Tech is full of incredibly ambitious companies — whether their goal is to build the metaverse or send people to Mars. But the scope of a company’s ambitions doesn’t determine the worth of its mission. Los Angeles is full of mission-driven tech companies working to make a difference in the lives of people in the here and now.
For example, FloQast’s mission is to enable accountants to spend fewer late nights at the office by automating routine accounting tasks. This mission resonates with Jack Mustain, senior talent acquisition partner, whose best friend is an accountant. In addition to the personal connection, the company’s mission inspires Mustain to go the extra mile.
“Building SaaS isn’t necessarily an extremely complex thing to do — having a mission that focuses on improving the lives of our customers is what sets FloQast apart,” Mustain said.
Andrea Wayte’s work at HopSkipDrive is impacted by her company’s mission. HopSkipDrive provides safe transportation solutions for children and works with school districts, child welfare agencies, nonprofits and more. Wayte works to uphold the company’s mission by incorporating user feedback directly into her work.
“Whether through shared customer feedback or our weekly all-hands meetings, we are dedicated to consistently meeting our users’ needs to create the best possible solution,” Wayte said.
If you’re looking for a new role and want to work at a mission-driven company making a difference in the lives of people right now, continue reading to learn more about FloQast and HopSkipDrive — both of which are hiring.
FloQast’s software is designed to make life easier for accountants by automating recurring tasks.
Describe FloQast’s culture in one word.
Purpose. Our main driver at FloQast is to make the lives of accountants better. It’s one of the reasons I decided to work here. My best friend is an accountant, and I can see through him the challenges they face daily.
I understand it’s easy to look to company-defined values, but at FloQast, this mission impacts everything we do. The purpose-driven nature of our work, making decisions based on customer impact, makes me and my team proud to work here.
How long have you been with FloQast, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I’ve been with FloQast since January 2022. In that time, FloQast has nearly doubled in headcount. I’ve been able to grow into my role, owning our software engineer hiring goals. Growing that quickly in the context of the current tech job market has been a learning curve. We received more applicants for our senior software engineer role in the first quarter of 2023 than in all of 2022. Given how competitive our candidate pool is becoming, we’ve had to narrow down our approach.
Candidates most successful in our interview process have well-written resumes with clear objectives and experiences. Engineers at FloQast are motivated by the impact they create for our customers, and what stands out to me is when I see resumes with examples of how something a candidate built or supported impacted a customer or user. Technology alignment is also vital to being successful in our interview process. JavaScript is our core language, and the first thing I look for on resumes is experience with our frameworks —React and Node specifically. One of my favorite parts of my job is meeting new people, and I love putting a face with a name. I always encourage active job seekers to connect with recruiters on LinkedIn.
In resumes, what stands out to me are examples of how something a candidate built impacted a user.”
There are two common situations I encounter that I would encourage applicants to take into account. First, a disconnect between the submitted resume and what’s on LinkedIn. Make sure the two are consistent! Second, add context when connecting with a recruiter on LinkedIn. With more than 50 applicants per day for just one of the roles I support, it makes a huge difference when candidates add a note to their connection request and help me recognize why they’d be a good fit.
HopSkipDrive works with school districts, child welfare agencies and nonprofits to provide transportation solutions for children.
Describe HopSkipDrive’s culture in one word.
Dedicated. This word describes our commitment to HopSkipDrive’s mission, team and those we help through our solution. Our goal is to enable safe and reliable transportation solutions for schools and families, so we focus on making the connection between our users and our team. Even though I am not directly communicating with our customers, user feedback guides my work. Whether through shared customer feedback or our weekly all-hands meetings, we are dedicated to consistently meeting our users’ needs to create the best possible solution and experience.
I have grown professionally as a leader because our team welcomes new ideas and change.”
How long have you been with HopSkipDrive, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I have been with the company since October of 2021, and in that time the engineering department has doubled. When I joined the team, we were small enough to have daily standups. As we’ve split into teams focused on our three products, and we’ve created processes that work for different teams while maintaining an inclusive culture.
I have grown professionally as a leader because our teams welcome new ideas and change. If something is not working, we collaborate to improve and are open to pivoting. In addition, we work on maintaining a strong culture and community among developers. Although we now work on different teams, we hold a biweekly meeting where we all take turns presenting engineering-related or team-building content so we can continue to grow and learn from each other.
