Blue Collar Business Podcast
Welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast with Sy Kirby. Dive deep into the world of hands-on entrepreneurship and the gritty side of making things happen. Join us for actionable tips on scaling your blue-collar business, managing teams, and staying ahead in an ever-evolving market. We'll also discuss the latest industry trends and innovations that could impact your bottom line. If you're passionate about the blue-collar world and eager to learn from those who've thrived in it, this podcast is a must-listen. Stay tuned for engaging conversations and real-world advice that can take your blue-collar business to new heights.
Blue Collar Business Podcast
Ep. 30 - Finding Your Next Job Just Got Easier
The blue collar industries are experiencing a critical communication breakdown that's been misinterpreted as a skilled worker shortage. Brent Flavin, co-founder of BoomNation, joins the Blue Collar Business Podcast to reveal what's really happening behind the headlines and how technology is finally catching up to the needs of tradespeople.
Traditional hiring platforms have created a system so fraught with friction that workers must submit an average of 200 applications and click over 2,000 times just to receive a single job offer. With 92% of skilled workers abandoning online applications, it's no wonder the construction industry lost 1.9 million workers last year alone. The primary reason? Workers simply couldn't find their next job fast enough to maintain consistent income.
BoomNation is tackling this problem head-on with a platform specifically designed for blue collar workers. Rather than forcing tradespeople to navigate resume uploads and lengthy applications, their technology focuses on connecting humans directly. Their upcoming feature called "the Bridge" will allow both workers and employers to ask straightforward questions: "Find me a job within this location that pays this much" or "Find me a worker with these credentials ready to work now."
Flavin shares powerful examples of workers living just minutes from job sites they didn't know existed, while employers were desperately searching for talent. By removing the barriers between these groups, BoomNation is creating transparency about opportunities and the transferability of skills across different sectors of the trades.
For companies looking to recruit effectively in today's market, Flavin's advice is clear: digitalize your processes, focus on reducing friction in the candidate experience, and engage authentically with potential employees. The companies having the most success on the platform are those willing to tell their story, post consistent content, and connect personally with workers.
Whether you're a skilled worker looking for your next opportunity or an employer struggling to fill positions, download BoomNation today and join a community that's transforming how the trades connect. The future of hiring is human – and it's finally arrived for blue collar workers.
Click the link above for a free marketing audit with insights to boost your blue collar business!
PodcastVideos.com
Put your show in front of audiences that care with PodcastVideos.com's wide range of podcasts!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Follow and stay connected:
Website: bluecollarbusinesspodcast.com
YouTube: youtube.com/@BlueCollarBusinessPodcast
Instagram: @bluecollarbusinesspodcast
TikTok: @bluecollarbusinesspod
Facebook: Blue Collar Business Podcast
LinkedIn: Blue Collar Business Podcast
Never miss an update—follow, subscribe, and join the conversation!
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast, where we discuss the realest, rawest, most relevant stories and strategies behind building every corner of a blue collar business. I'm your host, cy Kirby, and I want to help you in what it took me trial and error and a whole lot of money to learn the information that no one in this industry is willing to share. Whether you're under that shade tree or have your hard hat on, let's expand your toolbox. Welcome back, guys. I appreciate you tuning into another episode of the blue collar business podcast brought to you and sponsored by podcast videoscom. I'm sitting in one of their wonderful, beautiful solo pod rooms here in the rogers arkansas location. Um, they have a team of folks that help produce, edit and make sure it markets out to you guys so you guys actually see the show. So shout out to them, check them out. If you haven't.
Speaker 1:Um, bring in a guest that is near and dear to me. We, he was on the og version of the show way back when when I did a couple versions in my office and in my house and a couple other things and, uh, we, we had some audio technical difficulties, let's just say that. But I'm so glad to have him back because he has gone the technology app route for you guys and you guys need to know about this app If from guys looking to switch positions, looking for recruitment or a, or recruiters looking for recruitment, place placement or and some other exciting other things that we're going to show you. If you guys are on YouTube or on Spotify watching this visually, I'm going to share a little bit about the app, but go check it out. No matter what BoomNation on the App Store or iOS Store, but furthermore, the man, the myth, the legend, the co-founder of BoomNation, brent Flavin Dude. Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us. It's a pleasure, love the show and, as you said, we were on early and I know it took us a while to get it scheduled back on. But I'm excited to be here, excited to have a conversation with you.
Speaker 1:I mean it only took three reschedules. We've been busy. It sounds like you guys have been busy and, um man, what, what, what boom nation does for the community? Talk a little bit number one little intro about yourself. If you don't mind, share a little bit background of uh, the blue collar industrial side of uh, the coin that you came from, and how you ended up in the technology world and producing the one of what could be a major social media movement for the blue collar working man?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, and we'll get into that and how we're thinking about that from a you know, social media perspective. We don't necessarily think about it in that way. Okay, no, well, hang on, no, no, no, that's okay that you said that I'm not offended.
Speaker 2:A common analogy that's made of Boom Nation is LinkedIn for blue collar, twitter for blue collar, like Facebook for blue collar. We're innovating past that, we're going to get into that. It's actually at the core of the issue that's out there and the core of the pain point that folks are experiencing in these industries. But yeah, a little bit of background on me. I'm from Lake Charles, louisiana industry town. You know, grew up mom's side of the family was kind of all blue collar, all oil and gas. Dad's side of the family was real estate and there was a little bit of construction sprinkled in there. So, you know, high school worked in those plants. Um, so, um, you know, high school worked in those plants. Um, you know, went to the kind of uh, went to a high school where a lot of the folks that I graduated with kind of went right into working in the plants right after we graduated. We were the first class, uh, where there was not a uh shop class.
Speaker 2:Um, our freshmen years ripped it out Right when that movement started happening, where the four years. Everybody started pushing the four year instead of, hey, go get a trade and go work, Right. And you're kind of seeing that movement shift back now where people are rethinking what to do there and all the opportunities that are out there in the industries that you and I serve. So look, when we first started there, you know there was a couple of things. We knew there was a problem, Everybody knew there was a problem.
Speaker 2:We started kind of before the. The headlines of skilled trade shortage were out there, all right, and we just were passionate about myself and some co-founders were just passionate about trying to make a difference and there was two things that were clear. People didn't know. Well, there was a lack of transparency is the first thing. The second thing is workers didn't know where there was a lack of transparency is the first thing, um, the second thing is workers didn't know where the jobs were and employers didn't know, um, where the workers were right. So there was this like historic archaic word of mouth occurring still um, and early on, a couple things happened. You know, we would have people come on our platform, perfectly credentialed, willing to work and asking their word of mouth network for weeks if they knew of any jobs that were available, they would come on our platform and they would match up with employers who were also struggling to find workers, like literally turning down projects because they couldn't find enough folks to work their projects, and they would connect folks to work their projects and they would connect and in some of those cases, one in particular that really stands out for us it was kind of the first moment where we're like how is that happening From that person's front door to the project site was seven minutes. Employer had never heard about the worker. Worker had never even heard about the company. Wow, and that was an early moment where we realized there's a problem here, right, um, something else that we figured out. And look along the way, there was, there were folks that were a lot smarter than we are we we are. That um started to reach out right, like hey, what are you, what are y'all doing, what are y'all working on? Um. And uh, they would tell us, like guys, y'all don't understand how big this problem is.
Speaker 2:And about a year after that started to happen, some of the headlines started to come out of skill worker shortage and stuff like that. We actually had some early data that was really interesting to us, um, and we weren't we weren't vocal about it yet, um, but we had some early data that questioned whether or not, like, there actually was a shortage, right, if it had more to do with, like friction and experience and retention and culture, right, and transparency of where those jobs are, um, than it did about um, you know, they're actually not being enough workers, um, and then we got a little bit vocal about it and as soon as we started to get vocal about it, we were tarred and feathered for a while. Right, but we stuck with it. It's like look, this is what our data is showing us. We think our platform is closer to skilled workers and frontline workers and blue collar folks and any other platform out there. Here's what they're telling us and here's what our data is showing. We're going to trust it until we see something different. And lo and behold, you know, this year, us Chamber came out with some data that indicated that what we were seeing was true. And so, during that time of us being tarred and feathered for being a little bit vocal about it and people questioning what we were seeing, there was data on churn.
Speaker 2:So, like construction, in particular, the construction industry, I think, last year lost 1.9 million people, up from 1.2 the year before, and there's about a four they say there's about a four to 500,000 demand gap. Now, some of that's natural term, but you know what? The number one reason that people leave the industry is? They went to paycheck or two, yeah, and it's not that their employer doesn't pay them, it's that they literally can't find their next job, and so they've got to go to something more consistent, like retail or manufacturing or whatever. It is Right In order to feed their families, right, and so what we're building is a network, right, yes, there is content.
Speaker 2:Yes, there is entertainment, because that's how people like to consume their information these days. Right, they don't like to read the stuff, and we actually don't love that there's a news feed. We don't love that there's a job board. Right now, we're about to innovate past that and I'm explaining that a little bit um uh, because we think that that takes away from the core issues that are out there. However, what's occurring on our platform today is employers are coming on telling their story, engaging with people, workers are coming on, engaging with recruiters and, in the first week of coming on, hires are getting made and employers are coming on the newsfeed and starting to praise what it is that we've built in order to get attention of other workers.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, we've only been on here for a couple of days and we've hired multiple people. Reach out to us Right Now, here's the ones that aren't having success, and this is because what's currently out there is completely broken, and it's not just across frontline workers. So, our goal we're really focused on skilled workers, frontline workers, blue collar workers. Right. Our goal is to make that experience the envy of the rest of the world. Okay, and whether or not we scale beyond these industries, I don't know. Time will tell right, or the business will tell us what to do. The envy of the world. They've been ignored for too long, all right. No one has innovated for them. The friction that we put them through on a daily basis is absolutely unacceptable.
Speaker 2:And so we see ourselves as being a voice of the skilled worker, the blue collar worker, and building and innovating for them. The rest of the ecosystem that's out there is built for search and link clicking Okay, and it's built for the most, you know, insignificant consumer inconvenience one click to apply, okay, all right, the average, or it takes, I think, 200 applications. So this is average, right. 50% are going to experience higher than this. In order for someone to get one job offer, on average, it takes over 200 applications submitted and over 2,000 clicks. Okay, wow, across every other platform that's out there. Okay, wow, across every other platform that's out there. And then the. When you click on that button to go apply for that job every other platform they're driving you to a long form application, right.
Speaker 2:A couple of things occur. First question they ask is uh, can you attach your resume? Guess what most folks don't have that are in this industry, right. And then that application takes 10 to 15 minutes, okay. Another thing that folks in these industries don't have is time to deal with that kind of stuff, right, okay, because they're trying to support their families, they're trying to feed their families. When you put folks through that experience, there's a 92% abandonment rate. So 92% of people do not fill out the application.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this is the core issue that exists across the entire ecosystem Search link click ads to drive revenue, cost per click, cost per applicant right, and everybody's just in this death cycle, right Of attention grabbing, and they don't ever get what they actually need, which is connecting with a person that has an opportunity and figuring out if they can, if they match, for that opportunity to have a job to support their families. So everything that we're doing, we have a saying internally. Now the future of hiring is human, all right, and now we can use advanced technology to get there, to match skills, to upload skills, to extract skills right, where you don't ever have to input or type anything. Right, what we're about to release is this Both sides want to ask the same question.
Speaker 2:both the recruiter and the worker All right, find me X. Okay, find me a worker with these credentials that has this years of this many years of experience? Um, that's ready to work? Right, that's available for work? Okay, um, from a worker perspective, find me a job within this location right, that pays this much, that has a range of this much per hour, in some cases, this much per diem right, if they're willing to travel. And within this industry okay, does it exist today? So we're about to release an experience where you literally come on our platform, you ask that question, our technology feeds you the information and we connect humans with humans, people with people, faster than any other platform we're building. We're building an experience that's different across the entire ecosystem. It's what people want, and we're doing it for frontline blue collar workers and we're proud of it, and we're going to stay hyper focused here, you know, for as long as it takes, in order to solve the problem and give them the kind of experience that they deserve.
Speaker 2:Man keeping the main thing, the main thing, aren't you and dude?
Speaker 1:you're so right, man, and that's exactly this show. This show is an investment for the blue collar worker, like they're. They're, the resources are limited, you're right. The way we, the whole transaction of acquiring on both sides recruiter or or worker is just terrible. It's hard to find and and and to hear that. You know, 1.9 million, I think is what you said, a staggering leaving the trades and those are good trades or, um. You know, there's so many, so many different stigmas about. I wouldn't even call them stigmas, but frustrations that can be. Our world is just different and it's hard to describe our world to the bank. It's hard on the bonding guy to um it. The whole blue collar in itself is just different. The contracting world and these guys that are skilled at it.
Speaker 1:We want nothing more than to bridge that gap and, like LinkedIn, linkedin is a perfect place for if in my head which I didn't even know about it, brent, until about eight months ago but that's where all that upper echelon clientele, white collar folk is. That's their, you know, work, go between, and so I was like, hmm, do we start pushing some content? Of course you do, you know, if you want to bridge that connection. So you're doing the exact same thing. I can't really compare. I won't sit here and compare Boom Nation to anything else, because you really are very you're. Always, since I've known you, my guy it's oh yeah, we're here, but this is where we're going, oh yeah, this is where we're at. I mean, I could literally pull up the recording and so to hear your passion hasn't faded in the I don't know what it's been a couple years since I, maybe a year and a half since we sat and talked the first time is, uh, inspiring. So I appreciate you.
Speaker 1:And investing, um, because it is an investment, I understand it is a not just time but a lot of money put in for these guys, the audience, the guys that you're sitting there listening that drinking a cup of coffee on your way to work, this guy that's sitting there on his lunch hour. Man, I'm I'm really sick and tired of just being treated the way I'm treated. I love what I do, but is there any other place out there? Where do I? I don't just post it on Facebook, and it is. It's a huge problem for them, and not only that, it's encouraging. Being on Boom Nation, I got to say a big testament to your audience and your community. They're all very well. Of course they're good, solid blue collar guys. Don't get me wrong, there's some razzing, but man, anytime I've posted on there it has been man dude that looks so cool. What are you guys doing? What are you using for?
Speaker 2:and they're just very curious, passionate and encouraging you mentioned the word stigma like a common question. Whether it's like fundraising or whatever it is partners that we're trying to bring on that are worried about their brand or whatever it might be like a common question. A lot of times, the first question that we get is, like you got some folks on here that are kind of rough and rowdy Do we need to be concerned about the type of language or post or content that's being posted that our brand or my investment would be associated with? Right? So I think we've had one political post the entire time we've been live One one All right, and can you imagine the kind of environment that we've had over the last couple of years?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an incredibly positive community. People are proud of what they do Right, and our answer back to them is like, look, if you have concerns about that, you don't know these people right. Like they want to feed their families. They're great people, they're you know, they're people of faith right, and they're just looking to try to get better or find opportunities to be able to support those that they love right, and that's at the core of what's happening right. Or, to tell their story, the recruiters that are having the most success are coming about it from a personal perspective, like posting pictures of their daughters up in backhoes and saying like, hey, starting them young. You know what I mean, and that's the kind of stuff that really resonates with the folks that are on our platform, right.
Speaker 2:The ones that are coming up and we encourage, like you know, we do some really great if there's employers listening on your show. Right Like, we have a really great onboarding um team that that kind of teaches you, um, you know, how to, uh, uh, how to recruit right in today's day and age, and specifically to how to use the, the tools on our platform. Companies are posting jobs on job boards and their company pages. Right Like, that is the last place that workers' attention is Right. Right Like, workers' attention is not on job boards and company pages. So there's this massive, there's all the friction in between, but there's also this massive disconnect in terms of like, where workers' attention is and where employers are trying to get their attention from Right.
Speaker 2:And so you've mentioned bridging the gap. The product we're going to release right now we're actually calling it the bridge. I mean you changed the name of the product a bunch, but you know it's been called the bridge for a while. And look, I mean you know, to my knowledge, and I don't know if this is entirely the case we've been kind of head down and focused on building, but I think the type of artificial intelligence we're about to introduce into this product is the first time that somebody's done it for blue collar folks, for frontline workers, right. And yes, we're going to be using advanced technology, but we're doing it in a way that's relevant, right, and we're doing it for a very, very specific use case, in a very meaningful intention of connecting people again, hey, this is for the guys up front that are trying to level up.
Speaker 1:They're probably out of place for a couple of years, their labor's not really getting noticed per se and they would like to find somewhere that treats them right. And, coming from a guy that's seven minutes from a job site, that works out perfectly, you know resume individual, but how can you? You mentioned a little bit about your onboarding team. How can boom nation strategies be adapted for these recruiters and and adapting generation coming up, because I think you're doing such a great job, brent, with capturing. I guess you would call them the alpha generation. I don't even know what letter we're at gen whatever, but the ipad generation, the.
Speaker 1:You know, I was the same with you when you mentioned pulling shop class dude and they pulled shop class dude, I was in. Uh, there wasn't even an option for shop class, it was. You were basically on. I think they called it maps back then. You're mapping for your four year and I'm like guys, I'm gonna do the work program my senior year. I am out of here. I am not doing another five years, six years of this. So how can boom nation help capture those individuals and hopefully retain them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was asked to give a talk at Austin recently and I used an example here. So we're talking specifically about the younger generation, right, right, so that generation does not know a world in which there's next day shipping right From Amazon and everything is at their fingertips, and they also don't know a world where they get a product in the mail that they ordered online and it's been so much work has been put into it, so much thought has been put into it, that it's so intuitive that they open up a box and they turn it on. Right Like, all they have to do is make sure it's charged and they know how to work. Right, that's relatively new. Right, like 15, 20 years ago, like you had to put stuff together and yet you know you had to wait on stuff or you had to go to the store. Right, like, you're dealing with a generation that, um, the, in their normal daily lives, there is no friction on the things that they want, right, or need, okay. But when you introduce them to these industries, okay, they've never experienced the kind of friction from a journey perspective. Right, um, that they're being introduced to. Right, so like, uh, we'll start from the beginning. Right Like, I can't we? Like?
Speaker 2:Here's a common misconception too, like there's a lot of money being put into and this is a little bit controversial, but whatever, we we've got edginess to our brand and how we do things. And so we, we, uh, we speak the truth. There's billions of dollars being poured into training and training facilities. And so we, we, uh, we speak the truth. There's billions of dollars being poured in the training and training facilities. And these things are beautiful, all right. And, yeah, there's being people getting enrolled in those things, not to the level of which there should, but there's people being trained. Okay, what what? Most people in those facilities? Now, there's some really good ones that are placed in a very high percentage, right, but we talked to a lot of them and they're not placing, or they're placing, a very low percentage of their people coming out of that training. Okay, and that has to do with a lot of, like, the lack of transparency and the friction that's involved in trying to do so, right, so, starting from the beginning, it's still word of mouth, there's still a lack of transparency, it's search and link, click, and they never hear back from anybody. Ok, and then, if they do get a job, all right, they're asked to show up to a job site, report to a trailer and fill out hours and hours of paperwork on day one and then for every day for the rest of their career. Right, they're filling out timesheets on paper or whatever it might be. Jsa is on paper.
Speaker 2:And look, there's great technology out there now that replaces those things, but for the most part it has not been adopted um whole scale within these industries, right, and so you know, um, we like, like you, have to digitalize. Like these industries, these companies, like they, have to have a digitalization strategy, Can't be on spreadsheets, it can't be on sticky notes, right, and like we, we've been on those projects, right, like there are, most of it is sticky notes and stacks of paper. Like we're lucky if people are checking their email and replying to their email, Right, so that's that's where things are still stuck. So we have to digitalize first, right. So like here's a. Now, look, there's great companies that are doing some advanced technology type stuff and this whole like web 3.0 thing, right, or artificial intelligence or whatever it is. There's companies out there, you know, procore is one of them. Safety culture is one of them. There's there's others that are doing that, right, I know, um, but they're good products, right, and they're bringing in advanced stuff, right, um, but uh, we can't like most, most firms, like we're not. You know, we like to say like, look, the rest of the world is in three, three dot o. We got to get these industries from like faxes and printers right, which is 1.0, right To 2.0, which is digitalization and web and cloud. You know what I mean. So, like, let's get to 2.0 first before we, and look, you can skip 2.0 if you're really, if, if you're really committed to it.
Speaker 2:But the and through that process, though, like you know, we have a saying where you know, if you think construction's over budget, come try to build technology. Right, you know what I mean. Like, and it's the truth. But you know, like, in being in construction, like in, in, in, in managing a project and getting a project done, you have a vision. When you start, you know what to do, right, as that project goes on, though, All right, there are a ton of variables that come in that you didn't plan for Rain, manpower, whatever, it is, right, it's the same thing.
Speaker 2:Like, whether you're building technology or trying to adopt technology. Like, you have to have champions within your organization, okay, and like, and assign ownership to champions in that organization and allow them to make decisions. All right, and, yes, to spend money on things that will help retain your workforce, help you recruit your workforce better, um, and give them a better experience where, uh, you know, uh, they will, uh, they will shout from the rooftops of how good of experience it is to work for this company, and when they hear that friction occurring within other companies, they'll have a smirk on their mouth, right, because they know two things. They know Cy, kirby, it was hard to do, but they invested in it and it was meaningful and they did it. Kirby, it was hard to do, but they invested in it and it was meaningful and they did it, and it was an incredible experience working for, for PsyCon and doing the dirt work that they do. So you got to. You have to adopt from a digital perspective. All right, you've got to think about experience and friction. Okay, like, on the employer side, if we want to talk specifically about recruiting, you have to engage, like.
Speaker 2:We had a period of time. We were lucky that this occurred to us, right, because it allowed us to see the actual focal point of the problem and start to build technology to solve it and to solve it at scale, okay. But we had a particular period of time where, uh, we were sending hundreds of applicants a week to employers, All right, and they got feedback from, or we got feedback from them. They didn't really hire anybody, okay. And we were devastated and we're talking about, and so we picked ourselves up. I mean, we were down on the mat like gut punch, all right, like we put a lot of effort between, we thought this was our moment to break through.
Speaker 2:We put a team together to go investigate it, all right, and we found a couple of things out and I won't get too technical with you, but what was occurring was again, search and link, click, all right, and those resumes or those applications would sit inside companies, atss and folks at HR. Yes, they might send a one-off email to the hiring manager, but only if the resume perfectly matched up, like perfectly Okay, and was able to break through the AT. So these ATSs have algorithms where they're looking for keywords and if you don't have those keywords that you don't get through, like, you're sending an automatic rejection letter, right. So if you happen to get through all that, you were sent in a one-off email to a hiring manager, or printed out on a sheet of paper that went on their desk at the job site trailer right, so you never heard back. Right, right, so you never heard back, right. So we put together a process and we've learned as a team.
Speaker 2:In order to scale, you have to denounce the desire to scale, so you have to do things manually. It's like on a job site, Right. Or yet say you haven't been there a couple of days and you're hearing all kinds of chatter man there's, you know, we're hemmed up, like it's not moving, like you've got to literally go and like, all right, I'm coming. You know what I mean Boots on the ground, you're going to go, look at it. You're going to get to the bottom of what's happening, right, you're going to see it, feel it, experience it, and then by the time you leave, you're going to say, ok, here's where we're going, this is what was stopping us. I blocked all that for us, like let's go, right, so similar you got to you got to do things manually. So, in our case, like hundreds and hundreds of text messages a day to both recruiters and workers, like we were doing it Okay and we were pre-screening skills. So like the stuff that actually matters, not long form resume. Okay, we were pre-screening skills with about five questions when are you located? What do you want to do, what's your trade, what's your desired pay and when are you available to work? Right, maybe six. What are your certs? Right? So we're taking that and then we would pass that to the hiring manager.
Speaker 2:Okay, when we start and these were hiring managers that knew they needed people, sometimes HR in these companies for the companies that are listening, managers that knew they needed people, sometimes HR in these companies for the companies that are listening they don't realize the manpower that is needed, like I've been at. I've been at. I've been at company meetings where the folks in HR have said like, yeah, I mean I, you know we've got a couple of positions are open, but you know we don't, we don't necessarily need anybody right now, right, like. That's actually a common comment that we get when we call people to use Boom Nation. They're like no, we're good, we don't really need anybody right now, right, and like. We're always incredibly frustrated about that because we know you need people. Like we know hiring managers, your company that told us to call that said you need people, right, like, and they specifically asked us to call you directly because they've been asking you 10 times to use us.
Speaker 2:So there's this common miscommunication that occurs between folks on the project and within HR interested, pre-screened, sent, hired yes, they still have to process, right, in some cases, go through drug screen or whatever it is. Some cases not, but like literally hiring decision within seven minutes, okay, so that's when we took that moment, all right, and that's that product that we call the bridge, and again, it's about connecting humans. So the core problem that's out there across the entire job search talent search ecosystem is search and click, long form application, right, long form resume, and everybody is completely sick of it. Completely sick of it. I think ZipRecruiter's stock is down to like five bucks a share right now. Yeah, and I think that that is reflected. Now, I haven't dug into it, I may be completely wrong, but I think that is a reflection of the experience, right? Yes, it might be a reflection of the amount of jobs that they're able to get posted up, but that's also a reflection of and we can talk about this for the recruiters that are on this show. It's also a reflection of their pricing model. Doesn't line up with this industry For these industries for a couple of reasons.
Speaker 2:The industries that we serve. They've got demand peaks. When a project comes up, right, they need to hire workers. They need to hire them now. But typically they're behind the eight ball. Okay, because they didn't want to spend the money when they didn't have projects to go try to build their pipeline. Because they can't. I mean, but Cy, you're laughing, but it's like it's everybody and there's a. There's a reason for it. You can't invest in it, right Like you, just can't. You got to feed your family too.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So what we did is we realized that people need to have staying power in these industries. Okay, so we and we align this up with something that will be scalable for us, so that we could have staying power as well to continue to innovate for the industries that we care about. But it's 9.90 a year. 9.90 a year, unlimited job postings, free recruiter seat included in that what a recruiter seat does for you. Now we've opened up our entire database to this industry. Okay, we've got one of the fastest growing databases in this industry in the country, and I think we are the largest to date. So we've opened up the entire database. You can come on, search every single person that's on there, filter by location, trade, whatever it is and engage with them individually. Wow, dude, that's huge. You have more than one recruiter in your company and some of these companies don't, right?
Speaker 2:So, like, small to medium sized businesses are actually the ones that are having the most success on our platform right now because they're willing to engage. They're they're willing to tell their story and they're not stuck in kind of the old corporate ways of doing things that this has to be in my ATS. I want them to click a link and fill out all this information and be there for me, and I want them perfectly credentialed in order for me to consider hiring them. There's transferable skills within these industries, okay, and so, for the first time, we're giving transparency to the transferability of those skills. Right, so there's somebody that has worked on your project before. Maybe you don't have work for them right now, right, but there could be another company within a different industry right around where you are. You may know those guys, right, who need a good worker, who's skilled with their hands and is willing to work and needs work. Now, like, that's not happening, and we're bringing that transparency. We're bringing that transparency, we're bringing that openness, we're bringing that ability for companies to have staying power, to be able to tell their story.
Speaker 2:It's like the content you do. That's the kind of success that companies are having on our platform Consistent content, right, consistent content. And it might not. You know, we've got companies right now that actually they're starting to do what's working. They're not making hires right now, ok, but they are on our platform branding their company and telling their story and they're open about hey, we don't have any work coming up right in the next couple of months, but we've got a lot of work coming up in the fall.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Keep us in line. We're going to be here, we're going to be, but we've got a lot of work coming up in the fall. You know what I mean. Keep us in line. We're going to be here. We're going to be on Boom Nation, right. So when the time comes, come back and connect with us. So we've aligned our pricing model, we've aligned our technology right With what these industries actually need okay, and nobody else is doing it. And we're innovating from a technological perspective in a different way to not just solve the problem problems that are occurring in the industries that you and I serve, but it is the, it is the focal point of the problem that's occurring across the entire job search and talent search ecosystem. And we're proud to say that we're doing it for frontline blue collar workers first, and I've said it a bunch of times, but we say it a bunch of times because we're proud of it, making this experience the envy of the world and all the other job search and talent search opportunities.
Speaker 1:Dude, the targetability factor is huge, dude. I know you kind of briefly just went over that, but man, that's. The big struggle with a lot of these platforms is, yeah, there's data about interaction, but how do I target? How can I get it down to what I want to be talking to, not to all this noise around, to get to maybe three or four?
Speaker 2:So that's something else, too, for the early adopters, like you know, because you do this right, a lot of companies don't know recruiting firms, don't know whatever it is and, by the way, you know, company recruiting agency, you know whoever. It is union non-union. We're Switzerland, right, like we're just trying to solve the problem. It is, uh, union non-union. We're switzerland, right, like we're just trying to solve the problem. Um, uh, but you understand um uh. And let's, let's talk in terms of, like, content creators, right, and some people understand those as influencers, right, the one I know, but the ones that adopt platforms that end up taking off early yeah you know where you'm saying.
Speaker 2:There's a reason for that, though, Cy, and here's why Because once platforms are mature, they got a bunch of algorithmic guard rails, and that's what causes what you're talking about. Like, I can't even break through the noise, man, because everybody's in this. They're just shooting them content that just keeps them plugged in. So the companies that are coming on right now in early platforms 100% organic. So when you post, everybody sees it. There's no algorithmic guardrails in place.
Speaker 1:If you post and you engage consistently, everyone that's on the platform that day sees the content that you posted. Well, guys, it sounds like Boom Nation is fixing to be a partner with the marketing campaign that we got going on. Here at bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom, we do have an active sponsor for the final segment, the final segment of the day, and I just want to briefly mention them. Um, you guys have been watching me go through this marketing campaign and exactly what I've been doing. But bluecollarperformancemarketingcom you can check them out there bc performancemarketingcom um, gentleman there has been working with me and the content creation of youtube and kind of behind the scenes with the podcastvideoscom team and has transformed and converted some sales for SciComm, which is great but at the same time, wasn't necessarily the direct path. The podcast is here for awareness and YouTube is more for excavation.
Speaker 1:Business owners and anybody that, just like Brent was talking about, is getting into this content creation that is trying to figure out hey, what do I need to be doing? I just need a website to start. He is giving you guys an absolute exclusive, a free comp audit for all BCB listeners. Exclusive to you guys. Go check him out at bcperformancemarketingcom, slash bcb-podcast to get your free audit. So sounds like Boom Nation's probably going to be coming in, coming in clutch here pretty quick. We're going to be throwing some video content over there. I did not even realize, brent. I got to apologize that you guys were coming so strong on the video side, but it sounds like we're going to be posting some stuff on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, we're working hard, Si, I mean we're innovating quickly. So you know where the platform is. Today is going to be rapidly changing for the good. So you know, since the last time you looked at it, which wasn't that long ago, we've come a long way. So, and that's hard stuff to do, honestly, it just is, and it takes time, just like when you take on a major project or construction site. It just takes time. So we're committed here, man, we are. We're committed to build and innovate and to do it for the right reasons and for the people that we appreciate and that we come from, right? So we don't think that anybody else is looking out for this group of folks Me neither, buddy, they aren't. You know, there's other organizations that do for other types of trades and opportunities and occupations, and we see the opportunity to be able to be their voice and not to stand in their way, to stand in the background, right.
Speaker 2:And allow them to be a solution. That's correct.
Speaker 1:Final thing for you, brother. I ask everybody on every episode what's a takeaway for that blue collar worker, that skilled tradesman that is just sitting there maybe on his job site, but he's just sick and tired of being stuck in life, Kind of just in general, just stuck in the mud, mentally, physically, emotionally. Little piece of advice before we go away here.
Speaker 2:Man, uh, two things, Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna start one with one that's unselfish, all right. So, um, I had, I heard a saying recently and, uh, I heard it at the right time. You know, look, it's hard for us to be not building. Stuff is hard, whether you're doing in the virtual spaces or in the physical world. All right, and it was. Are you focused on your vision or are you focused on your circumstances? Right.
Speaker 2:And then, accompanied with that, accompanied with that, was consistency over intensity, right. So, like, when we're in tough situations, okay, you typically think that you've got to have that intensity to get out of it, to get out of that rut, right. But most of the time it has to do with consistency, just showing up every day and focusing on that vision over circumstance, vision over circumstance, vision over circumstance, vision over circumstance. And if you do that consistently every single day, it'll surprise you in how short of a time period, you know, your attitude will switch, your mind will switch and something will break through for you. So, unselfishly, consistency over intensity and vision over circumstance right.
Speaker 2:And I don't know if this is selfishly, because we're building this for blue-collar folks, but come join, man Like this is a really supportive community.
Speaker 2:I can't tell you how many times you got folks coming on like, hey, I'm stuck in a rut, and you got other folks that are chiming in right, like, hey, man, just keep going. We got folks that come on with content, that like they just love leadership stuff, you know. So come consume content. If you don't want to engage, right, we're not charging anything for it right now, we're not getting paid for it right, at some point you'll have some advertising and stuff like that, but we're going to do it intentionally. And then I would say look, if you're, if you absolutely need another opportunity, okay, come find it Right, whether that's through networking with other folks here on the platform and asking them if they know of any opportunities, or filling out your profile with your skills and saying that you're actively looking for work and applying for and connecting with those recruiters that are on Boom Nation. So that's what I would leave the audience with Cy man absolute pleasure.
Speaker 1:If you guys have enjoyed this episode, make sure you check out bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom. Just make sure to leave us a rating and follow at the end of the episode. Man, mr Brent, thank you so much for joining us and, uh, enlightening myself as well about boom nation. It sounds like we're gonna have some psycon content coming out on boom nation. I'm really excited about that. But go find boom nation guys on the app store, ios store. Go check them out online.
Speaker 1:It is. It is a really unique built experience for the blue collar minded skilled trades folk. You need it on your phone. It's the app to be scrolling to encourage, get encouragement, y'all. Just go check it out. You'll see for yourself. And, as you guys have heard Brent talk about, he is always rapidly moving the can down the road. So until next time, guys. I really appreciate you tuning in and we'll catch you next time. If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to give it a like, share it with the fellers. Check out our website to send us any questions and comments about your experience in the blue collar business. Who do you want to hear from? Send them our way and we'll do our best to answer any questions you may have. Till next time, guys.