South African mobile recruitment startup Giraffe, which launched its beta app in January, has reported a positive response to its pilot in Gauteng province, with nearly 10,000 jobseeker registrations on the platform so far.
Giraffe seeks to help South African jobseekers more easily access job opportunities and assist employers in recruiting the most suitable staff quickly and at extremely low cost.
The mobile app works on any mobile phone and helps jobseekers create a CV anytime, anywhere. Employers can submit requests online, listing their requirements, after which Giraffe identifies suitable candidates and schedules interviews as soon as 48 hours after the request is submitted.
Giraffe says it has received a very positive response since its launch with minimal marketing, and has sent job opportunities to over 1,000 jobseekers.
“We’re happy with progress so far, and we’re only just getting warmed up,” said Shafin Anwarsha, head of product at Giraffe.
“Feedback from both jobseekers and employers has been very positive.”
The startup now plans to ramp up its recruitment service in Gauteng before expanding to the rest of South Africa later this year.
When it launched in January, the company highlighted South Africa’s unemployment rate of 26 per cent – youth unemployment is nearer to 50 per cent – as the major issue it wished to tackle. South Africa is expected to have the eighth worst jobless rate in the world this year, according to the International Labour Organisation, and though this is driven primarily by sluggish economic growth, Giraffe believes it is exacerbated by limited access to opportunities for most South Africans, especially in the medium-skilled segment.
“Although PC penetration is relatively low in South Africa, mobile penetration is more than 100 per cent – on par with the developed world,” said Anwarsha.
“This means that we can harness the ubiquity of mobile to empower jobseekers with better access to opportunities.”
He said Giraffe is not a job portal, a recruitment agency or labour broker, but has rather developed unique technology – optimised for mobile and the medium-skilled segment – which enables targeted matching of candidates with opportunities and does automatic interview scheduling.
“Essentially we offer employers and HR departments all the features of a recruitment agent at a fraction of the price,” he said.
