Africa Business Communities

[Interview] Eric Lauer, CEO, Everjobs

Eric Lauer is a driven entrepreneur seeking to transform employment situation in Africa. His interview with Africa Business Communities takes us through the journey that birthed Everjobs.

Tell us a bit about Everjobs, how did it start?

Everjobs started with a simple reality: it is very hard for young professionals in Africa to land a job in the formal sector. This has many reasons, some being structural like the large share of informal sector jobs in the economy. But one important reason is the fact that the young do not have access to the information on the vacancies offered by top companies in the country. Our platform’s main objective is to make these vacancies available in order to give equal opportunities to all.

After some research, I also noticed that there wasn’t any pan-African job portal that could give African professionals opportunities in other countries. Labor markets are more and more integrated in Africa and we thought it would make a lot of sense to know instantly about all the opportunities available throughout Africa.

What motivated you into this line of work?

I would say that three passions brought me to Everjobs: Africa, Digital and Public sector.

First, in my former life as a consultant for McKinsey, I did a few engagements in Africa, mostly French-speaking Africa and was really thrilled by everything I saw. Lots of challenges but also lots of opportunities, an economic boom and people legitimately aspiring to a better life. Really wanted to be part of this incredible energy.

Second passion was digital and its impact on traditional economies. I’ve always been fascinated on the way the digital revolution is re-shaping sectors, take for instance banking or tourism industry and therefore I’ve done many projects in my previous career on helping large companies achieve their digital transformation. And the recruitment industry is no exception to this trend.

Third, since I was a teenager I was very keen on public sector issues, specifically economic and social policies. As unemployment is a major source of concern and social unrest in Africa, I’m convinced that Everjobs can have a huge social impact in Africa.

If you combine these three passions and add a dose of risk-taking or foolishness, you get Everjobs, the pan-African job portal!

How would you do describe your journey in the growth of Everjobs?

The journey has been full of adrenaline so far and yet a lot remains to be done. The pace of our growth is fantastic:  I’ve launched on average a new country every month, so we’re currently operating both in West and East Africa with Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. My plan is to operate in about twenty countries in 2016.

Our teams are also growing fast, already close to a hundred today (including central team) and probably reaching 300 in 2016. My teams are having the chance to meet hundreds of enthusiastic Heads of Human Resources who want to be part of this great project and are currently actively using Everjobs for their recruitment. I’m very grateful to them.

There are similar companies like this in countries like Nigeria, what sets Everjobs apart?

The first main difference is that we intend to have a true pan-African footprint, which makes a lot of sense both on supply side of the job market for employers and demand side for professional. From our discussion with numerous Heads of Human Resources from large international groups, they want to be able to source talents on a regional basis, be it all of East Africa, all of West & Central Africa or sometimes at the African continent level. For professionals, as there is growing mobility of talents within Africa, we’re able to offer them opportunities outside their national labor market.

The second difference is for the job seeker experience. This service is 100% free for them and we never make professionals looking for a new career opportunity pay. In addition, we offer them a direct link with the Heads of HR unlike aggregators that combine offers from companies’ career portals and applicants never know where their application is going. As for us we guarantee that they land directly with the Heads of HR. Even more important, candidates are informed when their application is read as we know the kind of anxiety you face when waiting for an interview!

The third main difference is on the product for our clients. We’re working hard to give as many functionalities as possible to Heads of HR. With our standardized CVs, they can filter candidates based on relevancy for the position offered. We’re also giving them the option to head hunt directly in our database so that they have a glimpse of the talents available in the country. On top of that, we offer background checks of CVs after they’ve been short-listed candidates to verify the references of an applicant

Any success stories you would like to share?

Yes and we’ve had a lot. The ones that are the most moving for me are when we get testimonials of professionals who landed a job through Everjobs and tell us how grateful they are. An example is a photographer in Cameroon who wrote to the Everjobs team there to thank them and actually said “I tried my luck by creating a profile on your platform and to be honest didn’t expect much. I was quite dumbfounded when I actually ended up with the job, even though I had been searching for quite some time before Everjobs!”.

What you identify as the key ethic any entrepreneur should have to function successfully in Africa?

Passion and foolishness probably. Passion because the challenge is very high on every dimension, be it because of lack of transports or infrastructure (internet is key for a startup and it can be down quite some time unfortunately). Foolishness also because a lot of very reasonable persons will tell you not to do it and you’ll go nevertheless!

What is your vision for Everjobs in the next decade?

My vision is to get our platform available to African SMEs and this will be our hardest challenge I believe. These SMEs need to have access to the best pool of talents to grow and they currently mostly recruit by word of mouth, which gives them a limited reach. I’m convinced that Everjobs can bring a revolution to the human capital of SMEs and small family business in Africa.

I also intend for Everjobs to have a big impact on employability. Today, many Heads of Human Resources tell me they notice a huge gap between what’s written on CVs and the actual skills. We’re working hard to reach out to universities, to put online quality content from our partners in many industries and career advice to reduce this gap. Reducing this employability gap will make this talent revolution real.

www.linkedin.com/profile

www.everjobs.com

 

Africa Business Communities is conducting a series of Interviews with CEOs and high-end professionals operating in Africa. Are you interested in an interview? Please send an email to afia@africabusinesscommunities.com

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