iProfile acquires Purple Passport as drive to replace traditional CV gathers pace

iProfile (www.iprofile.org) today announced the acquisition of PurplePassport (www.purplepassport.com) in a strategic move that strengthens its position as the company redefining the job seeking process. This acquisition will benefit the 2.3m people who have already replaced their traditional CV with an iProfile, a dynamic profile for professionals, and the millions more who are yet to make the switch. The acquired PurplePassport technology enables recruiters and employers to instantly view candidate's skills, achievements and training history, thus ensuring an even quicker assessment of a candidate's qualifications and suitability for a particular role.

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iProfile will incorporate the flagship 'Skills Passport' product, which has been adopted by five Government appointed Sector Skills Councils who have a combined footprint covering more than 10 million people. Integrating it with its existing offering, employees and jobseekers can create a single, dynamic online profile that now features all their qualifications and training achievements which can be validated by registered verifiers. Many leading recruiters have adopted iProfile as the online CV of choice. With PurplePassport the iProfile will allow candidates to build a powerful, confirmed and validated record of their skill-set, plan their personal development and share information with employers and training providers.

Rick Bacon, CEO of iProfile, comments: The acquisition of PurplePassport is an important move for us in capitalising on iProfile's enormous potential for business growth by giving us access to a larger market. We are gaining valuable insight into important aspects of personal development and the 'learning community', including the Sector Skills Councils. The professional profile is already making waves in the recruitment space and companies are starting to gear up for the next progression in dynamic skills management. Today there is no reason why jobseekers should continue to use a CV template when they can benefit from the iProfile, the dynamic profile for professionals.

Mark Callahan, founder of PurplePassport, added: We're delighted to be joining forces with iProfile as there are clear benefits for jobseekers and employers in integrating the two products. iProfile has already had huge success in the UK as candidates realise that an online, dynamic profile can put them one step ahead in their job search. PurplePassport's experience and expertise in recording skills and tracking personal development will only add to this. It can also play a role in tackling the current skills shortage. The Leitch review in December 2006 highlighted that the UK urgently needs to raise achievements at all levels of skills. We address this skills gap by bringing together the benefits of skills passports in fostering personal development, with those of iProfile to streamline the online recruitment process. Once employees and employers can capture all training and achievements on their iProfile, a person's skills can be identified more easily, as can areas in which employees require training to fill those skills gaps. It helps avoid unnecessary and often expensive retraining because all achievements are verified by a credited source.

iProfile (www.iprofile.org) encourages jobseekers to convert their CV to a dynamic professional profile. It is easy to set up and update, with the added benefits of enabling complete control over the job-seeking process and ensuring feedback from recruiters and hiring managers on the relevant job opportunities. The iProfile has been adopted by many of the UK's biggest recruiters, including Hays IT, Reed, Spring and Alexander Mann with the 2005 Key Note IT Recruitment Market Assessment reporting that it has become the industry standard format for online CVs.

All information held on an Purple Passport is verified by any one of a network of 'registered verifiers', which consist of employers, training providers, awarding bodies, colleges & universities. Both the individual and employer can continue to update it during the period of employment. This added capability for dynamic skills management will help move the recruitment industry forward in effectively assessing and utilising those skills available.