Riverview, N.B. recruitment automation startup CandidateHub.io is eyeing sales to private healthcare facilities in the United States after receiving $50,000 from Kaleidoscope Social Impact, a Saint John-based social impact investor that offers loans and training programs to entrepreneurs.

CandidateHub CEO Brad DiPaolo said in an interview that his company is aiming to help private hospital operators re-engage people who previously applied for jobs, with the aim of helping alleviate what observers have described not just as a talent crunch, but a talent crisis in the healthcare field.

The advantage of pursuing private hospitals, DiPaolo explained, is they can move faster than public institutions and usually have more money to spend on technology. Then, once the company has a few such clients on the roster, he hopes to use those customers as proof-of-concept to pursue deals with Canadian health authorities.

The Kaleidoscope deal took the form of a convertible note, a type of short-term debt that can be converted to equity.

“When we have success with a few hospitals in the U.S., we can take that to the CAN Health Network and start to impact the healthcare system here in Canada,” said DiPaolo, referring to the organization that acts essentially as a technology-buying consortium for Canadian healthcare organizations.

“It’s a chance for us to use our technology for some good. It’s a change for us to work with an industry that will give us some quicker traction.”

Large organizations use software called applicant-tracking systems that log the details of everyone who ever applies for a job. DiPaolo prefers reaching out to former applicants who may have previously been passed over or accepted an offer from a different employer as a way to fill hiring gaps.

And the need to address those gaps is acute. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, 230,000 people quit the healthcare industry in the U.S. And in Canada, from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2022, job vacancies in healthcare nearly doubled, according to Statistics Canada.

CandidateHub was originally launched with the aim of letting employers peer into the “hidden talent market” — job-seekers who are eyeing a potential employer, but haven’t formally reached out. But the company’s software can also be used to sift through old data from applicant-tracking systems with the hope of reviving stale applications in a process called retargeting.

“(Hospitals) are having a hard time in getting ahold of new candidates and bringing in new candidates through the pipeline,” said DiPaolo.

“Potential clients that we've talked to said application rates are down by over 40 percent. Where they used to get three-and-a-half applications per candidate, they're only getting one-and-a-half. So they don't have the luxury of letting a candidate slip through the cracks.”

CandidateHub’s software originally launched in 2020, and DiPaolo’s team added a retargeting feature integrated with Facebook in late 2022 after receiving sign-off from the social media giant.

Now they have won approval to do the same on LinkedIn, which in addition to being a social media site, is one of the world’s largest jobs boards, with more than 40 million people searching for openings each week.

CandidateHub so far has two employees and an advisor in the U.K., where the company has previously worked to expand. And DiPaolo is looking to raise $500,000 to $700,000 of equity funding later this year.

In a statement, investor Kaleidoscope said backing CandidateHub is part of its mission to back social enterprises.

“In Candidate Hub, we see a recruitment tool that can reactivate lost leads while inherently eliminating bias during early stages of the recruitment process,” said Kaleidoscope.

“Brad and the team are knowledgable, and getting traction in a significant market, so it made a lot of sense for us to get involved.”