It’s a well-known fact: Nearly 70% of all jobs are filled through referrals. And, an employee referral has become the most effective and valued vehicle for hiring. By motivating employee, business and personal networks, Cachinko was perfectly poised to help companies attract the talent they desire and assist members in finding career opportunities through people they trust. Restricted in its original focus, the Cachinko brand warranted redefinition, and the site required a complete redesign to effectively deliver new communications and functionality.

HexaGroup worked with Cachinko to first categorize and prioritize the four segments of its target audience:

• Employers looking to hire good people
• Individuals looking for work
• Individuals who are happy at work
• Students who are still in school

Next, HexaGroup developed and expanded brand positioning that emanated from a new tagline, “where career networking really pays.” This core benefit laid the foundation for new brand guidelines, site content and design.

Initiating an extensive process, HexaGroup identified the additional benefits Cachinko offered to each unique segment of its target. Site content was crafted in a style and tone appropriate for the professional audience. Positive lifestyle imagery and attractive, user-friendly design elements enhanced the site’s overall appeal. For ongoing communications, brand-reinforcing e-mail templates and content were created. To support Cachinko’s overall marketing efforts, sales presentations and industry-specific materials for tradeshows and conferences were also developed and produced.

After completing design concepts and copy for the marketing-oriented “face” of the site, HexaGroup confronted the need for new interface functionality of the Web 2.0 application. To reduce the learning curve for the very complex and technical application, HexaGroup redesigned and streamlined the entire user interface, which not only made the application easier to use, but made the well known competing site LinkedIn look pale in comparison. From the user login to the system-generated e-mail notifications, HexaGroup identified main components of the expansive application, determined how they related to one another, and designed key elements that maintained each component’s consistency throughout the user experience. Supported by an intricate visual architecture, necessary information was always accessible and easily updated. Production-ready HTML and CSS programming was prepared for all pages on the site—from employer and member modules to the back-end control panel.

Finally, to prepare for launch, HexaGroup partnered with Cachinko’s technical team to implement over 200 pages of .net architecture. The implementation required strong knowledge of the application and .net controls used within the application. Specialized in .net, HexaGroup’s front-end developers collaborated with the graphic team in order to finalize the integration of the Cachinko presentation layer. Without that additional skill set, the integration would not have been possible as each back-end architecture has its own subtleties in terms of presentation layer implementation, requiring expert knowledge.

The new site coupled the power of Web 2.0 with Cachinko’s TruReferralSM Program, enabling employers to securely and effectively network through employee talent networks. Employers now have the ability to easily and automatically post jobs to selected employees and their trusted networks, motivate and track referrals, feed their applicant tracking system, and provide immediate rewards. In addition, individual members can get paid for who they know and actively seek employment through their personal networks.

The recruiting industry has responded with high interest, several employer clients are in beta testing seeking to reduce their utilization of outside hiring resources and realize cost savings, and Cachinko is actively building its member base.