Earlier this month, we covered a story about how netizens feel about JobStreet’s performance these days in comparison to its competitors. Many felt that the job-seeking website has not been as reliable as it was a decade ago. It is understood that the company is currently going through some changes and we’ve got some updates on these changes.
JobStreet’s managing director Vic Sithasanan reached out to us recently to share more about what users can expect in the near future. In this interview, he talked about the issues that have been brought up by netizens, the company revamping itself as well as new updated features that will soon be implemented.
1. As mentioned in our article, netizens have raised concerns regarding the platform no longer being as reliable as before. Were you aware of these issues that people have been facing?
Vic: We definitely keep a very active ear on socials and we definitely encourage feedback so that’s why we’re very excited about chatting with Hype as well because we’re hearing the feedback. And often, feedback can be positive or negative, but it’s still a learning experience so we’re looking at it very positively as a way that we can learn and move forward.
So, the netizens that you mentioned and the kind of feedback is very specific to job seekers and how they’re using the platform. For job seekers, there are three things that we have always been focused on doing. One, we want to ensure that all of the opportunities that are out there – all the jobs and all the roles – are on our platform.
We do our best to get them directly, we are able to basically collect and collate all that information and put it onto our portal. So, the first thing is to get all the jobs. Second, we ensure that the companies that are advertising their roles on our platform are vetted through a trust and safety team and they are actual legitimate businesses and they’re human, so they’re not bots. We actually go through a check before the employers are able to post an ad.
And the third one is when a job seeker is actually going to look at the platform and apply for a role, we want to ensure that whatever job description and how the role has been described is following our fair hiring policy to ensure there’s no racism, ageism – anything like that that could prevent anyone from equal opportunities. That’s something that, as a company, we take very seriously. So those are three things that we have been doing for many years.
2. Many have expressed that one of the problems they faced when applying for jobs via JobStreet is the lack of updates from employers/recruiters. What can done to tackle this issue?
So we will launch a new platform before the end of the year, a lot of these JTBDs (Jobs to be done) have been addressed through the product itself. So, let’s say: an employer doesn’t do anything with the candidates that have applied for their role, the platform itself will actively seek out that feedback so that it can be sent back to the job seeker.
It’s kind of closing the loop and helping them do that. Or if they really don’t get anything, the platform itself will notify the job seeker to say: “Hey, it looks like your application hasn’t progressed, there is a low chance that it may go anywhere. Here are other jobs that you may apply for.” So these active interventions are coming soon to our platform.
What we’ve also recently launched is a platform called seekMAX, which is an education platform. Essentially, it’s bite-sized learning that you can learn during your commute to work, etc. It ranges from understanding salaries in the market – which is another area that we actively participate in, yearly publishing information about salaries in Malaysia.
That’s already launched and it’s gonna continue to be improved upon so that, again, helps any job seeker to increase their skill set to be able to apply for their next role. And there’re a thousand things we want to do. But of course, as any technological platform will tell you, there is a roadmap and we obviously have limited resources as a group. We can only address certain things as we go along but we love the feedback and we love the active participation so as we launch, we look at these things.
3. Users have also complained about salary not being disclosed in the job offers. Do you think recruiters should be more transparent with that information so that people would be more interested in applying?
Vic: It’s incredibly important. I think one of the things we listed down in another report we did, which is “Future Of Recruitment”, is that since the pandemic, the way that everyone looks at work is quite different. We want a lot more transparency in terms of what we’re signing on for. So when we’re looking at a job description, a job seeker wants to know what the salaries are, “Is it hybrid work?”, “do I have flexibility?”. All of these things are definitely areas where employers need to be a lot more transparent. It’s definitely something that we are educating and helping and definitely doing a lot more in terms of trying to push that sort of information upfront.
With the new platform, when the employer post an ad, a lot of these prompts – using AI – are updated. So when they are keying in the job description, it would say “To increase your response, you need to have a salary” or “You may want to talk about flexibility at work”, etc. So then it’s easier for the hirer to get those prompts and do that upfront.
But, to answer your question directly, we do need salary information and salary information should be fair. I know in Asia, we feel like we don’t want to reveal too much because the (job seeker) might have a lower asking salary in mind. I think that sort of mindset is a very old-school mindset. It’s time to move forward and we should be transparent on this matter. The companies need to transparent about how much they’re willing to pay. And of course, if the qualification and the experience match the role, there’s no reason why an employee should not be given that salary or that package. So, yeah, I feel that the salary should be (mentioned) upfront and it should be fair salaries as well.
4. We understand that JobStreet is currently revamping itself and is coming up with new features for employers. What about the job seeker’s side? How would these new features help job-seekers in securing a job?
Vic: For job seekers, we want to encourage them to stand out because there are thousands of people potentially applying for very similar roles. For a certain job, there can be hundreds of people applying for that same job – so how do you stand out?
I believe part of the new platform is to help you do that while you’re applying for the job. For instance, there’s a feature for me to quickly type out a cover letter. For each job, I can send in something specific; a portfolio, a project piece or something additional to my resume. That means I’m able to customise my application process very carefully. Our company will also introduce a way to verify qualifications. So if you have a degree or any certification, you can stand out by getting those certificates validated by authorities or a third party that’s authorised to validate your information so then you’ll have a badge. When you go and apply for a role, the employers know.
The second one is, if you’re a candidate, what you also want is to be able to get more opportunities. So how can we ensure that our job alerts and job recommendations are very, very precise? One benefit that we have at SEEK is being the largest marketplace in the Asia Pacific – we have the most number of jobs and we have had that for many years. SEEK in Australia also started in 1998 so imagine for that 25 years, we have a huge dataset and that dataset can train large language models in a way that we can be very accurate in how to predict whether a candidate would be suitable for a role. What we can then do is use all the resources to ensure that the job recommendations that are sent to you are super precise – more precise than anyone else. What that means is that you only get the job alerts that matter to you and (jobs) that you have a high chance of basically standing out and qualifying for.
And also how do we ensure that AI still conforms to fair hiring policy? There’s a lot of thinking that goes into it to ensure that no one is discriminated against. When we do recommend a job or recommend a candidate, it’s fair for everyone, it’s equitable and the platform is fair for all hirers so everyone has equal opportunities to find the best talent too. It’s all about the matching and it’s something that, by the end of the year, we will be rolling out on the new platform already.
5. What are the current trends you’ve noticed among people seeking jobs/ hiring workers – especially post-pandemic?
From the jobseeker front, what’s come up to be really important is the notion of work-life balance and the need for flexibility. I think that’s one of the key things that I feel is something that has come up really much higher than even salary. Although salary is equally important, other factors like flexibility are just as important. When you look at people hiring for jobs, they also realise that the marketplace has changed.
I think, overall, it’s become a lot more challenging, so if you’re starting a business today and you’re going out there to hire, you’re going find it a lot more challenging compared to 2018/2019 because that cookie-cutter approach of talents accepting a job because they need a job. I think there are a lot more opportunities with things like gig economy, doing their own freelance stuff, not really doing contract work or project work, not really hopping into a permanent role. A lot of these things just add a lot of complexity but then, if you go down to the core and if you’re trying to solve this from first principles – and I’m a company and I want to hire people – I have to make sure that my company is a company that has purpose because employees can get behind the purpose.
SEEK, for example, exists to help people live more fulfilling and productive work lives and to help organisations succeed so that’s a purpose that helps both sides of our marketplace. If we can help a startup scale up, find the right talents and eventually go IPO, that’s a great success for us. I mean, we don’t share their financial success but we share their idea of success. Similarly, a job seeker, who just graduated and comes into the city, finds his or her dream job and 20 years later, they’re running SEEK – I mean how great would that be, right?
So for us, we definitely want to have that purpose. When it comes to other companies, I urge them to craft out what their purpose is. A lot of people have missions and visions and maybe it’s time to give them life and meaning. That’s the core – it’s not financial but it’s something that people can get behind. I also think things like flexibility and, as much as possible, offering that to employees is important. I think people do know the benefits of work-life balance. Being able to take your kid to school in the morning, is something that more valuable these days.
Although it may seem like a “soft” thing before, it’s something that became a reality during the pandemic and maybe something that we don’t want to rewind back. I feel like companies have a lot to evolve and a lot of companies have done that but of course, there’s room to grow and everyone can improve.
6. Explain why job seekers/employers should use the new Jobstreet platform over its many competitors.
Vic: I would say the key benefit of using our platform is to be matched to the biggest database of jobs and candidates. So if you want to find something that is quite specific, there’s probably no better place to go. And with the new platform, because the matching is so good, as soon as you update your resume with the latest piece of information – the new project work that you’re doing or everything that you put into it – it’s just gonna help you get matched to jobs. So, for me, I would say just actively use it for a few months, you will start to see all of these come to you automatically. Hopefully then, the sky’s the limit, in terms of career opportunities and the things that can happen for both companies and talents. So, matching and being able to be matched is probably the best (reason).
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