Our Story
Turning Sourcing Challenges Into Opportunities
A Vision Rooted in
Innovation
Refer.io was born from a simple yet profound observation: sourcing great talent has always been one of the biggest challenges for employers. Ryan Kohler, the founder of ApplicantPro and now CEO of Refer.io, has spent nearly two decades in the HR tech space, helping employers tackle this very challenge. His journey began with creating one of the most effective applicant tracking systems (ATS) in the market—ApplicantPro.
From the start, the mission wasn’t just about tracking applicants but solving the core problem of sourcing talent. ApplicantPro’s early success came from optimizing job board distribution, reducing application friction, and driving applicant flow. Yet, one inefficiency loomed large: countless job seekers visited career sites but left without applying.
This insight sparked an idea —
"What if we could capture those candidates before they left? What if we could keep them engaged, even if they weren’t ready to apply immediately?"
The Birth of
Refer.io
In 2013, the refer.io team built a small widget for ApplicantPro career sites that asked visitors a simple question:
“Would you like to sign up for job alerts?”
It was a novel concept, a strategic way to engage passive job seekers and re-market job opportunities to them. Over time, this widget evolved into refer.io, a standalone platform.
Our mission was clear:
To help employers build an owned audience of job seekers rather than relying solely on external job boards. It started with capturing a few thousand subscribers a day. Today, that number has grown to nearly 30,000 new subscribers daily, resulting in a talent pool of nearly 20 million subscribers.
Every month, Refer.io sends over 100 million emails, delivering job opportunities and employer branding content directly to the inboxes of job seekers with 65% average open rates—a number that most marketing teams would envy.
Expanding the Vision
While Refer.io’s core was always job alerts, we realized two critical gaps:
Lack of Compelling Messaging
Job alerts were effective but often repetitive, listing the same jobs without any context about the employer’s culture, values, or work environment. This missed opportunity to build relationships with candidates over time.
Limited Employer Control
Employers lacked the tools to personalize these emails or track their impact. They needed a better platform to manage their subscriber base, analyze results, and enhance their outreach.
Thus, the Refer.io dashboard was born
— a comprehensive solution that empowers employers to take control of their job alerts and transform them into talent newsletters. This platform allows employers to manage their subscriber base, add meaningful content about their company, and track the influence of their efforts down to the hires.
Building Relationships
Refer.io helps employers transition from transactional hiring to relationship-driven recruitment by engaging candidates even when there isn’t an immediate job opening.
Empowering Employers
With features like company messaging, custom email signatures, and subscriber segmentation, Refer.io gives employers the tools to showcase their unique value proposition.
Today and Beyond
Refer.io continues to grow, helping employers turn their ATS databases into sourcing engines. By combining the power of job alerts, employer branding, and recruitment marketing, Refer.io enables organizations to build self-sustaining talent pipelines that reduce reliance on job boards and third-party recruiters.
Whether you’re just starting with job alerts or ready to transform them into a sophisticated talent newsletter strategy, Refer.io is here to help.
