The Innovation Project: Don Charlton

Don Charlton is Founder and Chief Product Officer of Jazz Recruiting Software.

Don Charlton, Founder and Chief Product Officer
Jazz Recruiting Software
 

Many small businesses lack the tools, processes and data to make informed and impactful decisions when hiring employees. That’s why Don Charlton founded Jazz Recruiting Software.

“Small businesses do not have a loud voice in the market to attract top talent,” says Charlton. “I started the company to give these small business owners the same tools used by large organizations to source, screen, interview and ultimately hire great employees.”

Originally called The Resumator, Jazz “helps small and fast-growing businesses bring their entire recruiting process online, so it’s easier to manage and results in better-performing hires.”

Jazz offers companies the tools to widely post job openings, screen resumes remotely, track applicants, analyze recruitment data and more.

“Many of the most valuable and now industry-standard features in our market were invented right here at Jazz,” says Charlton. “Most recruiting solutions share our DNA.”

Charlton started Jazz in 2009 as one of the first companies in the AlphaLab accelerator, a program of Innovation Works to fund and support early-stage companies.

“The great thing about Pittsburgh is you have an entire city rooting for you,” says Charlton. “We feel like in many ways we were one of the companies – with the invaluable support of [Innovation Works’] AlphaLab – that helped usher in a renewed interest in startups in Pittsburgh.”

Jazz started as a company of one while in AlphaLab.  Today, Jazz has 60 employees, offices in Pittsburgh and Massachusetts and thousands of clients including bitly, Red Bull, 4moms and NatureBox. Charlton hopes the company will continue to grow and become “the most widely used recruiting solution in the world.” Until then, Jazz remains focused on businesses’ most valuable resources.

“I’m proud of the fact that Jazz is helping businesses with what matters most – its employees,” says Charlton. “We’re working to help businesses make better hiring decisions, so the right people find the right jobs, and the economy benefits.”