Inside WorkFu: The site that taps your social connections to find you the perfect job

WorkFu, which first caught our attention back in January pre-release, is a gorgeous Web app that uses your existing social networks to find work opportunities for you, or talent that is relevant to your company. Bolstered by a handsome UI and the purpose-driven FU score, which automatically ranks your technical and social compatibility with jobs, this site has tons of potential to overtake the old giants in this space.

Upon signing up through Twitter, your smart profile is automatically created. From there, you can check out your opportunities, create and manage jobs and review your applications. It feels entirely fresh, and solves a real need, turning the dated process of job hunting right on its head.

To find out more, I spoke with WorkFu co-founder Mike Kus…

HW: Not trying to pick on LinkedIn, but what’s out there now for the career market that simply isn’t provided?

MK: Our vision for WorkFu is to be the social platform at the heart of your working life, be you talent or business. We have a lot of respect for LinkedIn, but we believe it can be done better, cooler, faster and more relevant.

HW: How is WorkFu different from everything else?

MK: WorkFu is a social, opportunity network that’s built on Twitter. We look at your Twitter network activity and the WorkFu algorithm starts to build you relevant, smart profile in seconds. Using the information gained from your Twitter activity we can tell what industry a user works in and then match that user with relevant work opportunities.

The sign up process is frictionless and takes just a couple of minutes. The user experience is designed to be seamless and enjoyed.

HW: What are the different sides of WorkFu? Profile Pages, etc?

MK: The first thing a new user gets after joining WorkFu is a beautiful online ‘Smart Profile’ like this. Our profiles also leverage the information that already exists about a user by integrating with the API’s of other popular social networks.

Rather than getting users to input information about their personal interests, we’ve created the WorkFu bookshelf. Users can display books that they they’re reading or want to read. It’s a great insight into person and helps build a more rounded picture of a user.

There is of course a ‘work opportunities’ page. This is where each user is shown the list of opportunities in their own unique order that’s relevant to them. The opportunities are rated by FuScore.

We’ve also built-in the tools so as managing and communicating with applicants is intuitive and super easy. Our aim is to create a considerate and responsible culture within WorkFu that our users love.

HW: What’s the FU Score?

MK: We’ve removed the need to search, Opportunities are dynamically scored against each user, we call this the “Fu Score”. A Fu Score is made up of two parts; ‘relevance’ and ‘Twitter connections’. We use this score to order the opportunities, so as users instantly see opportunities that are relevant to them.

In the same way that opportunity seekers view opportunities displayed in order of Fu Score, opportunity posters view their applicants in this way, also. While you wait for applicants WorkFu will give you instant talent suggestions ordered by relevance and allow you to approach these users through our powerful messaging system.

HW: Mind telling us about your killer design/designer?

MK: I’m the designer at WorkFu and responsible for the UI but it’s really been a team effort. Myself and Neil Kinnish (co-founder) have spent hours/days pouring over the user flows and made an effort to combine a simple, well crafted UI with intuitive and seamless interactions that make WorkFu easy and fun to use.

Our goal has been to make WorkFu as simple to use as possible. We’ve built-in features to WorkFu and then ripped them out again purely because we didn’t think they were easy enough to use.

HW: What companies are already listing jobs on WorkFu? Any favorites? Any hires?

MK: We have loads of amazing companies posting opportunities on WorkFu. Google, Huddle, Groupon, Mind Candy, Redgate, Teehanlax, Treehouse, Smashing Magazine, Wieden+Kennedy and more. There have been over 400 applications for opportunities since going live, three days ago. We know some users have interviews already and hires are imminent! It’s been an amazing week for WorkFu!

HW: What are your plans for the future of WorkFu?

MK: We have a ton of plans for WorkFu. We have the basics in place but they’re just the foundations on which to build upon. I can’t specifically divulge what features we’ll be bringing in next but we’ll be further enhancing the profiles, building a WorkFu API and increasing the connectivity between users.

Based in the south of England, in London, Ludlow, Folkstone and Bath, WorkFu’s four experienced founders — Mike Kus, Neil Kinnish, Pete Nelson & Adam Martin — clearly have developed something special. In all honesty, I believe this may very well be the future of finding work opportunities and discovering new talent. See for yourself, via the link below:

➤ WorkFu