Bridging the recruiter-graduate gap in Middle East

Dubai: Building a business entirely reliant on students and graduates might seem like a difficult sell on the face of it. The question would be asked repeatedly as to whether this core audience on its own can sustain such a business.

If the business is rooted in the digital world, anything is possible. This is what the promoters of Gradberry — a portal which does job listings and blogs in equal measure — are hoping for.

"The fact is, current job portals focus on experienced professionals — Gradberry, on the other hand, is a distinct careers portal that caters exclusively to students and graduates with zero to two years of work experience," Iba Masoud, co-founder and CEO, said.

"Youth unemployment is at its peak in the Middle East — the highest in the world at 26 per cent. Universities are at their highest capacity levels in 10 years. Hence, the need for a portal which bridges the gap between employers, universities and youth.

Social hiring techniques

"We aimed to aggregate job and internship postings from top employers, and use social hiring techniques to inform candidates about the positions."

In its present format the portal posts internships, entry-level jobs, freelance positions and traineeships. Vacancies, according to Masoud, are filled within 30 days on average in the four months that the portal has been operational.

The start-up costs were substantial. "Aside from the investments in tech, we also spent significantly in establishing the company since start-up costs are quite high in the UAE," Masoud said. "We only decided to register the business once we started making revenue as we wanted to ensure we could pay back the registration costs.

"Every dollar of revenue Gradberry currently makes is invested back. Our operational costs are marginal, however, we do expect them to escalate quite quickly. We have plans to tap external investment sources in the near future."

Now that would be a decisive point for the business. Anecdotal evidence suggests that more banks out there are scouting for prospects in the SME space, but the funding pipeline is yet to start flowing freely.

Extending reach

By the time Gradberry reaches the point where it needs external funding, the portal would have scaled up its offerings and reach.

"We are studying other markets to see the potential for expansion," Masoud said.

"The site has placed candidates from outside the UAE as well, including graduates from Jordan. Currently, however, our focus is on using funds to expand the portal's features and capabilities rather than geographic expansion.

"We are not looking beyond our core audience at this point as students and grads should not be competing with experienced professionals for the same jobs on the portal." While getting candidates to list for jobs, the portal is just as intent on blogging.

"We use the Fruit Bowl blog to inform our entry-level candidates on best practices in certain jobs, how to appeal to certain employers, and how to hone specific skills which are high in demand by employers today," Masoud said.

"Currently, on the blog, HR professionals are discussing best practices and students and graduates from all over the Middle East are writing about their experiences.

"Being social media savvy should be a trait possessed by all candidates regardless of experience — 91 per cent of employers screen their shortlisted candidates via social media networks," Masoud said. "Hence, maintaining a productive digital presence has become a necessity in 2012." And beyond.