March 10, 2025 • 20 mins
Ready to dive into the transformative world of employment verification? Join us as we explore how Chris Harper, the CEO of ZippedScript, is changing the HR landscape one credential at a time. With his background as an entrepreneur, Harper outlines his journey to creating an innovative platform that simplifies education verification and accelerates the hiring process for businesses. ZippedScript’s unique approach allows candidates to pre-verify their credentials, eliminating long waiting times and building immediate trust with employers, a crucial aspect in today’s fast-paced hiring environment.
Throughout our conversation, Harper sheds light on the growing concerns of credential fraud in recruitment, emphasizing how technology can safeguard against this issue. As technology advances and AI becomes more integral to HR operations, we delve into Harper’s vision for leveraging these tools effectively. His insights on global challenges in background checks illustrate the importance of adapting to varying jurisdictions and how ZippedScript is positioned to make a meaningful impact worldwide.
This episode is packed with strategies, inspiration, and an optimistic view of the future of HR tech. Don't miss out on this engaging discussion that promises to be both informative and thought-provoking. If you enjoy these insights, we encourage you to subscribe, share, and leave a review to help spread the word about how technology is reshaping the future of work.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom and visithrgazettecom.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show.
Hello listeners, this is yourhost today, bill Bannam, and in
this episode we're going to hearfrom Chris Harper, ceo and
co-founder over at Zipped Script.
Chris is an entrepreneur withover a decade of leadership
experience.
His entrepreneurial journey hasbeen defined by innovation,
ambition and resilience.
From launching his firstbusiness in his teens to leading
(00:54):
Zipscript's game-changingeducation verification platform,
he has consistently turned boldideas into thriving ventures.
Chris, it's my pleasure towelcome you to the show today.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Thank you so much for having me, Bill.
I'm excited to have aconversation today.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Me too, me too.
So, as we always start with inthis show, I'd like you just to
take a couple of minutes, tellour listeners a bit about you,
your background, your careerjourney and what gets you up in
the morning.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Absolutely.
Thank you, bill, so high level.
I've been an entrepreneur for,like Bill mentioned, about 10
plus years now, and I startedout with just loving everything
in my life to be efficient.
If something wasn't efficient,it bothered me.
That kind of kickstarted meinto the entrepreneurship
journey.
I've done everything fromcreate custom light switch
(01:46):
covers to creating a guilt-freecocktail mixer, to distributed
computing startups, to now beingin the HR tech space with
education verification andemployment verification, and the
whole mission behind what we'redoing today at ZipsScript is
really guided by the originalprinciple that got me into
entrepreneurship, which is tomake the world more efficient,
(02:10):
and we believe we're doing thatat ZipScript, and we are doing
it by reducing the time to hire,by getting great people into
great jobs so they can do whatthey do best and hopefully give
the world amazing products thatsolve global problems.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Okay.
And when you're not solvingglobal problems in your business
life, Chris, what's one thingthat you absolutely love in your
personal life?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
You know what I love working out Bill, specifically
in the weight room.
And then another fun hobby is Ilike to play video games.
You can catch me on, sometimesweekends, at two in the morning
playing Counter-Strike 2.
I've been a gamer since the 90s.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I love that.
I love that.
Brilliant Okay.
So Zipscript just secured over$3 million in seed funding.
Congratulations.
What does this funding unlockfor the company and how will it
accelerate your mission totransform education and
verification?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It's really allowed us to expand what we do today in
terms of education verification, and we started out for Contax
three years ago now to the day,and we started with one product
education verificationspecifically and over the last
(03:31):
few years it's really evolved insomething bigger than that and
we don't do somethingtraditional which happens in the
background tech industry, wherewhen the candidate comes to get
a job, that's when they startthe verification process and go
through the paperwork andwhatever else they have to do.
(03:51):
We had a vision that we could godirectly to candidates or end
users and get them to pre-verifytheir credentials and that's
been very successful, but it wasa lot of work on the back end.
So we've expanded to over 44countries and 77,000 schools in
our database, and this fundingreally really allowed us to do
(04:11):
that and integrate some newmodern technology into our tech
stack as well, to be able toprovide faster turnaround times
and get people into the jobsthey want a whole lot faster.
It's also allowed us to reallyyou know, hire the right people.
You know, the smartest peoplewe can find in Canada and beyond
(04:31):
.
The funding has enabled us todo that, so it's very exciting.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat
Podcast.
If you enjoy the audio contentwe produce, you'll love our
articles on the HR Gazette.
Learn more at HRGazettecom.
And now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Okay, well, so you said 44 countries you're in now,
is that right?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Correct.
We have coverage in over 44countries.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So what are some of those challenges when it comes
to different jurisdictions, whenyou're working with background
checks and other services?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Absolutely so, I would say one of the challenges
are.
So maybe for some context forthe listeners, what we do is
we're a user permission platform, so that means we integrate
with institutions all over theworld.
So one of the challenges thatcan come from that is a simple
language barrier.
And then also certain countriesaround the world.
(05:30):
Perhaps their institutions,websites and school portals
aren't that modern.
So there's a lot of variants,from Egypt to Australia to Chad
to Sudan, all over the world.
And then also there's thepositives of it.
I would guess, maybe to add tothis, some of the positives are
a lot of people in thebackground.
(05:50):
Tech space are used to verylong turnaround times in the
Middle East, in Africa, in SouthAmerica and through our
technology and expanding intomore non-North American regions
with our modern day tech stack,we've been able to reduce
turnaround times drasticallywhen it comes to the project as
(06:11):
part of my homework ahead oftoday.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
chris, uh, I was looking at your linkedin profile
, sir, and uh, I know that Idon't sound like it, but regular
listeners of this show willknow that I am a proud canadian,
as is chris.
You're based up in toronto,where I was for a long time
Beautiful city and I noticed onLinkedIn that you were
interviewed by the BBC quiterecently with connection to a
(06:37):
little message that you had forthe outgoing president,
president Biden, warning about alooming tech industrial complex
.
Can you tell us a bit aboutthat?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, yeah, it was interesting and I think the
topic stemmed from, you know,the incoming Elon Musk and the
Doge team, and I think it wasmore directly associated to
technocrats and the artificialintelligence era that a lot of
people assume is coming, and Ithink they've assumed correctly.
(07:08):
I think there's many ways tolook at it, but I think really I
like to use the kitchen butterknife analogy.
You know, it can be used forgood, it can be used for bad and
I'm very bullish on humanbeings overall finding the
positive way to use this.
But I think there obviouslywill be some negatives uh that
arise like anything.
But I think we'll be able toget through it, uh, as a species
(07:31):
, and I think we'll come out theother side better than we were
before okay, very good, thankyou very much.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
As I like to do on this show, sometimes I like to
switch things up and uh andchange up the pace, and what I'm
going to do right now is I'mgoing to challenge you.
I'm going to challenge you,chris, if you are prepared to
accept the challenge to answerin 60 seconds or less what makes
Zipscript's AI-driven approachdifferent and how does it
(07:58):
deliver faster, morecost-effective and, hopefully,
accurate results.
Can you give us that answer,but in 60 seconds or less, go?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Absolutely so.
Zipscript is the onlybackground check company in the
world that has verified over 21million degrees across the
United States and Mexico.
We store those in our database,making those immediately
accessible, so instantturnaround times Bill for
anybody that queries ourdatabase.
And why does that make usdifferent?
We were the only company in thespace that went directly to
graduates through marketingcampaigns and convinced them to
(08:36):
verify their degrees on ourplatform so we could store them,
so that they can put theirresume at the top of the virtual
resume pile and build trustwith employers from the outset,
rather than do it later withglobal hiring on the rise,
credential fraud is becoming agrowing concern for hr teams, as
it should be.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
can you, can you now share some real world examples
of how zip scripts team helpscompanies verify qualifications
quickly, securely?
Have you got to use cases thatyou guys are particularly proud
of?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question, Bill, and I
think people should be concernedabout it.
And this actually speaks to why.
Zipscript is, you know, theleader globally in education
verification and soon to be, inemployment.
Where we source our record fromSibyl is the institution
database directly.
The traditional way of doingthis back all over the world
(09:34):
outside of the United Stateswould be to receive a transcript
, either by mail or digitally.
The issue with a transcript isit can be manipulated.
You can edit it on a PDF, youcan print it out on whatever
kind of paper you want.
It doesn't take a big brain tofudge a transcript.
So with Zipscript, we retrievedthe information directly from
(09:58):
the institution database.
So if the institution did notinput the data for the human
being that graduated, then it'snot in there.
It's probably not real.
So I would say there's no moresecure way of verifying a degree
on planet Earth than getting itdirectly from the source itself
, aka the institution database.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Once in a while, an event series is born that shakes
things up, it makes you thinkdifferently and it leaves you
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That event is Disrupt HR.
The format is 14 speakers, 5minutes each and slides rotate
every 15 seconds.
If you're an HR professional, aCEO, a technologist or a
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(10:42):
talent, culture or technology,disrupt is the place.
It's coming soon to a city nearyou.
Learn more at disrupthrco.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Visa processing, chris, particularly for H-1B
applicants, is known for delaysand inefficiencies.
We've had several folks on thisshow over the years who've come
behind and explained some ofthat to us.
How is script streamlining thisprocess?
What kind of impact have weseen in reducing fraud and
(11:16):
exploiting approvals?
And also, just contextually, um, any any anticipated additional
difficulties for canadianswanting to work in the us?
Do you think, uh, given givenrecent changes?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
yeah, it's.
It's a slow process and it hasbeen a slow process for what I
believe to be too long.
Now, um and I I'm familiar andI'm sure a lot of listeners are
familiar with the worldeducation services, love them, I
think they're a fantasticplatform, albeit I think they
charge too much money and Ithink the process takes far too
long.
You're seeing an average of twomonths wait on this to get
(11:50):
people their records and thecost upwards of $300 to $500 to
get their education verified.
So we're working with ourpartners all over the world
because our average turnaroundtime is less than 24 hours to
accelerate this process.
So educated people that want toapply for H-1B visas, that want
to work in different countriesand have the degrees and the
(12:13):
credentials to do so, theyshould be able to be reviewed
and trusted a whole lot faster,so they're not waiting around in
limbo, and trusted a whole lotfaster, so they're not waiting
around in limbo.
Now the second part to yourquestion.
Canadians, you know working inthe US.
You know, pending what thecurrent administration is going
(12:35):
to do, I think it's definitelygoing to be more difficult in
general right now for people toget jobs in the United States if
they're not from the UnitedStates.
But I think time will tell.
Here we're going to have tokind of sit tight and see what
the administration is up to andwhat they kind of rule on with
H-1Bs and what they're going todo with immigration and work
permits etc inside the UnitedStates.
Because we're kind of beholdento what this administration is
(12:55):
going to do and I think everyonelistening knows it can change
minute by minute and hour byhour.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Currently it can change minute by minute and hour
by hour, currently, yep, but itkeeps it interesting,
newsworthy.
You might say, okay, lookingbeyond the verification, if you
don't mind.
Where do you see the future ofAI in HR tech?
This is something that I loveto learn about all the time.
I'm mainly in the UK, sadly,these days, chris, because we've
(13:20):
got a couple of young kids thatwe're raising near the
grandparents.
So while I'm over here, I'vedays, chris, because we've got a
couple of young kids that we'reraising near the grandparents.
So while I'm over here, I'vebeen involved with producing a
bunch of ai summits, um and uh,involved with some other hr
related events, like likedisrupt, and we love talking
about ai and hr tech.
So where do you see the futureof ai and hr tech and, as part
of that, how will zip scriptcontinue to innovate and what's
your vision for the company'srole in shaping that next
(13:41):
generation of hiring andcompliance solutions?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, it's obviously the buzzword of the year, maybe
the last year as well, and Ithink it's going to continue to
be the buzzword artificialintelligence and I think there's
very good reason for that.
I think it's absolutelynecessary for every single
organization that is involved inHR tech to utilize artificial
intelligence in some fashion.
The benefits are undeniable,and I can speak to a specific
(14:07):
example inside of ZipScript.
When we do verifications from Ato Z, our process is fully
automated, not only thanks to AI.
There's other pieces of it inour tech stack but without
artificial intelligence we wouldprobably require a team, you
know, of over a hundredengineers to get this job done.
When we're doing, you know,thousands and thousands of
verifications a month, andartificial intelligence allows
(14:31):
us to do that with nowhere nearthat size of a team.
So it's really made us a lotmore efficient.
It's allowed us to, you know,verify degrees a whole lot
faster.
We don't have to pick up phonesanymore, and I think if anybody
in a leadership position at anyorganization inside of an HR
tech company were to take a lookat some of their processes that
(14:52):
maybe are manual, whatever itis, artificial intelligence will
be able to assist with that andthe cost savings will be
amazing.
The reduction of time to hirewill also be there.
I think in the next couple ofyears we're going to see a
massive reduction in time tohire, also with just looking at
resumes, finding correctcandidates for jobs, everything.
(15:15):
I think it's going to beapplied across the board and I
think it's going to be fantasticand to talk about ZipScript and
what we're doing from afuture-looking perspective and a
forward-looking perspective.
I touched on it a little bitearlier, bill, but maybe I'll
elaborate a little more here.
Like I mentioned before, theway the background check
(15:35):
industry works, specificallyprior to ZipScript entering the
space, was you only start doingthe background check process
when the candidate has alreadybeen selected and gone through
the interview process.
That really adds to the time ittakes to onboard that candidate
.
In a fast-paced world, we wantto get employees hired.
(15:56):
We want to get them onboardedand trained up as soon as
possible so we can keep movingand keep winning, because in
today's fast-paced world, that'sreally one of the biggest
advantages companies can findtoday.
So how are we helping that atZipScript?
How are we building that futuretoday?
This is what we believe to beone of our biggest pieces.
(16:17):
As I mentioned earlier, westarted marketing directly to
graduates all over the world andwe've successfully verified
over 21 million degrees now Ithink I mentioned 20, but it's
over 21 million degrees in theUnited States and Mexico that
allow our customers andemployers to immediately unlock
the verifications of thosecandidates so they do not have
(16:40):
to wait, and we plan on doingthe same thing for employment
verification this coming year.
So it's going to be excitingand our customers are very happy
with it, and so are theemployers, because they don't
have to wait.
So I'm excited for the future.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Okay, you make me excited too.
Thank you very much.
We are coming towards the endof this particular conversation
already, chris.
We'll just have to get you onagain pretty soon.
Um, before we go, just two morethings for you.
Firstly, skills-based hiring.
Okay, I often chat to hrleaders on this show saying that
for as many positions aspossible within their companies,
(17:15):
they try to look at skills overresumes.
Um, because they believe thatpeople are malleable and if
they've got the right attitudesand the right skill set, they
can learn new roles.
Again, in 60 seconds or less,I'm going to challenge you in 60
seconds or less.
Why does educational and careerbackground why does that still
(17:36):
matter Go?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I love that question and for context, I believe that
education does matter, and forcontext for the audience.
I went to university but I didnot graduate.
I dropped out.
So the irony is not lost on mehere.
But for most people what adegree shows is that they were
(18:02):
willing to commit to somethingand they were willing to stick
it out.
And I appreciate that.
I know a lot of employers do aswell, because it's a lot of
work ethic, it's a lot of time,it's a lot of commitment, it's
also a financial commitment forpeople.
So it shows that you can committo something, follow through
and get it done.
From a past employmentperspective, I do believe it's
important, depending on the roleyou're hiring for, if that role
(18:31):
requires you know very detailedexperience in the specific
vertical you're in.
For example, we're a softwarecompany.
So if we're looking to hire,you know, business development
representative or a salesdevelopment representative,
they're going to have to havefamiliarity with application
program interfaces, apis.
They're going to have to haveyou know how long does that take
.
They're going to have to havefamiliarity with application
program interfaces, apis.
They're going to have to haveyou know how long does that take
.
They're going to have to havebasic knowledge of you know
platforms and differenttechnical platforms that we use
(18:55):
to integrate with our customers.
So I think education andemployment do matter when it
comes to hiring people, justdepending on what role you're
hiring for.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
My last question for you and I think it's a pretty
straightforward one and that'show can our listeners connect
with you?
So maybe you might want toshare your LinkedIn details,
your email address, maybe asuper cool and all over
Instagram and TikTok and places.
And, of course, how can peoplelearn more about ZipScript?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Awesome.
Yeah, if people want to connect, they can absolutely find me on
LinkedIn.
It's actually one of the betterplaces to find me on.
My LinkedIn is just ChrisHarper and you can type in
ZipScript at the end of that tofind me.
But I should pop up Happy toshare my email as well.
My email is harperatz,Zipscriptcom.
So if anybody's interested inchatting or if anybody's in the
(19:47):
HR tech space and they thinkthere may be some synergies or
they just want to talk about themarket and trends et cetera,
feel free to reach out.
Other than that, Instagram andTikTok I do not have, but you
can find Zipscript on both ofthose platforms at just add
Zipscript.
Rock that, just add zip scriptsRock and roll.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Well, that just leaves me to say for today,
Chris, thank you very much foryour time.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I appreciate you having me on Bill.
It was great to chat.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
And listeners as always.
Until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode,why not subscribe and listen to
some of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette and
remember for what's new in theworld of work?
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom and visithrgazettecom.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show.
Hello listeners, this is yourhost today, bill Bannam, and in
this episode we're going to hearfrom Chris Harper, ceo and
co-founder over at Zipped Script.
Chris is an entrepreneur withover a decade of leadership
experience.
His entrepreneurial journey hasbeen defined by innovation,
ambition and resilience.
From launching his firstbusiness in his teens to leading
(00:54):
Zipscript's game-changingeducation verification platform,
he has consistently turned boldideas into thriving ventures.
Chris, it's my pleasure towelcome you to the show today.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Thank you so much for having me, Bill.
I'm excited to have aconversation today.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Me too, me too.
So, as we always start with inthis show, I'd like you just to
take a couple of minutes, tellour listeners a bit about you,
your background, your careerjourney and what gets you up in
the morning.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Absolutely.
Thank you, bill, so high level.
I've been an entrepreneur for,like Bill mentioned, about 10
plus years now, and I startedout with just loving everything
in my life to be efficient.
If something wasn't efficient,it bothered me.
That kind of kickstarted meinto the entrepreneurship
journey.
I've done everything fromcreate custom light switch
(01:46):
covers to creating a guilt-freecocktail mixer, to distributed
computing startups, to now beingin the HR tech space with
education verification andemployment verification, and the
whole mission behind what we'redoing today at ZipsScript is
really guided by the originalprinciple that got me into
entrepreneurship, which is tomake the world more efficient,
(02:10):
and we believe we're doing thatat ZipScript, and we are doing
it by reducing the time to hire,by getting great people into
great jobs so they can do whatthey do best and hopefully give
the world amazing products thatsolve global problems.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Okay.
And when you're not solvingglobal problems in your business
life, Chris, what's one thingthat you absolutely love in your
personal life?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
You know what I love working out Bill, specifically
in the weight room.
And then another fun hobby is Ilike to play video games.
You can catch me on, sometimesweekends, at two in the morning
playing Counter-Strike 2.
I've been a gamer since the 90s.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I love that.
I love that.
Brilliant Okay.
So Zipscript just secured over$3 million in seed funding.
Congratulations.
What does this funding unlockfor the company and how will it
accelerate your mission totransform education and
verification?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It's really allowed us to expand what we do today in
terms of education verification, and we started out for Contax
three years ago now to the day,and we started with one product
education verificationspecifically and over the last
(03:31):
few years it's really evolved insomething bigger than that and
we don't do somethingtraditional which happens in the
background tech industry, wherewhen the candidate comes to get
a job, that's when they startthe verification process and go
through the paperwork andwhatever else they have to do.
(03:51):
We had a vision that we could godirectly to candidates or end
users and get them to pre-verifytheir credentials and that's
been very successful, but it wasa lot of work on the back end.
So we've expanded to over 44countries and 77,000 schools in
our database, and this fundingreally really allowed us to do
(04:11):
that and integrate some newmodern technology into our tech
stack as well, to be able toprovide faster turnaround times
and get people into the jobsthey want a whole lot faster.
It's also allowed us to reallyyou know, hire the right people.
You know, the smartest peoplewe can find in Canada and beyond
(04:31):
.
The funding has enabled us todo that, so it's very exciting.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat
Podcast.
If you enjoy the audio contentwe produce, you'll love our
articles on the HR Gazette.
Learn more at HRGazettecom.
And now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Okay, well, so you said 44 countries you're in now,
is that right?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Correct.
We have coverage in over 44countries.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So what are some of those challenges when it comes
to different jurisdictions, whenyou're working with background
checks and other services?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Absolutely so, I would say one of the challenges
are.
So maybe for some context forthe listeners, what we do is
we're a user permission platform, so that means we integrate
with institutions all over theworld.
So one of the challenges thatcan come from that is a simple
language barrier.
And then also certain countriesaround the world.
(05:30):
Perhaps their institutions,websites and school portals
aren't that modern.
So there's a lot of variants,from Egypt to Australia to Chad
to Sudan, all over the world.
And then also there's thepositives of it.
I would guess, maybe to add tothis, some of the positives are
a lot of people in thebackground.
(05:50):
Tech space are used to verylong turnaround times in the
Middle East, in Africa, in SouthAmerica and through our
technology and expanding intomore non-North American regions
with our modern day tech stack,we've been able to reduce
turnaround times drasticallywhen it comes to the project as
(06:11):
part of my homework ahead oftoday.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
chris, uh, I was looking at your linkedin profile
, sir, and uh, I know that Idon't sound like it, but regular
listeners of this show willknow that I am a proud canadian,
as is chris.
You're based up in toronto,where I was for a long time
Beautiful city and I noticed onLinkedIn that you were
interviewed by the BBC quiterecently with connection to a
(06:37):
little message that you had forthe outgoing president,
president Biden, warning about alooming tech industrial complex
.
Can you tell us a bit aboutthat?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, yeah, it was interesting and I think the
topic stemmed from, you know,the incoming Elon Musk and the
Doge team, and I think it wasmore directly associated to
technocrats and the artificialintelligence era that a lot of
people assume is coming, and Ithink they've assumed correctly.
(07:08):
I think there's many ways tolook at it, but I think really I
like to use the kitchen butterknife analogy.
You know, it can be used forgood, it can be used for bad and
I'm very bullish on humanbeings overall finding the
positive way to use this.
But I think there obviouslywill be some negatives uh that
arise like anything.
But I think we'll be able toget through it, uh, as a species
(07:31):
, and I think we'll come out theother side better than we were
before okay, very good, thankyou very much.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
As I like to do on this show, sometimes I like to
switch things up and uh andchange up the pace, and what I'm
going to do right now is I'mgoing to challenge you.
I'm going to challenge you,chris, if you are prepared to
accept the challenge to answerin 60 seconds or less what makes
Zipscript's AI-driven approachdifferent and how does it
(07:58):
deliver faster, morecost-effective and, hopefully,
accurate results.
Can you give us that answer,but in 60 seconds or less, go?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Absolutely so.
Zipscript is the onlybackground check company in the
world that has verified over 21million degrees across the
United States and Mexico.
We store those in our database,making those immediately
accessible, so instantturnaround times Bill for
anybody that queries ourdatabase.
And why does that make usdifferent?
We were the only company in thespace that went directly to
graduates through marketingcampaigns and convinced them to
(08:36):
verify their degrees on ourplatform so we could store them,
so that they can put theirresume at the top of the virtual
resume pile and build trustwith employers from the outset,
rather than do it later withglobal hiring on the rise,
credential fraud is becoming agrowing concern for hr teams, as
it should be.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
can you, can you now share some real world examples
of how zip scripts team helpscompanies verify qualifications
quickly, securely?
Have you got to use cases thatyou guys are particularly proud
of?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question, Bill, and I
think people should be concernedabout it.
And this actually speaks to why.
Zipscript is, you know, theleader globally in education
verification and soon to be, inemployment.
Where we source our record fromSibyl is the institution
database directly.
The traditional way of doingthis back all over the world
(09:34):
outside of the United Stateswould be to receive a transcript
, either by mail or digitally.
The issue with a transcript isit can be manipulated.
You can edit it on a PDF, youcan print it out on whatever
kind of paper you want.
It doesn't take a big brain tofudge a transcript.
So with Zipscript, we retrievedthe information directly from
(09:58):
the institution database.
So if the institution did notinput the data for the human
being that graduated, then it'snot in there.
It's probably not real.
So I would say there's no moresecure way of verifying a degree
on planet Earth than getting itdirectly from the source itself
, aka the institution database.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
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Speaker 2 (10:56):
Visa processing, chris, particularly for H-1B
applicants, is known for delaysand inefficiencies.
We've had several folks on thisshow over the years who've come
behind and explained some ofthat to us.
How is script streamlining thisprocess?
What kind of impact have weseen in reducing fraud and
(11:16):
exploiting approvals?
And also, just contextually, um, any any anticipated additional
difficulties for canadianswanting to work in the us?
Do you think, uh, given givenrecent changes?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
yeah, it's.
It's a slow process and it hasbeen a slow process for what I
believe to be too long.
Now, um and I I'm familiar andI'm sure a lot of listeners are
familiar with the worldeducation services, love them, I
think they're a fantasticplatform, albeit I think they
charge too much money and Ithink the process takes far too
long.
You're seeing an average of twomonths wait on this to get
(11:50):
people their records and thecost upwards of $300 to $500 to
get their education verified.
So we're working with ourpartners all over the world
because our average turnaroundtime is less than 24 hours to
accelerate this process.
So educated people that want toapply for H-1B visas, that want
to work in different countriesand have the degrees and the
(12:13):
credentials to do so, theyshould be able to be reviewed
and trusted a whole lot faster,so they're not waiting around in
limbo, and trusted a whole lotfaster, so they're not waiting
around in limbo.
Now the second part to yourquestion.
Canadians, you know working inthe US.
You know, pending what thecurrent administration is going
(12:35):
to do, I think it's definitelygoing to be more difficult in
general right now for people toget jobs in the United States if
they're not from the UnitedStates.
But I think time will tell.
Here we're going to have tokind of sit tight and see what
the administration is up to andwhat they kind of rule on with
H-1Bs and what they're going todo with immigration and work
permits etc inside the UnitedStates.
Because we're kind of beholdento what this administration is
(12:55):
going to do and I think everyonelistening knows it can change
minute by minute and hour byhour.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Currently it can change minute by minute and hour
by hour, currently, yep, but itkeeps it interesting,
newsworthy.
You might say, okay, lookingbeyond the verification, if you
don't mind.
Where do you see the future ofAI in HR tech?
This is something that I loveto learn about all the time.
I'm mainly in the UK, sadly,these days, chris, because we've
(13:20):
got a couple of young kids thatwe're raising near the
grandparents.
So while I'm over here, I'vedays, chris, because we've got a
couple of young kids that we'reraising near the grandparents.
So while I'm over here, I'vebeen involved with producing a
bunch of ai summits, um and uh,involved with some other hr
related events, like likedisrupt, and we love talking
about ai and hr tech.
So where do you see the futureof ai and hr tech and, as part
of that, how will zip scriptcontinue to innovate and what's
your vision for the company'srole in shaping that next
(13:41):
generation of hiring andcompliance solutions?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, it's obviously the buzzword of the year, maybe
the last year as well, and Ithink it's going to continue to
be the buzzword artificialintelligence and I think there's
very good reason for that.
I think it's absolutelynecessary for every single
organization that is involved inHR tech to utilize artificial
intelligence in some fashion.
The benefits are undeniable,and I can speak to a specific
(14:07):
example inside of ZipScript.
When we do verifications from Ato Z, our process is fully
automated, not only thanks to AI.
There's other pieces of it inour tech stack but without
artificial intelligence we wouldprobably require a team, you
know, of over a hundredengineers to get this job done.
When we're doing, you know,thousands and thousands of
verifications a month, andartificial intelligence allows
(14:31):
us to do that with nowhere nearthat size of a team.
So it's really made us a lotmore efficient.
It's allowed us to, you know,verify degrees a whole lot
faster.
We don't have to pick up phonesanymore, and I think if anybody
in a leadership position at anyorganization inside of an HR
tech company were to take a lookat some of their processes that
(14:52):
maybe are manual, whatever itis, artificial intelligence will
be able to assist with that andthe cost savings will be
amazing.
The reduction of time to hirewill also be there.
I think in the next couple ofyears we're going to see a
massive reduction in time tohire, also with just looking at
resumes, finding correctcandidates for jobs, everything.
(15:15):
I think it's going to beapplied across the board and I
think it's going to be fantasticand to talk about ZipScript and
what we're doing from afuture-looking perspective and a
forward-looking perspective.
I touched on it a little bitearlier, bill, but maybe I'll
elaborate a little more here.
Like I mentioned before, theway the background check
(15:35):
industry works, specificallyprior to ZipScript entering the
space, was you only start doingthe background check process
when the candidate has alreadybeen selected and gone through
the interview process.
That really adds to the time ittakes to onboard that candidate
.
In a fast-paced world, we wantto get employees hired.
(15:56):
We want to get them onboardedand trained up as soon as
possible so we can keep movingand keep winning, because in
today's fast-paced world, that'sreally one of the biggest
advantages companies can findtoday.
So how are we helping that atZipScript?
How are we building that futuretoday?
This is what we believe to beone of our biggest pieces.
(16:17):
As I mentioned earlier, westarted marketing directly to
graduates all over the world andwe've successfully verified
over 21 million degrees now Ithink I mentioned 20, but it's
over 21 million degrees in theUnited States and Mexico that
allow our customers andemployers to immediately unlock
the verifications of thosecandidates so they do not have
(16:40):
to wait, and we plan on doingthe same thing for employment
verification this coming year.
So it's going to be excitingand our customers are very happy
with it, and so are theemployers, because they don't
have to wait.
So I'm excited for the future.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Okay, you make me excited too.
Thank you very much.
We are coming towards the endof this particular conversation
already, chris.
We'll just have to get you onagain pretty soon.
Um, before we go, just two morethings for you.
Firstly, skills-based hiring.
Okay, I often chat to hrleaders on this show saying that
for as many positions aspossible within their companies,
(17:15):
they try to look at skills overresumes.
Um, because they believe thatpeople are malleable and if
they've got the right attitudesand the right skill set, they
can learn new roles.
Again, in 60 seconds or less,I'm going to challenge you in 60
seconds or less.
Why does educational and careerbackground why does that still
(17:36):
matter Go?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I love that question and for context, I believe that
education does matter, and forcontext for the audience.
I went to university but I didnot graduate.
I dropped out.
So the irony is not lost on mehere.
But for most people what adegree shows is that they were
(18:02):
willing to commit to somethingand they were willing to stick
it out.
And I appreciate that.
I know a lot of employers do aswell, because it's a lot of
work ethic, it's a lot of time,it's a lot of commitment, it's
also a financial commitment forpeople.
So it shows that you can committo something, follow through
and get it done.
From a past employmentperspective, I do believe it's
important, depending on the roleyou're hiring for, if that role
(18:31):
requires you know very detailedexperience in the specific
vertical you're in.
For example, we're a softwarecompany.
So if we're looking to hire,you know, business development
representative or a salesdevelopment representative,
they're going to have to havefamiliarity with application
program interfaces, apis.
They're going to have to haveyou know how long does that take
.
They're going to have to havefamiliarity with application
program interfaces, apis.
They're going to have to haveyou know how long does that take
.
They're going to have to havebasic knowledge of you know
platforms and differenttechnical platforms that we use
(18:55):
to integrate with our customers.
So I think education andemployment do matter when it
comes to hiring people, justdepending on what role you're
hiring for.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
My last question for you and I think it's a pretty
straightforward one and that'show can our listeners connect
with you?
So maybe you might want toshare your LinkedIn details,
your email address, maybe asuper cool and all over
Instagram and TikTok and places.
And, of course, how can peoplelearn more about ZipScript?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Awesome.
Yeah, if people want to connect, they can absolutely find me on
LinkedIn.
It's actually one of the betterplaces to find me on.
My LinkedIn is just ChrisHarper and you can type in
ZipScript at the end of that tofind me.
But I should pop up Happy toshare my email as well.
My email is harperatz,Zipscriptcom.
So if anybody's interested inchatting or if anybody's in the
(19:47):
HR tech space and they thinkthere may be some synergies or
they just want to talk about themarket and trends et cetera,
feel free to reach out.
Other than that, Instagram andTikTok I do not have, but you
can find Zipscript on both ofthose platforms at just add
Zipscript.
Rock that, just add zip scriptsRock and roll.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Well, that just leaves me to say for today,
Chris, thank you very much foryour time.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I appreciate you having me on Bill.
It was great to chat.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
And listeners as always.
Until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode,why not subscribe and listen to
some of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette and
remember for what's new in theworld of work?
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.
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