Gijs Verheijke is the CEO of everjobs Asia. Having previously worked as an investment banker in Amsterdam, he joined everjobs to try his hand at running a business himself. He started as the Founder and Managing Director at everjobs Bangladesh and is currently in charge of everjobs Asia which is active in Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Your company everjobs recently reached its second year anniversary in Bangladesh. Having crossed this milestone, what are your expansion plans in this country?
It has been a great journey so far. Our expansion plans would include having a better grip of the market and become something new by attracting a greater number of job employment website users. Moreover, we want to attract a greater pool of high quality workers. From the very beginning, we have strived to become a reliable job portal which would compete with local iterations. Although, we have succeeded in many ways, the challenges are still present.
Our expansion would now be targeted towards the job seekers who are mostly internet users, mobile internet users to be more specific. We are trying to appeal to the newer generation who are not the traditional users of computers. For instance, we have done some branding on the insides of CNG’s with the use of barcodes. Thus, the time wasted at the traffic jams can now be utilized not only for surfing Facebook, but also to look for jobs as well.
Even though the step was quite a successful one, we still need to work on getting our platform ready. One still needs to type a lot while using everjobs on the phone which makes it pretty clumsy and highly undesirable so we are trying to come up with innovative ways to input information in our platform and make it more user-friendly
What kind of presence does everjobs have in the job market in Bangladesh compared to other countries in which the company is operating?
The main difference lies in Bangladesh being a supply constrained market as there are not enough jobs for the people who demand them. The most extreme materialization can be seen on platforms such as bdjobs.com and everjobs. It isn’t difficult to find an enormous amount of applications for a job posted online. Companies get flooded with people applying for that one position.
This, I suppose, would be the major difference as in other countries the job market is mostly demand constraint. It is really hard to find a sufficient number of eligible employees for jobs.
For job websites, this has a big implication. If you are operating in a demand constraint market, companies are bound to use every channel available to them such as LinkedIn, job websites or maybe even recruitment agencies. Whereas, in Bangladesh the problem has more to do with the quality. Hence, the challenge that we face in Bangladesh is to filter the large number of applicants to create a smaller pool with greater potential.
Based on your experience of running the Asian division of everjobs, what do you think are the skills that Bangladeshi employers demand the most?
I would say that there’s a segment of multinational companies with whom people are eager to work with. For these MNCs, fluency in English is high on demand. It has become a skill that everyone wants to learn. Talking about analytical skills and specialized skills required by people, it is closely related to the type of firms that are hiring. For example, accounting firms will require a person to possess the necessary accounting skills.
But if my opinion is concerned, reliability and good performance is at the core. English and computer skills require certification and punctuality is always appreciated. Another huge problem in the labor market now is that a lot of job applicants don’t show up for their job interviews. And this is something that needs to be mended as the job seekers need to realize that this behavior is not acceptable.
What according to you can be the biggest challenge for the Bangladeshi employment sector in the coming years?
This is an interesting question as a lot of it depends on how the country is developing. A couple of challenges will be faced in terms of creating diversified teams. It is tempting to rely on referral networks and work with similar backgrounds and before you know it you’ve already built a team which is very interlinked which sometimes makes it difficult to access a broader market.
Many people work with Grameenphone and Banglalink and then move on to other telecommunication firms, limiting themselves by acquiring skills which are only applicable for that field. This is where job portals can play an important role by leveling the playing field.
Similar problems are faced in our Myanmar division. We had built a team consisting of people with similar backgrounds. Thus, when one quit others seemed to follow. Hence the main challenge for us would be to build a diversified team in terms of education, skills, background and gender.
In an interview you mentioned that you had made the switch from biomedical engineering to finance because you felt like you weren’t making a significant impact. Would you say you’re making more of an impact now? How?
I think our impact as a job portal is still minimal. However, at the same time, I believe what we do as a business is important for our society. I don’t want to emphasize much on my impact here, but let’s just say that our efforts are well executed.
From a larger point of view, it has been proven that jobsites create a lot of value by making the job market more transparent through the distribution of information about the job availability, salary levels, skills required and etc. to the masses. This will increase the scope of the unemployed to apply to a greater number of places and gain a sense of empowerment in terms of salary negotiations and other benefits that exist. This makes me feel like we are making an impact.
It is, however, tricky to build a team. The current team we have across the four Asian markets share a great culture because it’s a melting pot of different backgrounds. The European team takes account of the banking and consulting background for management. The management along with the local team work wonderfully in sync with one another. Information sharing is now amongst the vital activities of the teams.
For example, the marketing team in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka share information on a regular basis. , which is very appreciable. . This will further help the two countries in terms of sharing information and budget details if similar projects are being worked on across any of these two countries.
If we are still talking about impacts and my contributions towards it, the growth rate of everjobs is moving in a positive direction. I can now safely say that everjobs will be making its mark in the next 10 years.
What advice would you like to give to the graduates who are suffering from confusions regarding which profession to follow?
I like giving such advice but on the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to try and replicate the path taken by others. I always believe in a quote which says, “Luck favors a prepared mind.” One should have the willingness, guts and flexibility in trying out different avenues.
If you could be anything other than a CEO, what would it be?
Firstly, I don’t see myself as a CEO. It is a prestigious title to possess but at the end of the day it is just a title. However, if I was to choose, I would have definitely want to be an athlete. I did play sports when I was young and liked the way it worked. You either win or lose.
Nonetheless, I must add that I wouldn’t trade my current position for anything better right now as I am highly satisfied with the output of my contributions here.
