Merito, a UR Link Season 2 startup, matches the right people to the right retailers on the spot. Thus, managers recruit the best profiles instantly for their short term needs. Today, 9 months after the end of Unibail-Rodamco’s acceleration programme, the startup has deployed its solution in the portfolio of the Group in the Île-de-France region (9 shopping centres cumulating 163 million visits a year)

Merito at UR Link

Merito is an online matching platform to help recruiters find the best candidates in no time. No more time-costly resume reviews, job interviews, personality tests, etc: with Merito, shop managers can directly hire profiles based on managers and coworkers’ feedbacks.

Learn more about Merito: Meet UR Link startup Merito

The startup was founded in 2016, just a few months before entering the UR Link acceleration programme in November of the same year. During the Proof of Concept (POC) at Parly 2, the startup had the opportunity to work with two coaches from Unibail-Rodamco, Valérian Mercier and Patrick Penicaud, confront their business model to various experts and mentors, and collaborate with experts in finance, marketing and law.

The 4-months POC was a great success: a lot of retailers signed in, tens of Merito candidates  were recruited and furthermore no less than 100% of them were recommended by retailers. After this amazing experience, Unibail-Rodamco made the decision to deploy Merito’s solution in 9 shopping centres in Île-de-France (such as Les Quatre Temps, Le Forum des Halles and Carré Sénart). In November 2017, So Ouest (Levallois-Perret) was the last centre of the region to open the service to its retailers.

“That’s the spirit of UR Link: startups test their solution in one of UR’s shopping centres; if the POC is a success, the Board says “Let’s Go!”. And a few months later, that’s it: the startup can access the Group’s entire portfolio and  fully integrate our ecosystem!”

– Jean Collet, Director of UR Link

From Testing to Scaling

In each centre in Île-de-France, Merito works closely with the shopping centre management teams, with two goals in mind. First, sourcing candidates on the premises and building local communities; in this perspective, Merito recently organised a recruitment event at the Forum des Halles, and launched social media campaigns for Parly 2 and Carré Sénart. Second, the presence in centres is a great business opportunity to meet the right retailers and bring awareness to Merito.

For recruiters, Merito is considered as a very useful tool “It was nothing like classic temporary employment agencies” says the Manager at Simply Market Gourmand. “I’d recommend it to every manager in charge of recruitment” adds the Store Manager at Du Bruit dans la Cuisine in Parly 2. For candidates, Merito was also very welcomed: “Before, I used to go in each store and give my resume. It was long, uneasy, and most of the time, I got no answer,” explains Thomas who was recruited at Simply Market. “I first met Merito on a Saturday, I had an interview on Tuesday and started working the week after”, adds another candidate.

Since its creation and its acceleration at UR Link, Merito has evolved very quickly. Its value proposition seduced candidates – mostly young students searching for flexible jobs – and retailers facing a high employee turnover and willing to simplify their recruitment processes and find the “one candidate” filling their needs. Today, the startup counts over 10,000 candidates on its platform, and is working with more than 30 brands.

“When we entered UR Link, Merito was a very young startup. Working with a large group such as Unibail-Rodamco quickly set us in a mood to pile up a striking power and deliver fast. UR Link helped us gain credibility and self-confidence to develop our solution faster and meet the right people.”

– Marion Nathan, CEO & Co-Founder of Merito.