Why We Changed Our Name (And What We Found Instead)
ReverseApply is now Obvelum. Here's the honest story of why the old name had to go, what we were really building all along, and where the new name comes from.
ReverseApply is now Obvelum.
Same product. Same team. Same belief — just a name that finally fits.
Here's why we changed it, and what we found on the other side.
Why the old name had to go
We didn't change the name because of a rebrand strategy or a pivot in direction.
The "reverse hiring" and "inverse recruitment" space has gotten crowded. Multiple platforms now use some variation of the same concept — and the same language. When a name is shared vocabulary, it isn't a brand — it's a description.
We wanted a name that was unambiguously ours. One that couldn't be confused with anyone else, and couldn't be borrowed by the next platform that ships a "candidates-first" feature.
But once we started looking, we realized the old name had a deeper problem we hadn't fully acknowledged.
"Reverse" described a mechanic. It never described a belief.
Reverse job application tells you how the product works — companies apply to candidates instead of the other way around. That mechanic is real and it still defines the platform. But a mechanic isn't an identity.
The reason the mechanic matters — the reason we built it this way in the first place — is that it makes something else possible: you can be found without being exposed. Your skills, your expectations, your potential are visible to companies that are actively looking. Your name, your face, your employer, your LinkedIn — none of that has to be.
That's not a feature. That's a philosophy. And our old name never captured it.
The name we found
We always knew we wanted to create a brand and a space entirely our own. Eventually we decided on a Latin root: velum. A veil.
Not in the sense of hiding. In the sense of choosing what to reveal, and when.
A veil isn't concealment. It's control. It's the difference between being invisible and being selectively visible — present on your own terms, approached only when there's genuine interest.
We built Obvelum from that root. In Latin, velum is the veil. Ob- is the prefix of protection: placed in front of, standing between. Together: a protective veil. The O from the veil shape of the logo. The name from the idea that has been at the centre of this platform since the beginning.
What hasn't changed
Everything that matters is exactly the same.
Your data is where it was. Your account is untouched. The product works identically. The companies that can find you still can't see your name until you say yes. Salary ranges are still mandatory and binding.
The tagline is the same too, because we got that one right the first time: Interest is visible. Identity is optional.
We're just operating under a name that finally means what we've been building.
If you haven't joined yet, now you know what you're getting: visibility on your terms.