Tech.mt in collaboration with Gadgets Malta asked different companies a few questions about their service – WhatVacancy

The Online Recruitment Platform that lets you discover vacancies that match your skills and career values.

Imagine having access to a platform where both job seekers and employers around the world can share their experience, values and skills.

A platform that matches job seekers with their ideal workplace and where employers can directly contact suitable candidates to invite them to apply a job posting or to assess whether they could be a good fit.

James –  

Imagine having a platform where both job seekers and employers around the world can share their experience, values and skills. A platform that matches job seekers with their ideal workplace and invite them to apply a job post, or assess whether they’d be a good fit.  

WhatVacancy does all of that and more.  

Rachel –  

This week, TechMT wanted to shine the spotlight on James Attard who is the creator of whatvacancy.com which is a platform where employers and job seekers can use it to match with available vacancies.  

James, maybe you can explain this idea and the innovation behind it.  

James –  

First of all, thanks for having me. As you’ve mentioned, WhatVacancy is not a job portal, rather a job matching platform. For those familiar with Tinder, instead of matching with partners, you match with your ideal job. The idea came from personal experience, finding the right job for your skills. WhatVacancy uses Artificial Intelligence, using keywords from the jobseeker to and matches them with the keywords of the company’s culture values as well as the skills, experience and requirements the job post needs.  

Rachel –  

This was launched only just a few weeks ago, bhow was the experience, the obstacles, challenges and successes so far?  

James –  

Covid 19 doesn’t help of course, but this gives hope to those looking for a job. As a team we’ve also focused on building a knowledge base to teach people as well as companies on how to use the platform. In fact we’ve written a book, released as an ebook, called The Modern Job seeker. Its on Kindle, available to purchase, but those registered on the platform, got it free of charge.  

Over the past months, we’ve had 300 users which according to our metrics, is a good thing and we plan to continue growing in the local market to eventually plant ourselves in the European market too.  

Rachel –  

When it came to creating something like this, how did you manage in terms of finances and adhering to any regulations? 

James –  

Regulations especially for a platform that collects certain personal data, is important and not just because its there as a regulation like GDPR but it also gives a sense of ease to whoever’s using the platform. You can create your jobseeker profile and your employers won’t see who you are, rather your profile, experience and skills. When there is a match, and the job seeker actually applies for the job, then the data will be revealed, but we don’t reveal data unnecessarily. In terms of finances, I’ve bootstrapped everything myself, but were also looking at help from TechMT and Malta Enterprise as well as exploring various startup funding and accelerator programmes which is definitely needed for the next step, which is internationalisation.  

Rachel –  

Yes in fact, since you mentioned TechMT, I would like to invite Dana Farrugia who is the CEO of TechMT. James mentioned incentives by TechMT for startups in the tech sector.  

Dana –  

Yes Rachel, as James mentioned, one of the biggest hurdles startups come across is getting the proposition of their product to the consumers. In our case, when we see innovative solutions like these where AI is being used, as TechMT we enjoy seeing this happen with local talent and that local talent is exploring new technology. It’s something that both emplyers and job seekers will benefit from and it’s also a solution that we’ve witnessed grew from a small idea James had.  

In the tech sector, internationalisation is faster than other economic sectors for the simple reason that you’ve started on a global platform already and this is the advantage of the tech sector. Once you have a local solution, the next step, which is swift, is going international.  

 Rachel –  

 What do you see in the future of WhatVacancy? 

 James –  

The future for WhatVacancy is for it to be the first platform that actually helps job seekers find their ideal job. I know how frustrating it is for someone who’s changed their career, only to find out that, again, he’s back to square one. Also to help companies, as I know how expensive it is for companies, for them to invest in a new employee, only for them to quit the job a few months later. I want WhatVacancy to be a synonymous name with careers at an international level.