Italy’s unemployment rate – currently 12.6% - remains stubbornly high, while its online recruitment market, devoid of any real technical innovation, had done little to support what hiring activity there is.
Dispiriting for most Italians, but for Venetian entrepreneur Andrea De Spirt the inspiration behind his digital recruitment start-up Jobyourlife.
Thanks to a semantic algorithm developed in-house, companies that sign up to the platform can search and find exactly the candidates they need in the shortest possible timeframe and in a specific geographical area, using the same principle as
Conversely, the geo-location of curricula, means that job seekers no longer have to trawl through endless pages of job openings. Instead Jobyourlife ensures that only geo-targeted offers, closely aligned with their profile and relating to their chosen area, are presented to them.
“Why not create a tool that allows companies to find candidates with specific skills in the shortest time possible, thereby optimizing costs, while, in turn, enabling users to be reached directly by targeted advertisements?” was the question De Spirt asked himself at the age of 23 before giving up his philosophy studies at the Università Statale di Milano and launching the business in 2012.
De Spirt, second from left, with Jobyourlife team
It took a year to develop the software. The trickiest part was creating the semantic algorithm for searching CVs that works side by side with the company using it, to help it find ideal candidates in a targeted location.
Jobyourlife offers customizable solutions to meet all recruitment requirements, and includes a subscription-based service for SMEs and an Open model aimed at smaller businesses with limited needs. Companies can sign-up for free, search for profiles that best suit their requirements, and send a targeted job advertisement by simply purchasing the strictly necessary credits, maximum €8 per credit. If the candidate doesn’t respond to the ad, the credits are returned to the company for re-use.
“To this day, there is no other system on the market as fast and cheap as Jobyourlife Open,” insists De Spirt.
The start-up was incubated by PoliHub, the Università Politecnico of Milan’s technological incubator, and start-up funding of €500,000 ($646,000) was provided by a group of angel investors; five established entrepreneurs and managers operating in the fields of insurance, private equity and banking.
In April 2013, Jobyourlife, opened a second office in Cagliari entirely dedicated to web development, and is on course to open a third office in Barcelona to enter the European market. VC investors are sitting up, taking notice and entering into discussions about a second round of funding.
The biggest challenge, says De Spirt, was introducing the Jobyourlife solution to major multinational companies, having to face highly structured contexts with strong consolidated practices, and convincing them that Jobyourlife was capable of streamlining their entire process of staff selection.
He says: “The greatest victory for the team was then seeing these major multinational companies enthuse about our product because it had indeed simplified the entire process and reduced their costs.”
The Jobyourlife team comprises nine people, working out of the two offices in Milan and Cagliari, but will have expanded to 20 people by the end of the summer.
De Spirt’s first book, Ultima chiamata. Giovani, lavoro e innovazione nell'Italia del futuro (Last call. Youth, work and innovation in the Italy of the future), will be published in November, at the same time that Gallery Ventures, an innovators co-working space and incubator in Milan, that he co-founded, will also open its doors.
He says: “These are hard times for Italy. Youth unemployment rates are extremely high and companies are hiring less. But I am confident we are on the road to recovery: as film director and actor Roberto Benigni would say, ‘After falling, Italians have always gotten back up on their feet.’ This country is full of talent, young talent, and Jobyourlife’s aim is precisely to highlight that talent.”
