Monday, April 21, 2008

Carrollton’s RiseSmart aims to find $100,000-plus jobseekers a position the easy way

By Minnie Payne

Sanjay Sathe, president/CEO RiseSmart

CARROLLTON — In today’s economy with many companies downsizing or consolidating, top executives in the $100,000-plus-a-year job range are finding themselves displaced. Ask any person who has ever been or is in this spot and they’ll tell you that it’s a full-time job trying to find that perfect position. RiseSmart, a Carrollton firm, aims to help through their 26-member off-shore “concierge” service to jobseekers.

RiseSmart was co-founded by 45-year-old president/CEO Sanjay Sathe after he was ousted from a four-year term as vice president of enterprise data management position for Sabre Holdings when Sabre was acquired by another company and downsizing took place.

“As I went into transition, looking for a job online, I realized it was a big mess, so I took it upon myself to solve the problem and alleviate pain for everyone who was looking for a change,” he said.

Sathe earned a Master of Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, Philippines in 1988 and has 23 years experience in marketing.

“People are looking to us to solve their problem in a speedy fashion, and we save them time and drive return in their job search,” said Sathe. “We want every potential customer to experience our service before they buy it, so we give a free three-day trial for everyone who signs up and within the first 48 hours, they get results.”

The cost for a one-month plan is $43.95 - the cost of a nice dinner in a restaurant - and $109.95 for a three-month plan, he said. After the three-day free trial, 80 percent of customers stay on and a typical member participates for five months.

He explains that the service his company provides is done through a 26-member team called “concierges” based in India. Once the client registers and their preferences are taken, the entire job-searching process is done by sophisticated state of the art technology that does the heavy lifting.

“We go across the Internet and bring back job results, and then those results are cleaned up by technology,” said Sathe. “Once the concierge gets the results, they use the client’s resume and preferences and further filter through the results.

“Then on a weekly basis, the concierge feeds the results to the client by e-mailing them and telling them to go to the website and take a look. There is no telephone contact.”

The concierges are all professionals with college degrees with a minimum of three to four years of human resources experience, having worked with Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing companies, he explained.

“They have the experience of understanding U.S. culture and the U.S. workplace environment,” said Sathe. “In addition to this training, after they come onboard they go through an extensive training program for a month which consists of two weeks of classroom training and two weeks of on-the-job training.

“Only if they pass that training do they actually get on the floor.”

A big factor that many people ignore is the importance of a good resume, he said. RiseSmart works with certified professional resume writers to assure that a client’s resume is written to feature marketable skills and achievements in a manner that puts him or her at the top of a company’s search list.

“When I started my job search, I realized there was a huge gap between the numerous open senior marketing positions available across the United States and my ability to get to them,” said Martin White, a senior marketing executive based in Dallas. “I was previously a member of TheLadders and even though they did have some senior positions on their site, I still had to do all the work in going across a multitude of pages to find relevant positions.

“At RiseSmart, I get the relevant opportunities served up to me, based on my preferences.”

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