CareerKi

Most recruiters spend 50% working hours at screening stage before interview, 75% of employers cannot recruit local youths due to their skill gap. While almost half of our highly-educated youth are underemployed or unemployed, there is a severe skills gap across industries. The youth employment problem is further amplified by rampant peer pressure and lack of evidence-based solutions to discover career options.

Interventions are required in 4 major areas related to youth employability, starting from (1) discovering career opportunities, (2) upskilling and skill assessment, (3) pre-interview preparation and (4) skill-based recruitment. 

To solve this complex problem, we are building a comprehensive career development platform for youths and talent matching solution for recruiters - CareerKi. Here youths can choose their career path by exploring information about 300+ careers, take tests to assess skills, get information on upskilling opportunities, connect with professionals for pre-interview preparation, and be recruited based on verified skills.

According to a 2015 report, more than 75% of Bangladeshi business leaders claimed that a scarcity of skilled workers was a challenge to hiring youth. And recruiters have to screen 50-2000 CVs, spend 50% of time & resources on screening for a vacancy post across industries but still struggle to find skilled talent.  Although Bangladesh has 2 decades of demographic dividend window to become a developed country, it will be difficult to achieve due to lack of a skilled population pool. At present, 47% of Bangladeshi educated youths are underemployed or unemployed. Biggest sufferers are students of degree colleges under National University. They account for 60% of total tertiary educated youths. 46% of these graduates are unemployed after 2 years of graduation, and 34% are still engaged in further studies to upskill themselves. 

WB report (2018) identified several reasons behind this frustrating scenario - low social perception of TVET jobs, lack of information on career opportunities, absence of career guidance or support system in academic institutes, lack of skill assessment tools, unrealistic expectations of job seekers, etc. In an economy where skill gap is rampant, no job solution will work unless skill & career development support is parallely implemented. 

Our solution has three main target groups: 

1. Recruiters: of entry level white collar executives or professionals from industries like- marketing & sales service (Pharma, FMCGs & others), Education, NGOs/development sector, accounting & finance, etc.

2. Applicant/Employees: National University/Degree college graduates or graduates to be, age 20-26, mostly urban male. (60% of tertiary educated student in Bangladesh) 

3. Skill training institutes (Online and offline). Including academic institutes

To understand their needs, we approach in several ways- 

1. simply follow our web analytics on our content site to check graduates needs

2. Survey/interviews with recruiters and skill training institutes (both online and offline) 

Our multi- pronged approach brings all these target groups on our platform with a comprehensive solution to fit their needs. 

1. CareerKi Test: online test-based recruitment solution

2. CareerKi Learn: All the Bangladeshi MOOCs and offline training providers information aggregator

3. CareerKi Discover: Information on 300+ career opportunities (skills, salaries, education, challenges and opportunities). 

4. CareerKi Connect: can take pre-interview preparation with industry professionals.

Job solutions in Bangladesh alone will not effectively work to mitigate the skill gap among the youth. Skill & career development support has to go hand in hand with a recruitment solution. That is why our solution tries to tackle problems at every stage of building one’s career and becoming a skilled professional. Our approach - inform them, guide them, give them skill assessment tools and then match them with potential recruiters. Based on this approach, our solution consists of different services for different target groups on CareerKi platform-

TG1 : Recruiters

1. CareerKi Test: test-based recruitment solution

1. 1. Digital professional profile of the users/candidates

   2. Scalable employment test for thousands of candidates from anywhere at any time

   3. Careerki provides the recruiters these tests from their ready made question bank or provides a custom made test

   4. Candidates can be sorted out from leaderboard of the skill test result (filters provided on- scores, topics, name, male/female, location, etc)

   5. CareerKi sends notifications to the selected candidates with pre-interview preparation tips

      Monetization: Paid test based recruitment solution for recruiters. 

TG2: Employees/graduates

1. CareerKi Test: recruitment tests and skill verification tests.

   1. Monetization: Free to paid tests for users

2. CareerKi Discover: Can take evidence based career decision from 300 career profiles on CareerKi. These career profiles provide info- skills, education, salary, challenges & opportunities. This section also covers blogs on pre-interview preparation tips. 

   1. Monetization: Google ads/banner ads

3. CareerKi Learn: can find upskilling/reskilling opportunities of online or offline training/courses in one single place. 

   1. Monetization: Affiliated marketing from 3rd parties training/courses providers.

4. CareerKi Connect: can take pre-interview preparation with industry professionals. 

   1. Monetization: 25% transaction fee on each successful session with a professional for 30-50 min on CV review, interview preparation tips/mock viva and general career guidance. 

Tech: Our content site is run on WordPress. For the rest of the platform, we run a Progressive Web App (PWA) so that even internet users from rural areas of Bangladesh can access our service. The frontend of the app is developed using Vue.js, a javascript framework. The data is recorded in the backend using Node.js (Express Framework) with MongoDB (NoSQL Database). It is built following the REST API structure so that the platform can be extended to standalone native mobile apps in future. Other tools we use for our work are - Adobe XD, Zeplin, Git, Nginx, Jenkins, Trello, Discord.

CareerKi is not reinventing anything in the field of human capital development. Fundamentally we are providing a unique model for Bangladesh combining tools for 1. career discovery, + 2. mooc/training info aggregator, + 3. online skill assessment + 4. Based on assessed skills HR solution for recruiters, + 5. Help them to prepare for job interviews through industry experts, and 6. content feed. This combination of tools makes our model uniquely suitable for the local market of Bangladesh where 47% of the tertiary educated students are underemployed and unemployed.

While traditional job sites give recruiters access to thousands of CVs without any context, CareerKi will connect its users with potential recruiters based on skills, saving time and cost for both parties.

Our innovation lies in helping the youths through every step of their career journey. While the existing local solutions focus on job seekers applying for jobs or skill training, our model to youth employment in Bangladesh is unique as it:

• helps the youth understand that they have different career options, regardless of what the family or peer pressure has gotten them to think;

• helps the youth identify their skill gap and build industry-specific skills;

• get information on upskilling opportunities (MOOCs and offline training in Bangladesh)

• increases employability by getting mentored from industry experts on job interview, CV review and general career guidance.

If Bangladeshi youths are provided with tools on CareerKi platform to help them discover their career path, assess their skills, guide them towards upskilling opportunities, help them with pre-interview preparation by connecting them with industry professionals and match them with recruiters based on skills, then the youth will be more employable and tackle skills gap crisis better in Bangladesh because it will help them to take informed career decisions, identify and improve their skill gap, have, and employers can offer them jobs based on their skills and save resources while finding talents locally.

1. the current number of people we are serving: 31,000/month

2. the number we’ll be serving in one year: 100,000/month

3. the number we’ll be serving in five years: 5,000,000/month

Monthly Active Users (MAU) 31,000. Total users served from March, 2018 (inception) 265,518 till Feb, 2020.

In the next 5 years, CareerKi shall become the largest youth employment and career growth platform in Bangladesh. 

5 years planning: 

1. Establish a functional business model for CareerKi.

2. Expand to more cities (locally).

3. Build a robust technological solution to ensure high scalability. 

4. Continue improving the value proposition, with other products like salary calculator, company profile/review system, career pathway mapping, online courses etc. 

5. Development of psychometric assessment tests for soft skills which are tough to assess online.

6. Find a solution for verifying users’ ID, academic background, work experience 

7. Build our own MOOC/training capability.  

Next years target: 

1. Find the product-market fit and settle on a comfortable pricing strategy. 

2. Establish partnerships with 10 local and 2 international MOOC and offline training providers. 

3. Reach the monthly active users (MAU) goal of 100,000. 

4. Registered/signed up users 10% of total visitors.

5. Monthly revenue 1,000,000 BDT. 

6. In house dedicated skill assessment team 

7. Improve user experience based on user feedback.

8. Keep participants engaged with relevant and timely content and data. 

9. Continue improving the value proposition, e.g. online mentoring solution, variety of skill tests, etc.

10. Reduce churn (esp service providers for career guidance and test makers)

11. Establish a rigorous vetting process for service providers.

Macro factor, which shapes the ecosystem and is considered a barrier for the next 5 years: 

1. Financial: 

   1. Though the rise of seed funds in Bangladesh is very promising, there is a lack of local institutional funds for later rounds of VC investments. The number of seasoned investors who can mentor local entrepreneurs to build global multi-million dollar businesses is also low. 

   2. Though we remain tax-exempt due to being a tech startup, filing tax reports and VAT docs is still a laborious process which takes a lot of unnecessary time. 

2. Technical

   1. Local talents are scarce and expensive. Few want to take the risk to join a startup. 

3. Cultural:

   1. Predominant degree based recruitment culture not enough emphasis on skill based recruitment practice. 

4. Market: 

   1. At a large market of Medium and Affluent Consumer or MAC (80%) is limited to two major cities like Dhaka and Chittagong. 

Micro factor, which we can try to solve and considered as a barrier for the next one year: 

1. Financial: 

   1. Limitation of a good social impact fund/ investment. 

2. Market: 

   1. Yet to achieve product-market fit and a good pricing strategy for this price-sensitive market. 

3. Cultural: 

   1. Copycat culture of ideas. 

4. Technical: 

   1. Lack of a verification system for user ID, academic background, work experience.   

   2. Assuring quality of the professionals/service providers.  

   3. Lack of AI capability. 

   4. Lack of quality online courses and training providers locally. International MOOC partners are yet to establish their footprint for the local Bengali speaking market.

Probable solutions to the Macro factors: 

• Financial: 

1. Possibly bootstrap in the long run and build a sustainable business before going for Series A funding from VCs. If we seek investments from regional investors, India or Singapore can be a viable option. Meanwhile on-board country’s few best seasoned investors as advisors.

• Technical

1. Build in-house talent pool. 

Cultural: 

1. Branding and marketing shall be focused on skills development not degree certification. 

• Market: 

1. According to BCG report of 2015, by 2025 medium and affluent consumers (MAC) population will be available in several major cities across Bangladesh. Our strategy will be to maintain the dominance in Dhaka and Chittagong, and then expand to other cities and towns. 

2. Work closely with HR associations and HR teams across companies to standardize competencies expected in jobs. 

Micro factor, which we can try to solve: 

1. Market: 

   1. Find product-market fit ASAP and a good pricing strategy for this price-sensitive market. 

2. Cultural: 

   1. To out-compete competitors, expand horizontally across different verticals to make a service ecosystem or superapp for edtech/skill development/HR.

3. Technical: 

   1. Find a solution for verification of users ID, academic background, work experience.   

   2. Assurance of quality professionals/service providers.  

   3. Device a strategy for curated 3rd party content.

   4. Establish an anti-fraud management system or a rigorous vetting process.

   5. Partner with 3rd party online course providers locally and internationally. 

6 full time. 

• 1 full stack developer

• 1 front end developer

• 1 UI/UX Designer

• 1 Team lead 

• 1 Content lead

• 1 Operations

Our team cover skills from web development, product development, fundraising, UI/UX design, data analysis, content, SEO, digital marketing, etc.

The average work experience in the team is 3 years. 

This present team has worked together for the last 2 years and was awarded 3 USAID grants, 2 ICT Division Innovation funds. This team is working closely with USAID, A2i, Kormo (Google's Area120 Team) etc partners to solve the issue of youth employability. 

Finally, the only thing that may set us apart is the belief and vision of the company - Bangladesh can only become a developed country by developing human capital and local innovative solutions. 

Team achievements: 

1. Top 10 most promising websites in Bangladesh by G&R and Futurestartup 2016

2. BRAC Manthan Digital Award 2016

3. Young Bangla Award 2017

1. Govt ICT Division: Donor (as we won ICT division's innovation fund) 

2. USAID: Donor (we are an awardee of 3 small grants/projects)

3. mPower social enterprise limited. 

4. ICT Division's A2i Project: Service and content distribution partner and strategic partnership.

5. Kormo: Content and co-marketing partner (Google's Area120)

TG/Market 1: Recruiters of entry level white collar executives or professionals from industries like- marketing & sales service (Pharma, FMCGs & others), Education, NGOs/development sector, accounting & finance, etc.

1. CareerKi Test: 

   • Scalable online employment test for thousands of candidates from anywhere at any time

   • Careerki provides the recruiters these tests from their ready made question bank or provides a custom made test

   • Candidates can be sorted out from leaderboard of the skill test result (filters provided on- scores, topics, name, male/female, location, etc)

Monetization: 

• Basic Platform Usage Charge(client supplies the questions for the test)

• Basic Platform Usage + Custom question development charge

TG2 Market: Applicant/Employees: National University/Degree college graduates or graduates to be, age 20-26, mostly urban male. (60% of tertiary educated student) 

Solution/Services: 

1. CareerKi Test: Pricing: recruitment tests and skill verification tests.

   • Monetization: Free to paid tests for users

2. CareerKi Discover: Can take evidence based career decision from 300 career profiles on CareerKi. These career profiles provide info- skills, education, salary, challenges & opportunities. This section also covers blogs on pre-interview preparation tips. 

   • Monetization: Google ads/banner ads

3. CareerKi Learn: can find upskilling/reskilling opportunities of online or offline training/courses in one single place. 

   • Monetization: Affiliated marketing from 3rd parties training/courses providers.

4. CareerKi Connect: can take pre-interview preparation with industry professionals. 

   • Monetization: 25% transaction fee on each successful session with a professional for 30-50 min on CV review, interview preparation tips/mock viva and general career guidance.

Combination of grant from donors/govt funds + bootstrapping by selling services +  google ads/manual ad revenue + investment

Considering our projection, we cannot reach break-even before the end of this year. So we will raise money for our first pre-seed/seed round which can sustain us for at least a year. We will also seek additional funds to experiment with innovative interventions to increase the employability of Bangladeshi youth.

1. Recognition: 

If our solution is selected, it itself is a recognition of our innovative model for developing countries where the skill gap is a fundamental problem to graduate into a developed nation. It is also an acknowledgement of importance to help youths through every step of their career journey - help them discover opportunities, assess them, upskill them, prepare them to be more employable and match them with recruiters based on their verified skills.

1. Financial: 

As we are raising our first round of investment (seed), being selected for the Digital Workforce challenge can be a smart way to raise money without compromising equity. 

1. Cultural:

Digital Workforce challenge can help us to recruit/attract a few of the best talents to work with us to solve one of the major problems of Bangladesh. We will immediately get access to the best local and international mentors to solve the problem together. 

1. Market: 

Winning Digital Workforce can help us to make connections with major HR teams across multiple industries to test the “Careerki Talent/HR” solution for recruiters.  

1. Technical: 

One major help we can get from the Digital Workforce is to help us with technical solutions for these problems. 

• Find a solution for verification of users’ ID, academic background, work experience.    

• Establish an anti-fraud management system or a vetting system.

• Help to build CareerKi’s AI capability

• Help CareerKi to partner with international MOOC providers/universities to cater to the local Bengali speaking market. 

Help CareerKi to partner with international MOOC providers/universities to cater to the local Bengali speaking market.

Potential partners-

Content distribution/marketing channel: 

• Local telecom companies

• Kotha app, MyGP app

Content/course partner:

• Local MOOC and training providers. 

• Udemy/Udacity/Coursera/EdX, etc. 

• International universities with MOOC capabilities.

IT tech solutions: 

• ServiceNow (particularly to find a solution for verification of users’ ID, academic background, work experience, build CareerKi’s AI capability, help CareerKi to partner with international MOOC providers)

Technical Support on competency/skills data and assessments and consultancy

• NTVQF Council (Bangladesh)

• ILO Bangladesh

• US Department Of Labour/Employment, Training and Administration  (USDOL/ETA): To share their experience and expertise on developing O*net and Myskillsmyfuture for US. 

Mentorship

• ServiceNow

• MIT Solve expert network. 

Psychometric/Skill assessment tests development: 

• DearBubu (Bangladesh)

• Dhaka University Psychology department (Bangladesh)

• Mettl (India)

• Aspiring Minds (India)