BluCollr is a specialized employment social network created by and for people who earn a living in the manual trades and seasonal employment industries.

From carpenters to wait staff, auto mechanics to farmhands, BluCollr aims to match skilled and unskilled workers with employers in industries where studies consistently show there will be more jobs than people to fill them in the coming years.

BluCollr will also seamlessly integrate into the growing “gig economy” by enabling employers to quickly and efficiently fill temporary skilled and unskilled labor gigs.

BluCollr offers a long-overdue and much-needed improvement to the current way in which men and women in the working trades and seasonal labor industries find employment, and seeks to reestablish pride and interest in the skilled and unskilled trades as we help to open up these jobs to a wider cross-section of the population.

By investing in BluCollr, you will be joining us on the journey toward changing the way working people find work.

Chris Lawrence and Chris Carsten

Founders, BluCollr, LLC.

To answer this question, let’s take a step back and think about how employers in these industries hire workers, what matters to them from a knowledge, skills and abilities standpoint, and how this differs from the white collar professional world.

Together, our founders have decades’ worth of cumulative experience working (and looking for work) in industries ranging from general construction to trucking and food service. Throughout the course of their careers, they found employment opportunities the old-fashioned way – through classified ads, walk-ins and word-of-mouth.

This is because employers in our target industries often rely on passive rather than proactive means of finding new employees, such as posting a job ad and waiting for applicants to respond. This is particularly troubling when one considers that these types of industries tend to be dominated by small businesses, which often lack the human resources capabilities of their white collar counterparts. (Sources: Fast Workforce, TLNT, US Small Business Administration, Paychex) 

For anyone who hasn’t worked in the trades, this probably sounds incredibly inefficient and strangely antiquated in the internet age – why not just use [insert preferred employment social networking platform] to find potential employees? The answer is fairly simple: because many of the most popular employment social networking platforms are overwhelmingly used by white collar professionals rather than tradespeople (Source: Business Insider). 

To understand this phenomenon, let's consider the core design of one of the largest and most popular employment social networking platforms. User profiles on this platform are essentially digital versions of the traditional résumé or CV, designed to showcase work history and education. Employers and recruiters can proactively search these digital résumés to find potential candidates who meet the professional and educational requirements for their job openings. (Sources: Lifewire, Business Insider)

However, in the manual trades, your résumé is far less important than your ability to perform your trade competently and professionally. In addition, workers in many of our target industries are hired on a temporary basis or for specific projects; this leads to a high turnover rate making their work histories far too varied for the traditional résumé format (Sources: The Balance Careers, Creative Business Resources). 

Consequently, tradespeople often market themselves through visual portfolios of their work, detailed descriptions of their specific skillsets and referrals from industry peers. Unsurprisingly, many of our target industries were among the least represented in a 2016 study of users by industry on the same employment social networking site mentioned above. (Sources: The Balance Careers, Bizfluent, Monster, LinkedIn Pulse)

From the employer perspective, skilled and unskilled labor jobs are becoming increasingly difficult to fill. As a result, many employers in our target industries are struggling to attract interest in their fields and market themselves to prospective employees. (Source: CNBC, Associated General Contractors of America, Horton, Associated General Contractors of America)

But what if we could change all that? Through the BluCollr platform, users will be able to create virtual portfolios that showcase their work, detail their specific skillsets and highlight referrals from peers. Conversely, businesses will be able to create company profiles to showcase flagship projects, highlight training/apprenticeship opportunities and describe their company culture. 

Employers will now be able to proactively find the right workers for specific roles or projects based on virtual portfolio searches, while prospective employees will be able to research potential employers, job openings and careers in the trades through employer portfolio searches.

Essentially, we believe BluCollr will be a game-changer for the skilled, unskilled and seasonal labor markets by revolutionizing the way employers and tradespeople connect and communicate online.

• BluCollr seeks to be the premier employment social network for the skilled, unskilled and seasonal labor markets, and designed to cater specifically to the human resources needs of these industries 
• BluCollr will be marketed exclusively to employers and employees in the manual and seasonal trades
• BluCollr was created by working people for working people - our founders understand the needs of both workers and employers in our target industries  
• Blucollr's focus on portfolio, skills and reputation differentiates us from employment social networks that focus on education and employment history 
• BluCollr will be of immediate value to users as a virtual portfolio and networking tool that can be leveraged in a variety of ways beyond the job-seeking process  
• BluCollr will allow employers in our target industries to proactively find workers with the rights skills for the right job rather than relying on passive means of recruitment  

Essentially, we believe BluCollr will become the industry standard for employment social networking in the skilled, unskilled and seasonal labor markets, revolutionizing the way working people find work. 

Studies and labor statistics consistently show observed and expected growth in our target industries, indicating the need for a more efficient means of hiring workers to meet current and anticipated labor demands. This is particularly true for small businesses, which tend to dominate these sectors, and often struggle with their human resources needs. (Sources: Forbes/Sageworks, US Small Business Administration, Paychex)

To put this into perspective, seven of the top 10 industries with the highest sales growth rates in 2016 were related to construction. Construction-related industries with the fastest sales growth in 2016 included building finishing contractors, residential and nonresidential builders, contractors that work on foundations and building exteriors, and contractors that install or service mechanical systems such as electricity, water, elevators and heating and cooling. Each of these industries experienced sales growth in 2016 of at least 13 percent. (Source: Forbes/Sageworks)

In terms of expected growth, employment of construction and extraction occupations alone is projected to grow by 11 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the average for all occupations, resulting in a gain of nearly 750,000 new jobs. In addition, several of the fastest growing occupations in the US are skilled trades, to include renewable energy installers and technicians. Overall growth in the economy and population will also increase the demand for new buildings, roads, and other structures, which will result in the creation of new jobs to meet these demands. (Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pew)

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are now more job openings than there are workers, making it harder for employers to find qualified candidates to fill open positions. Truck driving, construction, carpentry and electrical work are some of the industries being hit hardest by this labor gap. To put this into perspective, 80 percent of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce. (Sources: CNBC, Associated General Contractors of America)  

According to the 2018 Small Business Profile published by the US Small Business Administration, most of our target industries were dominated by small businesses from an employment share perspective. Several maintained an employment share of well over 50 percent including Construction (82 percent), Accommodation and Food Services (61 percent) and Agriculture (85 percent). (Source: US Small Business Administration)

Since December 2016, the Small Business Optimism Index has averaged an unprecedented 105.4, well above the 45-year average of 98 and rivaling the all-time high of 108.0 in July 1983; small business owners continue to report astounding optimism as they celebrate strong sales, the creation of jobs and more profits. (Source: National Federation of Independent Businesses)

(Source: National Federation of Independent Businesses)

However, the improving economy makes it harder to find qualified workers and raises pressure to increase compensation. The shortage of qualified workers has reached record highs, and the number of small business owners who plan to raise compensation is at one of the highest levels in history. This challenge is likely to be exacerbated by the fact that many small businesses struggle to meet their human resources needs; a 2017 survey of small business owners revealed that nearly 40 percent reported a lack of confidence in their ability to onboard new hires. (Source: Associated General Contractors of America, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Paychex)

So what does this all mean? That there will almost certainly be more jobs and better paying jobs for skilled, unskilled and seasonal workers being created over the next decade. We seek to capitalize on this growth and provide a valuable service to working people and employers through a dedicated platform designed to meet their unique human resources needs.

(Source: Business Insider)

Monetization of BluCollr will be achieved primarily through social advertising revenue* by leveraging the marketing data generated by our users.

Social ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to surpass $30 billion by 2021, according to estimates by BI Intelligence. This figure is up from an estimated $15.5 billion in social ad revenue in 2016 and represents a five-year compound annual growth rate of 15 percent. We aim to capitalize on this growth by providing a vehicle for our advertisers to reach the unique demographics represented by our users. (Source: Business Insider)

The beauty of the BluCollr model is that our users (both employers and employees) will, by necessity, self-identify valuable marketing data (location, industry, etc.) upon registration. This data will allow us to offer our advertisers non-invasive, targeted marketing opportunities aimed at their core consumers.

*Social advertising is advertising that relies on social information or networks in generating, targeting and delivering marketing communications.

For example, let’s take a hypothetical user who is a general contractor living in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Based on this information alone (the bare minimum this individual would need to provide to use the BluCollr platform), we already know of a host of brands, products and services that are almost certainly of interest to this user – building material suppliers, tool manufacturers, work apparel manufacturers, hardware stores, construction machinery manufacturers, etc. – as well as the user’s home market.  

We can also extrapolate additional brands, products and services that are likely of interest to this user based on marketing data related to the user’s demographic (large retail brands, automotive brands, food/drink brands, entertainment, retail appeal brands, etc.). Now if we expand this concept to a larger number of users fitting the same profile (i.e. every user who is a general contractor in the Cincinnati, Ohio area) we have a perfect target demographic for several of the aforementioned brands, products and services.

To put this into perspective, consider the case of one of the largest building supply retailers in the US. According to Adweek, professional contractors make up just 3 percent of its customers, but generate 40 percent of its revenue. The same building supply retailer spent nearly $790 million on marketing in 2016 alone, more than 50 percent of which was spent on digital marketing. (Sources: Adweek, eMarketer)

BluCollr will create an opportunity for this retailer to directly reach its key demographic – professional contractors – with a high degree of certainty through a single platform without the invasive data harvesting or probabilistic algorithms required by most social networking platforms. In essence, we will be able to offer our advertisers an ironclad guarantee that their ads are being viewed by their target audience – potential customers who will be professionally interested in not only viewing their ads, but in buying their products.

Based on our research, both employers and workers in the trades and seasonal labor industries are using antiquated means of networking, finding jobs and hiring workers because existing employment social networks and websites do not meet their specific human resources needs. Studies and labor statistics consistently show observed and expected growth in these industries, indicating the need for a more efficient means of connecting employers and employees in the skilled, unskilled and seasonal labor markets. 

We believe BluCollr will provide a unique and innovative solution to the human resources needs of the skilled, unskilled and seasonal labor markets. BluCollr's virtual portfolio system will allow tradespeople to store and showcase their work, and connect with industry peers and employers. BluCollr will also enable employers in these industries to proactively find workers with the right skills to meet their employment needs. We believe BluCollr will become the industry standard for employment social networking in these industries, revolutionizing the way working people find work. 

BluCollr will generate revenue through social advertising – an established business model for social networking websites and applications – that will capitalize on the marketing data generated by our users. This data will allow us to offer our advertisers non-invasive, targeted marketing opportunities aimed at their core consumers. 

Social ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to surpass $30 billion by 2021, and market data indicates that our target advertisers -  building material suppliers, tool manufacturers, work apparel manufacturers, hardware stores, construction machinery manufacturers, etc. - are spending billions every year on digital advertising. BluCollr will create an opportunity for these businesses to directly reach their target demographics with a high degree of certainty through a single platform.

At BluCollr, we believe that there is incredible demand in the skilled, unskilled and seasonal labor markets for a more modern approach to employment networking and hiring that will only increase as these industries continue to grow in the coming years. 

We also believe that there are significant financial opportunities in the development of a platform that can directly reach workers and employers in the trades and seasonal labor industries with social advertising and marketing campaigns. 

With your investment, you'll be enabling the development and soft launch of the BluCollr platform.  Join us, and change the way working people find work!

Chris Lawrence and Chris Carsten

Founders, BluCollr, LLC.

The graphic above is a wireframe; final product may vary.