Digital ways of hiring blue collar workers

Since long Pakistan’s blue collar job market is largely dependent on the word-of-mouth networks. These traditional networks not only create huge inefficiencies in the labor market but benefit only those with strong social networks. Thus, resulting in mismatch between job requirements and skill set of the employee.
A longitudinal study on Pakistan’s labor market has highlighted that such  type of market can perform better if flow of information is increased in the market. Inspired by this study and a research conducted by the Duke University and World Bank which concluded that the primary path out of poverty is income diversification which can be achieved by having access to multiple job opportunities KamataPakistan launched its operations from April 2013.
KamataPakistan.com acts as a scalable, sustainable, digital and replicable solution for both the informal sector employers and job seekers. It is a web and mobile start-up dedicated to bringing better job opportunities to Pakistan’s blue collar job market (cooks, drivers, home/office helpers, electricians, factory/construction labor, cashiers, salesmen etc.) by appropriately connecting the right employers and job seekers via the web and SMS.
Through its innovative mechanism KamataPakistan is reaching out to job seekers through mobile phones which have 70% penetration in Pakistan. For job seekers this service will:

•  ·        Increase income of informal job seekers.
• ·        Decrease commute time for the job to save money.

At the same time, this service is adding a lot of value to businesses by:

• Saving time in hiring.
• Lowering the cost of resourcing.
• Increasing the number of choices available.

·        Providing them with a pool of well-trained workforce.

• Increasing the possibility of selecting the ideal candidates.
• Helping them in the hiring process.

KamataPakistan has received a fabulous response since its inception. Till now, it is able to add 3,500 job seekers from all over Pakistan, there are 125,000 page views of the website and 3,600 unique visitors. Most of the job seekers have received training in their specific fields from leading training institutions of Pakistan. During this time period many job seekers have gotten employed through the service. The hallmark of this period is KamataPakistan’s strategy of growth through partnerships. Many vocational training institutions have come on KamataPakistan’s platform for the placement of their trained graduates. KamataPakistan has started offering background check services of employees in collaboration with RiskDiscovered^TM, a renowned verification services company.
KamataPakistan was awarded Best Start-up Award at P@SHA Launchpad 2013.
One of KamataPakistan’s clients remarked,

“I want to give gratitude to the management of KamataPakistan. I think it is an excellent service. Excellent, courteous and helping staff as well, never saw such a service. I wish you good luck and a prosperous future.”

A job seeker Mr. Wahid-ur-Rehman from Faisalabad stated,

“Main 4 mahinon say bayrozgar tha aur bohat koshish kay bawajood koi naukri nahi mil rahi thee. Phir kisi dost nay mujhay KamataPakistan kay baray main bataya aur mainay un say rabtaa kiya. KamataPakistan kay zariye mujhay dinon main Rozgar mil gaya! Shukriya Kamata Pakistan.”

KamataPakistan CEO Muhammad Junaid Saleem remarked,
“The journey with KamataPakistan has been very exciting and challenging. The idea is novel to Pakistani market but it is changing how people make decision in blue collar job market. Starting from Lahore, we plan to do 10 in 10 i.e. cover 10 big cities of Pakistan in next 10 months”. READ MORE