Alumni create smartphone app for job search

The heart of the Orlando-based staffing service and iPhone application, Kavaliro, is UCF.

The organization was founded by four UCF alumni who met through the Greek community. More than a decade has passed since they were students, but their bond with UCF stays strong.

Kavaliro's job app connects with its online job portal, updating information as it comes. A built-in contact form within the app allows users to contact Kavaliro when they see a fitting job.

"The app directly ties to everything we're doing daily," said Stephanie Bruha, operations manager at Kavaliro and UCF alumna. "With our job portal, we don't have to physically go in and update new jobs. You're getting real time updates as we're entering something in."

Bill Peppler, UCF alumnus and managing partner at Kavaliro, said culture is important to the company.

"We have more than 220 consultants working for us on a daily basis," Peppler said. "That's between 26 states. Internally, we're 25 employees, and I would say 80 percent are UCF graduates – including four from [the May 2011] class."

If you are not looking for a job yet but need guidance, Kavaliro's app may help.

"It gives you a perspective so you can see: This is what we're working on today, or this is what they're looking for in the job force," Bruha said. "If you haven't graduated yet and you're figuring out what you want to specialize in or where you want to go then you can look at [what] all the jobs are for a specific area and see what might help in that field."

Currently, the app is available only for the iPhone and iPad. Droid users can expect theirs by the end of the year when Version 2 is set to release.

"The app for us was something we wanted as a mobile solution where people could search jobs all across the country," Peppler said. "We noticed that our website traffic had been shifting over to mobile traffic and thought it was an opportunity to put Kavaliro in the hands of an actual app."

The iPhone and iPad app launched on July 27 and is approaching 5,000 downloads.

"We've been able to grow in a down market," Peppler said. "[In] the worst economy supposedly in 60 years, we come up with positive numbers and are able to hire people. It's very rewarding."

Plans for the future

"Our five-year plan as a company is to become a $100 million organization," Peppler said. "We're on our way."

Peppler attributes a portion of Kavaliro's growth to working with popular industries.

"I think because of the space that we're in, technology, utilities and energy are very popular right now," Peppler said. "Also, the way we go about doing business and who we are has helped us with clients. It has allowed us to take market share from competitors."

Growing with Greeks

Mark Moore, Kavaliro's president, John Mahony, Kavaliro's chief operating officer and Peppler met when they were Lambda Chi Alphas at UCF. Diane Mahony, Kavaliro's CEO, is an Alpha Delta Pi alumna from UCF.

"[John and Diane] are married now," Peppler said. "She was actually John's date at homecoming or a build-your-float kind of deal with Lambda Chi and ADPi. I don't think they were even dating at that point, but then they fell in love."

Michael Mercado, resource manager at Kavaliro, is a fellow Lambda Chi and graduated from UCF in Dec. 2010.

"I feel like you have to know people; it's connections. For this job, I knew these guys through my fraternity, my connections through Lambda Chi," Mercado said. "I feel like if you don't do anything in school, you're not in a club or you're not involved then yeah, it's going to be impossible [to land a job]. You're going to be another person with a degree."

Kavaliro's founders remember where they came from by putting the UCF and the Orlando community at the center of the company.

"At Kavaliro, we invest our time. Everything we invest is here. What we do is UCF, Orlando and Florida," Bruha said. "We do things other places, but this is where our heart is. This is where we came from. This is where we want to be."

Download or read more about the app at www.kavaliro.com.