Job24 App: Allows Finding the Right Candidate in the Shortest Time in Industry and Manufacturing
Gizem Yasa and Mert Yıldız
One of the most important obstacles in economic development of Turkey is the inefficiency in the employment market. As a matter of fact, Human Resources managers of many leading companies express that they have difficulties in finding qualified candidates with necessary qualifications. Considering the 3.5 million unemployed population in Turkey, one can conclude that the employers and the candidates cannot find each other efficiently. Another problem in the job or employee finding process is that the process takes a very long time. Recruitment processes can sometimes take weeks or even months.
Two young entrepreneurs, Gizem Yasa and Mert Yıldız, developed an application that will solve the aforementioned problems in the process of finding a job or an employee. Through Job24 app, companies that are in search of an employee receive their first application 28 minutes after posting a job listing and meet the candidate within 18 hours. The average recruitment time is 38 hours.
We interviewed with Gizem Yasa and Mert Yıldız, founders of Job24 app, for our Textile Technology Magazine. Yasa and Yıldız described the story of the foundation of the application and its differences from other job listing solutions, and provided information about their future goals and new projects on the horizon.
First of all, we would like to know the founders of Job24 app. Can you please tell us about yourself?
Gizem Yasa: After graduating from the University of Chicago, Department of Economics in 2005, I continued my career in law in New York. I worked at Wachtel & Masyr LLP, which specializes especially in public offerings and mergers. Simultaneously, I founded the design company Coracor and turned it into a brand that is sold at different points in 21 different cities. After my return to Turkey in 2011, I co-founded Butigo, an e-commerce brand which operated in shoe vertical and managed the branding & design aspects of the business. In 2015, Butigo was sold to Ziylan Group, the largest manufacturer/retailer of shoes in Turkey. Between 2015 and 2017, I worked as a consultant for e-commerce companies: Çiçeksepeti and Modanisa. In 2017, we established Job24 app with Mert Yıldız.
Mert Yıldız: After graduating from the Johns Hopkins University Biomedical Engineering Department, I completed my master’s degree in Mathematics at Columbia University and continued my doctoral studies at the London School of Economics. After that, I worked as an economist in various companies in different countries such as ING Bank (London), Rennaissance Capital (Russia), Burgan Bank (Kuwait) for 15 years. Before returning to Turkey, I worked with one of the most reputable economists in the world: Nouriel Roubini. I was the chief economist for developing countries. Following my Roubini experience, I started a company named Foresight Consulting to transfer my experience in the field of economics. Finally, I co-founded Job24 app with my partner Gizem.
Can you please tell the story of the establishment of Job24 app? How did you decide to develop the application? Have the problems and needs of the sectors related to finding jobs and employment led you to establish this platform?
Mert Yıldız: As an experienced economist, I used to point out in the meetings and several conversations with high ranked government officials, ministers, and businesspersons that one of the most important problems in the development of Turkey is the inefficiency in the employment market. The leading companies continuously complain about having great difficulty in finding qualified employees. On the other hand, there are 3.5 million unemployed people in our country. This figure clearly indicates that employers and candidates cannot find each other efficiently. When we take a closer look at the developed countries and how they solved this problem, we realized that technology is an important factor. Meanwhile, my old friend Gizem said that there are new start-ups on this issue in Europe. We conducted a research on this issue and decided that it would be successful if such a model is localized and applied in Turkey. We rolled up our sleeves and started Job24. As a matter of fact, the application became an instant success.
‘‘We Guarantee a Return to Your Job Application in 24 Hours’’
What are the most important features that distinguish Job24 from other applications? What kind of advantages does it offer to its users?
Gizem Yasa: The most important feature that separates us from other applications is our speed. Generation Z, which is currently gaining a serious share in the job market, will constitute 75 percent of the global workforce by 2030. This generation spends most of their day on the mobile screen and meets many of their needs through their smartphones. Since the recruitment processes continue for months in existing HR solutions, the new generation is looking for a fast alternative method to find a job. Job24 meets an important need at this very stage. With Job24 app, you do not have to wait for weeks or months for a response to your job application. We guarantee a return to your application within 24 hours. This is an important advantage for both employers and candidates. It is a big plus that the candidate being sought can be found quickly and job seekers can also get a quick return to their job applications. In addition, thanks to the location-based system we have, candidates can find the closest job listings, and employers can find the closest candidate. During the troublesome pandemic period that we are going through, nobody wants to go to work by transferring from 3-4 vehicles. Thanks to the location feature, it is possible to have the luxury of walking to work in big cities with heavy traffic such as Istanbul.
One of the most important features of the Job24 app is that it is one of the fastest solutions for both companies and candidates. Can you please illustrate this speed in numbers?
Gizem Yasa: Companies that place a job listing with Job24 receive their first application within an average of 28 minutes, interact with at least 1 candidate within 42 minutes, the first appointment is created within 6 hours and the interview begins with the candidate within 18 hours. The average recruitment time is 38 hours. There was a case that the candidate and the company agreed 2 hours after opening the job listing. We admit that this record time surprised us too.
How does the process work so fast in Job24 app? Can you please describe both the process and how you achieved it?
In Job24, companies can communicate directly with candidates. By exchanging instant messages, they can proceed without interrupting the process.
In addition, companies have to return within 24 hours, if they do not, they lose candidates’ applications without seeing them again. This increases and speeds up the involvement of the companies and candidate-company interaction. We enjoy the advantage of being a mobile application. We are always a part of their lives.
On another note, we have an interface and experience that the users are used to on a daily basis in social media channels. This enables us to be a part of the natural flow of life.
‘‘220 Thousand People Found Jobs Until Today’’
Can you please explain the market share of Job24 app and the job application figures that it has achieved since its establishment?
There is no market share measurement on this issue yet because we are creating a new market that did not exist before. We are digitalizing micro-sized companies and SMEs that do not have online job listings among their habits by introducing a new system. We are replacing newspaper advertisements, “staff wanted” boards posted on storefronts, and offer small businesses a more efficient and much faster alternative. So far, approximately 220 thousand jobs have been found using the platform.
What are your future plans? Will you invest in the industry and manufacturing vertical?
We will continue to focus on industry and manufacturing in the upcoming period. Our biggest goal is to be a clear leader in finding qualified candidates in the manufacturing sector very quickly. When it comes to recruitment in the industry, the first name that comes to mind should be Job24. We invest heavily in this sector and we plan to be the biggest player by 2022. We think there is great potential in this area. Similarly, our concentration on the logistics and courier side will be high in the upcoming period.
Do you have new projects or investment ideas related to the application? If so, can you elaborate on them as well?
As the needs of the market change, we get stronger in different areas by using our ability to adapt and quickness. In this context, we aim to focus on industry and manufacturing in the upcoming period. There is a serious demand and a need for qualified candidates in these areas. It is very critical that the right candidates that we mentioned, in the beginning, get together with the right company and positions in the most effective and fast way. While it was very difficult to fill these positions with the old methods, we made this process much easier with Job24. The troublesome Covid-19 duration has been a period in which we specialized in responding to the needs of industry and manufacturing. We have plans to operate in the nearby countries in the first half of 2021. We want to open up to geographies that are more distant in 2022.
In the upcoming period, we aim to accelerate the meeting of candidates and companies by using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Likewise, we want to create a reliable world where candidates are in contact with each other, where they can ask each other about their potential employers, where they can receive referrals, and where an end to end recruitment processes is possible.
Interview: Dilek HAYIRLI
