Log In
As romance-seekers swipe left and right in their searches for love interests, one dating app is applying a similar formula for another quest — bringing people together for career opportunities. Bumble recently unveiled Bumble Bizz, another step in the company’s “mission to empower women in life and business.” Unlike most dating apps, Bumble requires women to make the first move, and Bumble Bizz operates with the same approach.
“Networking is extremely masculine,” Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble, told Vogue in a recent interview. “It’s a vulnerable thing to admit to, but even I experience feeling super insecure around certain masculine meetings. So, we put women in control. Women will make the first move on Bumble Bizz.”
How the App Works
Users — both men and women — can upload their resumes, past work experience, photos, portfolios of their work, and more information to Bumble Bizz. Just like in-person networking, the introduction is crucial. For example, consider Miles, an executive chef, who called himself “a farm-to-table chef looking to launch a supper club in the Chicago area” with a request to meet up with anyone “passionate about good food and connecting with good people.” The app uses location-based services, so it’s easy to connect with potential contacts nearby. Users have a time window of 24 hours to respond to anyone who could be a potential mentor, peer, or career contact.
SEE ALSO: 3 Ways to Build Business Relationships
Swiping Right, Creating Change
At a launch dinner in New York City on Oct. 19, Wolfe Herd made note of the fact that Bumble Bizz is a distinctly different business approach in an environment that continues to be marked by harassment, abuse, and inequality. “We’re in a moment,” Wolfe Herd said. “Hollywood to the White House. We’ve seen this movie before, but today, we’re taking the power back. Hashtags are not enough. We need to move from ‘me too’ to ‘I believe you’ to refusing to let this abuse happen to anyone again.
“We’re not going to solve it tonight or tomorrow, but swipe by swipe, we can create change,” Wolfe Herd added. “We can give women equal opportunities in dating, in friendship, and in business.”