We are delighted to announce that WhiteHat has been ranked 23rd on LinkedIn’s annual Top Startup list celebrating the hottest new companies in the UK. We join brands like Monzo, Tide, and LadBible in being recognised by LinkedIn for our impact on the professional landscape. We are doubly excited to see organisations like Curve and Thought Machine on the list who have partnered with WhiteHat to employ apprentices and reference their programmes. This really demonstrates the systemic change that our work is bringing about at an industry and societal level! The LinkedIn Top Startups list is compiled from factors including employment growth, job interest and the ability to attract top talent. It is informed by billions of actions taken by 630+ million members of LinkedIn.
Our mission to create an outstanding alternative to university has resonated with employers, educators and young people alike, and this has allowed WhiteHat to grow rapidly over these last 12 months. We have reached the stage where we receive over a thousand applications a week from young people who we place in high quality apprenticeships with hundreds of employers. Driving this growth is the team of almost 100 WhiteHat employees that we’ve built out at stunning pace who are changing the way people access education and careers in this country.
The WhiteHat team
We speak often about the culture we’re creating for apprentices and the world-first apprentice community we’re building. But equally important is the internal WhiteHat culture that is fizzing with innovation, camaraderie and a passion for improving social mobility in the UK and beyond. Every Monday in our weekly All Hands meeting we hear a ‘coach story’ where the whole company gets an insight from one of our coaches on how WhiteHat is having a positive impact on the lives of young people through the education we’re providing. In the WhiteHat office, we see and mix with our apprentices every day while they do their course-work or prepare for exams or, indeed, just drop in for a coffee and catch-up. Every day WhiteHat employees come to work with the goal of helping to create a diverse group of future leaders. It is a company that lives its values. Many startups claim this but at WhiteHat, where we engage in person every day with our apprentices, we most definitely live it. We’re in the early stages of our mission to revolutionise further education and provide a solution to the broken one-size-fits-all university route.
To achieve what WhiteHat has achieved over the last 12 months would have been impossible without the hugely talented team we’ve put together in tech, talent, sales, marketing, community, operations, curriculum, learning and progress. To achieve what we want to achieve in the next 12 years will require an equal focus on hiring excellent people who share the WhiteHat values and mission. This is one of the main reasons we’re so happy to be recognised by LinkedIn as one of the UK’s hottest startups. It shows that we’ve set a solid foundation for attracting top talent who will bring their own expertise and passion to WhiteHat. By making this place one of the most attractive places to work, we are furthering our efforts in creating an outstanding alternative to university. In 2019 we’re one of the UK’s hottest startups but as we scale the business, one of our main focuses will be maintaining the WhiteHat culture and to continue to hire fun, passionate and inspirational people to bring along on our journey.
