ASU Law MHREL alum builds platform to transform job search experience

When Rhad Fakhoury was working as an HR generalist, he found himself on both sides of a hiring process that often left people frustrated.

As a job seeker, he experienced the uncertainty of submitting applications and waiting weeks — or months — for answers. As a recruiter, he saw employers overwhelmed by applications and struggling to identify qualified candidates efficiently.

Those experiences eventually inspired him to build a solution.

Today, Fakhoury, who completed ASU Law’s Master of Human Resources and Employment Law (MHREL) program online, is the founder of STAK, a new swipe-based hiring platform designed to make the job search process faster, more transparent and more engaging for both candidates and employers.

"I realized the job search process was broken when I started working in HR as an HR Generalist and became involved in recruiting," Fakhoury said. "As a job seeker, I had always been frustrated by the lack of communication from employers. Once I was on the hiring side, I saw those frustrations were not isolated experiences. They were happening everywhere."

One experience in particular cemented that belief.

A few years ago, Fakhoury spent nearly two months pursuing a position. After a promising interview process and multiple follow-ups, he eventually learned the role had been filled internally. While he understood the decision, the lack of communication throughout the process left a lasting impression.

"That experience forced me to ask a simple question: Why are we making people invest hours into applications, interviews and follow-ups when there is so little transparency in the process?" he said.

The experience ultimately became the catalyst for STAK, a mobile-first hiring platform designed to help employers and job seekers identify mutual interest more quickly and efficiently. Users can swipe through opportunities, save jobs, connect with employers and access career development tools, all with the goal of creating more meaningful matches.

"The industry has become obsessed with quantity instead of quality," Fakhoury said. "More applications. More postings. More clicks. But more does not necessarily mean better."

For employers, particularly small businesses and startups, affordability was another issue he wanted to address.

"The biggest gap I saw was accessibility and affordability," he said. "Hiring platforms have become increasingly expensive, and many smaller employers are priced out before they even have a chance to compete for talent."

Launching a startup, however, came with its own challenges.

Like many entrepreneurs, Fakhoury faced moments of uncertainty throughout the process. He recalls questioning whether the platform would gain traction — even on the eve of its launch.

"I had doubts almost every day," he said. "Even the night before launch, I was asking myself, 'What if nobody uses it?'"

What kept him moving forward was a willingness to embrace risk and learn from failure.

"If I do not try, I have already failed," he said. "I would rather take a risk and learn from it than spend years wondering what could have happened."

That mindset paid off. Within the first week of launch, STAK surpassed 2,000 users, validating years of work and development.

Fakhoury credits part of his entrepreneurial mindset to the broader ASU community, where he was surrounded by students, alumni and innovators pursuing ambitious ideas.

"ASU exposed me to ambitious people who were building businesses, solving problems and thinking bigger than the traditional career path," he said. "Watching other students, alumni and founders turn ideas into real businesses made entrepreneurship feel attainable rather than theoretical."

While the university's culture inspired him to think like an entrepreneur, his education through ASU Law's MHRELprogram provided a deeper understanding of workplace dynamics and organizational challenges, which is knowledge that would later inform his approach to building STAK.

"The MHREL program gives students a deeper understanding of the workplace, from employment law and compliance to organizational strategy and talent management," said Joey Dormady, assistant dean of graduate programs and new education initiatives at ASU Law. "That foundation helps graduates recognize challenges that affect both employers and employees and equips them with the tools to develop thoughtful, innovative solutions. Rhad's work with STAK reflects how that knowledge can be applied to address real-world workforce issues." 

"My experience at ASU helped strengthen my understanding of business, employment and organizational challenges," Fakhoury said. "The value was not necessarily in a single lesson. It was in developing the mindset to identify problems, analyze them critically and pursue solutions."

That combination of entrepreneurial ambition and practical insight into the challenges facing employers and employees helped shape his vision for a platform designed to improve the hiring experience for both sides.

Today, seeing thousands of users engage with a platform that once existed only as an idea remains one of the most rewarding aspects of the journey.

"Every entrepreneur starts with a concept that exists only in their head," Fakhoury said. "Seeing STAK evolve from an idea into a live platform with thousands of users has been incredibly rewarding."

For current ASU students and recent graduates considering entrepreneurship, his advice is straightforward: "Just go for it," he said. "People spend years waiting for the perfect time, the perfect idea or the perfect circumstances. In reality, those things rarely exist."

As STAK continues to grow, Fakhoury hopes the platform can help reshape the experience of millions of job seekers and employers every year — one match at a time.