Lancashire based urfuture, one of the UK’s fastest-growing Gen Z careers brands, has appointed Holly Hobbs as its chief growth officer.
The move follows the company’s recent acquisition of Apprentivia, the Gen Z first employer branding agency Hobbs founded, marking a strategic partnership between two firms in early careers, social media and technology.
The business, which garnered over 100m TikTok views in 2024, has built a mobile-first job app built specifically for Gen Z jobseekers, as well as a SaaS platform for employers which uses technology to deliver personalised job matches.
At its core is RubyAI, urfuture’s proprietary tool that aims to streamline candidate screening and contains features like instant chat, video calls and a career & job matching algorithm based on behavioural science & machine learning.
Hobbs, a former Microsoft degree apprentice, launched Apprentivia to bridge the gap between employers and young talent.
The 22-year-old grew the firm to a place where it became a trusted Gen Z attraction partner for employers like British Gas, BT Group, NHS, Volkswagen and Deloitte.
Manchester’s CTI Digital appoints serial entrepreneur as new CEO
Her campaigns reached on average over 600,000 views, drove thousands of applications and helped employers access talent pools, whilst tripling female applicants in key roles.
“I started Apprentivia with zero connections, zero experience and zero clients, just a dream to change the way young people make career decisions,” said Hobbs.
“After 30 rejections, I landed an apprenticeship at Microsoft and realised how broken the system was.
“Apprentivia helped young people see what a job really looked like. With urfuture, we’re now solving the next part of the puzzle, helping them figure out what truly fits. That’s the magic I’m here to build.”
As chief growth officer, Hobbs will be tasked with driving urfuture’s Gen Z attraction strategy, lead employer campaigns and scale the growth of the marketplace on the B2B side of the business – helping build the UK’s number one job platform for Gen Z.
Tom Keighley, founder of urfuture, added: “Holly didn’t just build a great agency, she built a blueprint for Gen Z engagement.
“Her content didn’t just go viral, it converted, and she has become one of the thought leaders in the Gen Z attraction space.
“With Holly joining as co-founder, we’re combining our own social growth with her storytelling, positioning urfuture as the biggest careers brand in the UK on social media. With the app and platform launching on 30th June, we aim to scale and lead a new era for early careers hiring.”