Resumes have their place. But anyone who’s had to make one, or read one, knows that they don’t tell the whole story. Even the best resumes mostly capture what we do, not who we really are.
Increasingly, companies want to know both.
That’s why Aaron Seelbinder is building Linkeego. It’s a Wilmington-based startup using IBM Watson machine learning technology to match potential employees with employers through “experience graphs.”
Seelbinder was recently invited to this fall’s CED Tech Venture Conference in Raleigh to talk about Linkeego, formerly known as Alumn-I, as a demo company.
Installed as an app, Linkeego tracks data about you as you go about your daily routines, then charts it so “we, as humans, can interpret the thousands of data points in a single glance,” Seelbinder said.
Think of it as an infographic of you.
“It shows a ton of information, thousands and thousands of data points,” said Seelbinder, adding that he is passionate about “using tech in a way that is helpful.”
He said many companies already ask applicants or new hires to complete personality tests so they learn more about people than their list of accomplishments. And because many of us (myself included) spend a lot of time and energy when taking those tests trying to figure out how to answer so that we are perceived a certain way, the app graphs create a more honest and contextual picture.
Disseminating the app through colleges early on will allow for some verification features, preventing the type of bold-faced resume fraud anyone can perpetrate using Google docs or LinkedIn.
And that honesty can benefit both parties. Seeing one’s own experience graph can help college students get a sense of the types of careers they would be comfortable with.
“If you are not finding a career or the career path that suits you, then you are really doing yourself a disservice,” Seelbinder said. “This is like taking a 330-question personality test,” just by living your life.
College students are front of mind for Seelbinder because his day job is director of business development for College Inbound, a tech development company focused on higher education. The company’s focus lately has been on providing better, seamless online access to students with disabilities, from recruitment through graduation. Its client base has mostly included two-year universities, but Seelbinder is bullish about their growth.
His work with College Inbound, an offshoot of Wilmington-based marketing firm Inspire Creative Studios, means Linkeego is slowly progressing on the back burner. But that doesn’t mean Seelbinder is letting his free time be spent on silly things like sleep or leisure.
In May, Seelbinder started House of Sticks (
facebook.com/thegivingglasses), a nonprofit online apparel company specializing in wooden sunglasses, whose profits support worldwide humanitarian efforts. The Workshop Wrightsville Beach, 86 Waynick Blvd., started carrying the glasses a few months ago.
Seelbinder, who grew up in Wilmington, doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. But you don’t have to take my word for it. He’s got an experience graph to prove it.