With SC&I alumnus Danny Breslauer JMS ’10 as co-founder, the newly launched company Breakthrough Jobs is stepping in to solve a major weakness in the modern hiring landscape.
In today’s job market, applicants often face a painfully slow hiring process, sometimes waiting weeks or even months for a single reply, resulting in a backlog for hiring managers eager to fill positions and stress and confusion for the applicants.
After spending years closely observing how both employers and candidates struggle with this hiring system, which they describe as "broken," Danny Breslauer JMS'10 and his co-founder Greg Zimmerman have developed a cutting-edge solution through the launch of their new company Breakthrough Jobs ( breakjobs.ai).
"Our mission is simple: to dramatically increase the speed at which hiring teams can identify top talent and schedule first calls," said Breslauer. "We have already seen significant success with initial clients, who report an impressive ~90% reduction in time spent on resume reviews. We think this tool can be especially useful for companies that are hiring for high-volume positions at the junior and mid-senior levels."
Breslauer and Zimmerman—both New Jersey natives (Zimmerman graduated from Rutgers Prep) who met as classmates in the MBA program at NYU’s Stern School of Business—said they were inspired to address this issue by leveraging emerging technology, because AI can “automate and innovate, providing dignity to both hiring teams and job candidates.”
"Breakthrough Jobs offers a completely new hiring experience because it's based upon a resume analysis technology that we developed that utilizes AI to score, rank, and provide robust, contextual feedback on candidates," Breslauer said.
Explaining that they initially launched the company as a "passion project to streamline the employer screening process," Breslauer said they now aim to "revolutionize the entire hiring landscape. We're starting by empowering companies with AI-driven resume analysis, but our ultimate vision is to create a more efficient, transparent, and effective way for everyone to approach the job application process."
Breslauer, who said his post-Rutgers career has been incredibly diverse—from sports broadcasting to business school to digital media to content licensing to software sales to AI entrepreneurship— said he largely credits his years on the Banks for his diverse skillset and success.
"My Journalism and Media Studies background at Rutgers SC&I provided me with the writing chops to be successful in any business arena, and the invaluable years at WRSU as sports director and general manager taught me how to work with and manage people from all backgrounds and personality types."
Read our Q&A with Breslauer to learn more about how he and Zimmerman developed their unique AI solution and how it differs from other recruiting tools, and his advice for SC&I students interested in following in his footsteps at SC&I and beyond.
How does Breakthrough’s AI technology work to analyze and rank resumes — and what makes it different from other recruiting tools?
DB: The job description and the resume are the main currencies to provide a signal to Breakthrough. Those two inputs give our model the necessary information to provide scoring, robust matching and contextual feedback about each candidate relative to a role. We’ve done a significant amount of user interviews and competitive analysis, and are confident that the analysis provided by Breakthrough is more thorough than any current resume analysis product on the market. Our user interface and experience are intuitive and clean, and can provide employers with an excellent complementary tool to their existing applicant tracking system, or serve as its own standalone solution for companies without complicated HR software products, but a need for robust candidate analysis.
You’ve reported a ~90% reduction in resume review time — can you share more about how you achieved that and what clients are saying?
DB: The technology that we’ve developed to analyze resumes against existing job descriptions is allowing hiring teams to focus on higher-value parts of the HR value chain while running resumes through Breakthrough. Initial clients reported spending ~45 seconds per resume manually to even take a cursory look at any applicant and decide whether they should advance to a more critical overview of their background. Within five seconds, Breakthrough can score and rank that resume, while providing substantial feedback on the applicant relative to every single line in a job description. Clients are extremely pleased by time savings, being able to assess every resume from high-volume roles and receiving far more detailed feedback about potential gaps between a candidate and a position (e.g. overqualification, certifications, etc.)
How do you ensure that your AI-driven approach remains fair, unbiased, and beneficial for both employers and job seekers?
DB: We are absolutely sensitive to keeping the job application fair and unbiased. When we started Breakthrough, this ethos was at the center given the black hole that job candidates face when they’re on the market. Simultaneously, HR teams are overwhelmed by the influx of resumes in this market. As the tool continues to improve with AI’s development, we’re consistently monitoring for any indication of bias in our output, and will prioritize addressing them if discovered.
Also, it’s worth noting that our tool is leveling the applicants’ playing field in the job application process. Historically, hiring managers take a time-based application approach during which they only look at a certain number of candidates based on when they apply. Because they don’t have the proper tools, they leave the majority of their applicants unreviewed. This can lead to qualified candidates not being looked at, and a company making a hiring decision based on when someone applies and not who the best applicant is. Our tool allows employers to thoroughly review all candidates, and hire the best overall fit.
Do you have any advice for any SC&I students interested in following in your academic and professional footsteps?
DB: I’d tell any student at Rutgers to take advantage of the resources available to them both at SC&I and in the student-run clubs, in order to learn how to work in teams and collaborate while building something. This helps you learn what makes you tick on a daily basis. I’m a Scarlet Knight for life and SC&I and WRSU are a big reason why.
Discover more about Breakthrough Jobs on the website: breakjobs.ai
Learn more about the Journalism and Media Studies Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website.
