Nubel: January newsletter

Hi there!

This is our first newsletter sent from Beehiiv. If you have any comments or suggestions on how we use this platform, let me know.

Let’s jump right into our latest updates:

Last month, I shared that we discovered hiring managers value seeing candidates in short videos. These videos give them a much better sense of a candidate’s personality, communication skills, and energy levels. However, they also want to see these videos before they actually need them. So we thought: Can we build a talent pool with videos? And so, our experiments began.

We structured our first experiment as a challenge—a time-scoped initiative with clear expected outcomes. However, this format introduced a few characteristics that didn’t quite align with Nubel’s value proposition, including elements of competition and luck.

No one completed the challenge properly. Experiment failed. Meaning, we couldn’t really validate or disprove our hypothesis.

After a few days of analysis, we decided to go directly to the source: talking 1-on-1 with job seekers.

We invited a group of job seekers to our office at Northeastern University in Downtown Vancouver, asked them lots of questions, and had them test our video recording feature while we observed their feedback and reactions.

(Heartfelt thank you 🫶 to everyone who participated!)

Key learnings from user testing

I’ve conducted a lot of in-person user testing sessions. You can prepare a list of questions, structure the meeting, and set expectations. But in reality, the best insights come from open-ended questions combined with a few tasks. You expect to learn certain things, but you always end up learning those and 100 more things. It’s magic ✨

Here’s what we learned:

• Recording videos is stressful. We already assumed this, but watching people actually freak out when the camera turned on was a whole different level of learning.

• Our question generation system wasn’t great. We had been using OpenAI’s API to generate questions dynamically, but this turned out to be an inefficient approach.

• Job seekers will go to great lengths to stand out. This is a major pain point for them.

• They are open to trying new methods to achieve this.

• UI/UX is critical. Our audience is primarily tech professionals, and they’re used to highly sophisticated apps.

• There’s a huge difference in behavior between active job seekers and those just exploring options.

And the list goes on. Talking to users is the best. I just wish someone had told me that earlier (??

What’s next?

We took job seekers’ feedback and built a new experiment. This time, we’re taking a longer-term approach, working very closely with job seekers to build a product they love.

The goals:

1. Nubel helps them get jobs.

2. They love using it.

To help them get jobs, we need job opportunities. So…

Employer initiatives

Having talented professionals on our platform isn’t enough—we need quality jobs to connect them with. Also, from a business perspective, employers are our customers ($).

Here’s what we’re doing:

1. Nubel Job Connect

We’re launching small job-seeker groups (up to 12 people) that meet weekly with one goal: getting jobs.

• The only ask: Use Nubel actively.

• The only requirement: Be serious about getting a job.

• The extras: Mentorship sessions, mock interviews, resume feedback, and more.

The first cohort kicks off next week! If you or someone you know wants to join, reach out to Gabi at [email protected].

2. Client onboarding

Maybe I should’ve led with this—we’re onboarding our first customer onto the platform!! 🎉🎉 I can’t share the name yet, but it’s an international company with over 10,000 employees. They’ll initially use Nubel to hire contractors.

3. Helping companies hire talent (for free! 💡)

We’re offering companies (especially in Vancouver) help with their job openings.
For free.
Why?

1. We want to share these opportunities with our community.

2. We want employer feedback to build a product they actually love.

How you can support Nubel

• Hiring or know someone who is?
  Post your job at Nubel.ca or email me. I’ll help for free in exchange for your feedback. The only condition? You’re serious about filling the role, not just testing the waters.

  • No placement fees.

  • No commission.

  • Currency: feedback.

• Do you mentor job seekers or offer career services?
  Join Nubel Job Connect and help job seekers land jobs. Reach out to [email protected].

Other updates

• We’ll be at Web Summit Vancouver in May! 🎉 We’ll have a booth and will pitch in front of a big crowd.

• We started collaborating with CICCC.ca. Exciting things ahead!

• Our community is growing. Stay updated on our events at Lu.ma/NubelConnect.

That’s it for now! If you have any comments or questions, PLEASE reach out. If you’d do anything differently, I’d love to hear it: [email protected] or just reply to this email.

Keep rocking!
Abel