Smart Wants to Democratize the Blue Collar Recruitment Process

Last week, service developer startup job marketplace smart announced seed funding $6,3 million or equivalent to 93 billion Rupiah. This is a relatively large number for an initial funding, especially since the business that just launched in May 2022 is also playing in an area that is already boisterous with other players --- both from within and outside the country.

However, Nelly Nurmalasari (Co-Founder & CEO) has a fairly strong hypothesis, confirming that the market potential of job seeker platforms in Indonesia is still large. There are so many unresolved problems from previous innovations, especially those targeting blue-collar workers (blue collar).

“With the Smart name, we want to communicate our commitment to always provide smarter ways to help users through the digital solutions we offer. Besides, his 'smart' is umbrella brand that versatile for a variety of solutions that we will launch as great app for blue-collar workers,” said Nelly during a joint interview DailySocial.id.

Problems to be solved

Nelly with two co-founder others, namely Ghirish Pokardas and Henry Hendrawan, were interested from the start in exploring this recruitment issue. However, in validating their ideas, when they tell the vision and mission smart, there were some partners who thought the scope of the problem chosen was too complex to handle. However, they believe that it is more important to choose a valid and broad scope of the problem, because it indicates more opportunities for the issue to be explored and addressed.

"Because of that, at the end of last year we decided to start experimenting lightly (without digital products, we offer our services via Telegram). After capturing around 14 thousand users and validating pain points them, we believe that it is smart to choose issues that are real and important for most workers in Indonesia," added Nelly.

Explained more clearly, pain points for blue collar recruiters or employers, it is quite consistent with various companies including Traveloka, which was where Nelly and Henry's careers were at that time; when their team needs to recruit an operational team. However, Nelly herself feels that she is closer to experiencing this in her home salon side business – when she wants new employees, she has to place job advertisements, carry out screening, and recruit employees directly as a business owner.

“This problem exists on two sides, both job seekers and employers. Process supply-demand matching "for blue collar workers it is still not taking place effectively," explained Nelly.

From a job seeker's point of view, the process of looking for job vacancies is not easy and very difficult fragmented --- many of them search via social media or are limited to recommendations from their acquaintances. Many job seekers are also deceived when they apply for fake lockers posted online (on site job marketplace which does not have a strict curation mechanism). In addition, they often feel 'in-ghosting' by HR or the recruiting team. After applying, I didn't hear anything about the status of the application.

Meanwhile, for employers, there is a difference between businesses that have just started and those that are bigger, more well-known. For more business mature, getting the volume of applications is not a problem. After marketing job vacancies in several places, they usually get lots of applications.

However, it is not easy to filter out applicants who actually meet the required qualifications; especially sorting them. Recruiters can also only rely on applicants' honesty in evaluating them, there is no easy way to verify them. Then, this is all done across multiple platforms – not easy for recruiters. In fact, job seekers often suspect recruiters who contact directly via Whatsapp/telephone as fraud because these prospective workers do not remember all the applications sent.

How its Smart platform works

In its initial phase, Pintarnya started by providing services job marketplace. The aim is to help blue collar workers find work by collecting a complete range of offers from various types of businesses. To ensure that the platform has wide coverage, Pintarnya also continues to increase partnerships with various companies in Indonesia. Like business marketplace others, potential revenue In this business model there are both parties: the seeker and the employer --- although Nelly didn't explain it in detail.

Regarding how the platform works, on the user side, Pintar offers end-to-end job search services. Registered users can use the CV creation service on the Pintar platform, then they will get recommendations or search for various job vacancies that match the preferences they chose when registering.

Safe and verified job vacancies are marked with a green shield. Once users submit a job application, they can monitor the status of their application so that it is no longerghosting recruiter.

"Apart from the core job application process, we also offer various kinds of Smart Services such as salary checks, preparation for written tests such as psychological and English tests, interview preparation, as well as a net salary calculator," added Nelly.

From the recruiter/employer side, Paintarnya first verifies the registered business before displaying the locker on Pintarnya. They also curate candidate screening tests according to minimum job application requirements, so they can provide a list of screened candidates, even in order of recommendation. Smart also facilitates interview scheduling for shortlisted candidates from recruiters.

"Apart from this, we are also exploring various other services that recruiters need not only when looking for workers but also at the final stages of employee selection and worker."

Bridging financial inclusion

It cannot be denied, service job marketplace Currently, it is often found on the market. Likewise those who serve blue collar workers. There are several local startups, such as Lumina Hair Care, side, MyRobin, There is work, and so forth. For this reason, it is important for new players to have a strong value proposition, so that their services can attract market share.

"Value proposition We for blue collar workers are looking for work more easily, safely and quickly. "Meanwhile, for recruiters it is about finding workers more easily, safely and quickly," stressed Nelly.

He said, Pintarnya will continue to develop various innovative features with this theme. For example, job seekers on sites and applications can immediately create a CV Card (simplified version of CV) when registering so that they can immediately apply for jobs without hassle and safely from the various job vacancies available.

It is also easier for recruiters not only to market job vacancies, but also easier to filter and evaluate the suitability of candidates based on the marketed requirements specifications. So, recruiters can fill vacancies more quickly. Pintarnya will also provide several advanced services such as candidate verification, so that recruiters also feel safe hiring their employees.

Apart from that, Pintarnya also wants to initiate fintech products connected to its platform. Even though The roadmap The product cannot be disclosed yet, but later this service unit will be aimed at improving the welfare of blue collar workers, especially in relation to financial management.

"Financial topics can be a problem that puts workers in a bad light, but it can also be an effective motivation in improving their performance. Therefore, we are committed as one of our missions to provide better access to financial products for our users. For The roadmap lini fintech, we can't tell you much more at this time. "However, this is a very important mission, so we plan to execute it immediately," explained Nelly.

For product realization fintech Accordingly, Pintarnya will partner with certain digital financial service providers. This is intended for efficiency in providing services to target users more quickly.

“Our second mission is to help our users become more employable. The scope of this mission is quite broad, but at the beginning of our journey we will focus on building features that help blue collar workers inhighlight profile, qualifications and skills so that they are more attractive to recruiters to hire. Next, we are also interested in exploring some services to improve worker qualifications through partnership programs with players edutech in Indonesia," concluded Nelly, telling of her next long plans.