Mark Wdowik, director for applied technology, "and for the first time enables ITTC to establish a longer-term relationship with a Kansas company."
DiscoverME is so confident of ITTC's abilities, said Wdowik, that the young company has returned to the center for this additional help. "The new software will help its staff to handle the increased volume, speed and timing that is needed for a rapidly expanding business."
Rudder said the new software development project will take her business to the next level and will improve services to its Fortune 1000 clients and job candidates. "With the help of ITTC, we have created a service that literally leapfrogs the capabilities of any online recruiting service available today."
"DiscoverME's unique matching process brings together employers and job seekers who would never have found each other through traditional hiring processes," said Wdowik. Instead of sending out resumes to apply for specific jobs, job seekers become candidates for positions they never knew existed. One registration makes them possible candidates for many jobs with several client employers.
Tim Johnson, ITTC executive director of operations and applied technology, said the new agreement offers a strong example of how university-transferred technology benefits a geographic area. "This project lets ITTC help a new business, which in turn provides job opportunities and business growth and expansion."