How Entelo’s Do-Good Ethos Inspires Professional Growth

It’s a Friday afternoon. Men and women – some wearing suits, others in jeans – sit at communal dining tables in the large open kitchen at the center of the office. The “suits” sit opposite the “jeans,” and everyone waits quietly. All of a sudden: “Go!” says a woman at the front of the room holding a timer. Immediately, the suits begin talking to the jeans, sharing their interests, skill sets – what they’re looking for in a career. The noise and conversation continues at full volume, even after the woman at the front of the room calls out “Time’s up!” There is laughter, continued chatter, then the suits stand up and move down one seat. With new pairs formed, the scene repeats itself. It’s a scene that happens every few months at Entelo with the students of the Stride Center, a nonprofit organization working to empower SF Bay Area communities with the skills they need to be self-sufficient and succeed in the workforce. As each cohort of Stride Center students (the “suits”) prepares for their search for an entry-level job, they spend an afternoon working with Entelo employees (the “jeans”) to refine their networking, interviewing skills, and elevator pitches: one-minute summaries of their professional background, what they’re looking for in a new role, and why they’re qualified. It’s an opportunity for Stride Center candidates to get ready for the job hunt ahead, but it’s also a memorable, impactful experience for Entelopes*.

Taking a top-down approach to driving positive change

Helping others is in Entelo’s roots and core to our mission. Our company was founded on the premise that hiring people could be done in a way that’s mutually beneficial for candidates’ and companies’ long-term goals, a principle that extends to our own people practices. Our commitment to helping people is multilayered and interconnected. We help our communities, we help companies find great employees, we help people find jobs they love, and we help each other. From the start, we’ve also matched employee contributions to charitable organizations, up to $1,000 for an employee each year – a kind of matching that’s typically found only at larger orgs. To celebrate our customers’ wins in growing their teams, Entelo created Hiring For Good, the country’s first “one for one” enterprise giving program, similar to the “buy one, give one” model used by consumer companies like Tom’s and Warby Parker. Here’s how HFG works: For each hire our customers make using the Entelo platform, we support one IT certification test for an adult student at the Stride Center, or we donate one year of coding education to an underprivileged girl attending CodeEd. By collaborating with people in underserved communities, we strive to support ongoing learning and help men and women of all ages develop professional skills, grow their network, and get their foot in the door for a job. Our Entelopes are also inspired to find their own ways to do more good. In November, a group of Entelopes formed a “Movember” team, growing mustaches to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer research. Another team member helped locate a nonprofit that our company “adopted” for the holidays, matching over 50 community members’ wish lists with fellow gift-giving Entelopes. We also regularly volunteer at Glide, serving meals to some of San Francisco’s marginalized communities. In our core values, we’ve codified our commitment to giving back and being aware of the positive impact we should have on the world around us. Success isn’t only measured through our business growth – it’s focusing on sharing knowledge and empowering others to better our community.

The importance of offering and encouraging work with a cause

The importance of our philanthropy mission also influences how we hire and retain people. So often, we’ll meet candidates who identify with the work we do in the world around us and want to be a part of it. Our teams also commend our deep commitment to supporting our communities and even seek out and share more causes we should champion. This recognition not only lets us know our community work makes an undeniable difference, but that we’re also inspiring others to become changemakers – offering an outlet for service and a progressive working environment that encourages helping one another. When companies function in silos and neglect how their work can benefit the local community, there’s a huge missed opportunity to nurture employees and employers into transforming the world around them. Empower your employees with the resources and invaluable support to do good. Offer work that matters; the benefits are tenfold and go far beyond the office.

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*Entelopes: A term of endearment we use to identify our Entelo selves. Entelo was recognized as one of Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2017. If you’re interested in being a part of what we’re working on, we’d love to hear from you. Come join us – we’re hiring!