We believe in a remote work revolution, and we want to make it easier for people to find remote and flex jobs and easier for employers to find talent.
The global trend towards remote work has created both opportunities and challenges for employers and for job seekers. With a shortage of skilled workers and new expectations for work-life balance, companies are facing increased difficulties in finding the right talent. In fact, a recent survey showed that 75% of employers report hiring difficulties, despite the various massive lay-offs we hear about.
Remote jobs account for 50% of applications in the world but they are hard to find and detailed remote conditions are hardly available on existing platforms. In the meantime, employers struggle to hire remote talents across multiple geographies.
In response to this challenge we created Jobgether as a solution for the growing demand for remote work. We provide a platform for employers to connect with top remote talent from around the world, and for job seekers to find remote job opportunities with detailed information on remote conditions, available exactly at the place they are (or plan to be) located.
Tell me about the business - what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Jobgether is a global search engine that gives talents access to all remote and flexible jobs worldwide. Our company was “born and raised” during Covid times based on the strong belief that the future of work will be flexible and remote.
Jobgether identifies, aggregates, moderates, enriches and makes available all the remote jobs compatible with an applicant’s location, for free. Companies often face legal restrictions on hiring in certain locations. For example, some US companies
may not currently recruit people to work from Ukraine. With geotargeting, Jobgether maximises the chances of finding jobs that are genuinely available for talent based on their location. We achieve this by scraping all relevant jobs in real time to build the most comprehensive global remote jobs database with the help of AI and machine learning.
From the employer side, using our platform they can diversify their talent acquisition campaigns with global outreach. We offer a one-stop-shop solution to get access to talent pools across the globe with a flexible mindset as we provide candidates with the right level of detail so they know what to expect, saving recruiters’ time. For companies, we also offer a “Sponsored Jobs” promotion tool, to help them promote open positions and find the right talent faster. Another tool is called a ‘Flex Package’ which is aimed at fully flexible companies who would like to highlight their employer branding.
How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?
Jobgether platform was launched in 2021, after being founded in May 2020. Throughout this period, Jobgether has focused on acquiring top talent from around the world, with a strong emphasis on Europe and emerging markets such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Since its launch, the platform has experienced impressive growth, with an exponential increase in organic traffic. To date, Jobgether already offers 60,000 remote positions and attracts 1,5 mln users monthly, out of whom 100,000 applied for open positions within the last month.
In addition, Jobgether has formed partnerships with several leading companies, including Deel, that align with our mission to promote remote work opportunities, flexibility, and global hiring. These partnerships have helped us to further position Jobgether as a leader in the remote work industry and reinforce our mission of connecting top talent with the best remote job opportunities.
Tell us about the working culture at Jobgether
I can proudly say that at Jobgether we practice what we preach. Jobgether is a unique company culture built on the principles of "freemote" work. With no physical office, our talented employees have the freedom to work from wherever they choose, at any time that works best for them, with flexible contract conditions.
We place trust in our employees to determine what is best for them, knowing that they will do their best to meet the goals. This approach is rooted in our HR vision, which values both freedom and accountability.
We believe that this kind of work environment allows our employees to find a balance that works for them and their lives, fostering greater happiness and satisfaction in both their personal and professional lives. Additionally, this kind of flexible, remote work environment attracts the best talent from around the world, providing us with a diverse and highly skilled team.
How are you funded?
To date, we secured funding of €2M. Among the investors are business angels and Finance & Invest Brussels.
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
From a market perspective, there is a gap between talents and employers when it comes to approaching remote work and flexibility in general. The pandemic changed the way we worked very fast and for most talents the extra freedom that came with it is now taken for granted and they won’t accept to come back to the previous rigid model. We have reached a point of no return in terms of demand for flexibility. Despite the fact that most businesses had to adapt fast to this unexpected situation, many have not gone through a deep transformation in their culture and the way they interact with their employers. For some of them who only superficially adapted, moving backward is tempting. Bad news for them: they will miserably fail at enforcing rigid working patterns as 90% of talents want flexibility. It has become the biggest currency on the job market and those who don’t get it will simply not be able to attract and retain the best talents. At Jobgether we try to bridge this gap between talents’ expectations and employers behaviours. Not only we make flex and remote conditions very transparent in the job offers we publish, but we also evangelise the market showcasing best in class remote employers to convince others to surf this opportunity to attract top talents instead of pushing back.
From the product perspective, we constantly innovate to make sure we deliver what both talents and recruiters need. Talents want comprehensiveness and accurate information on remote policies: we hard hard at identifying all the true remote jobs available in the world and making sure the remote locations are accurate. Doing this at scale is not an easy task.
On employers side, hiring globally often involves receiving a huge volume of applications which are hard to screen due to the diversity of background and experiences. Recruiters need our help to pre qualify their candidates. That's why we put a lot of focus on machine learning, AI, and continual product update for end users.
What’s in store for the future?
At Jobgether, we are driven by a strong belief that remote work can have a far-reaching impact on our society. By enabling better work-life balance, remote work offers the possibility of accessing the best job opportunities in the world, regardless of location, family situation, or disability. This creates a more inclusive and diverse job market where skills, rather than physical proximity, are the most important criteria.
In addition, I believe remote work has the potential to narrow the income gap between developed and emerging economies and reduce carbon emissions from commuting. Our goal at Jobgether is to promote remote work as a means of positively impacting these societal issues, thereby creating a better world for all. By providing a platform that connects top talent with the best remote job opportunities, we are committed to making remote work accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances.
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
When launching a new business, so many things have to be built from scratch that it can be easy to get lost and miss the essential. You have to focus on a very limited number of core capabilities which have to be delivered with excellence. Always think about the impact of each project and task you start. If it’s not critical, consider it as pure distraction. This will also help you keep things simple in terms of operations. Your business, your product, your processes, must stay lean and simple as long as possible.
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
I realised a few years ago that nature, especially the ocean and sea, were fundamental sources of creativity and balance for me. So every day, I go for a long walk by the sea, as I'm lucky enough to live between Marseille and Menorca Island in Spain - two beautiful seaside spots. I always try to make the best use of this time by having what we call "walking meetings" at Jobgether. Walking meetings in beautiful natural environments are the best way to combine exercise, productivity, creativity, and pleasure.
Arnaud Devigne is the cofounder and co-CEO of Jobgether.
