Digitising job-hunting
App makes it easier for job seekers to find a match
MILLENNIALS have been quite the focus of the job market over the past few years. Companies are increasingly talking about setting cultures and values that resonate with younger job seekers and offices are trying to look cool and appealing to this age group.
Slingapp, a job-hunting app that connects job seekers to nearby jobs, is also seeing a need to modernise the job application process to appeal to millennials.
“Most of our target market range from 18 to 35 years old. And we notice that they feel the traditional way of applying for a job is very long. And whether employers like it or not, they are going to be hiring millenials. So your platform has to appeal to these people.
“That way, you can create more interaction between employers and job seekers. This is where we bridge the gap,” says Slingapp founder Lucas Wong.
Co-founder and chief executive officer Teh Tian Ji notes that the recruitment system generally face several challenges including the high cost of hiring and the long time it takes to screen and respond to job applicants.
The app, he adds, is making an impact in the marketplace as it is able to address these challenges.
Through the app, applicants can easily swipe right to apply for jobs and get interviewed once they match job requirements. For recruiters, Slingapp makes hiring more efficient by reducing screening time by up to 70% through the use of its Autointerviu feature.
So far, some 240,000 jobs have been applied on the platform since its inception in 2017. As of early-september, there are more than 50,000 active job seeker profiles available on Slingapp, and the startup aims to grow this to at least 100,000 by year end.
To-date, the app has matched over 75,000 jobs and has 2,500 registered recruiters on board.
Slingapp has evolved over the two years that it has been around.
“Initially, Slingapp was for fastmoving jobs as it was a part-time and internship platform. But 50% of the recruiters wanted to post fulltime jobs. So we see a market demand for this and we responded to that demand. As of now, we have fulltime, part-time and internship jobs on the platform,” says Wong.
Teh notes that user feedback has been key in helping the team with product development. With this, the startup will be rolling out new features to enhance its offerings for recruiters.
Its upcoming features include the Slingapp QR which retailers can put up at their locations to direct job seekers to the recruitment platform. Another feature is the Talent Search which recruiters can use to actively search for job seekers without having to wait for applicants to submit their applications.
“One of our advantages is that we have an applicant tracking system, auto interview and job advertising all on one platform. Other than that, we are only listing jobs on a mobile app. So we force applicants to see jobs that are ranked by location first,” says Teh.
Currently, some 80% of jobs posted on the app are for fulltime jobs.
Moving forward, Teh hopes to grow its capabilities in artificial intelligence and machine learning to help recruiters hire much faster.
“Our goal in the future is: when you want to hire with a list of requirements, we can suggest a list of people who are available at this time, with this skillset and this experience who qualify for the job. For now, recruiters find it difficult to find replacements for people who are leaving jobs because there is no platform that is generating this kind of convenience for recruiters,” he says.
He also hopes to be able to better match applicants’ skills and characteristics with the right jobs rather than rely on paper qualifications.
“For now, we are collecting data and want to learn their (applicants) behaviour, and the questions they may be asking at interviews, and see how to match the applicants to the jobs based on culture, skillset and character. In the future, we are going to digitalise everyone’s skillset and character for a better match,” he says.
Teh says the company is also looking to scale up its operations to the region once it has established a strong base in Malaysia.
He is confident that the product will do well as it has unique features that are not available in competitor offerings.
It is currently looking for strategic investors to bring the company further. Teh expects the company to breakeven in about two to three years’ time as most of its earnings are currently spent on research and development.