Social mission:
Genie is an app-based hiring platform for temporary and part-time job seekers. We help families in need to generate extra income through having quick access to flexible working hours. Families in need include families of single parents, 53% of single-parent family in Hong Kong are classified as low-income household, as well as rehabilitated offenders. Often, these people have difficulty or prior obligations that prevent them from finding a steady full-time job. In order to make ends meet, they choose to take on multiple part-time. Genie help to remove the pain of applying for part-time work and help the people in need to capture all opportunities to find extra income.
Business model:
Genie only charges employers for using the app. There are two plans employer can choose from; the posting model and agency model. If employers opt for the posting model , Genie charges a posting fee. If the employer chooses an agency model, where Genie screens and matches candidates themselves, Genie charges a commission fee.
Founding Team:
Mary Cheung founded OBDAN in 2012, the first organic vino skincare in China. She was also one of 12 winners of the Google EYE program 2014 and one of the top 5 finalists of OZapp Awards.
Kelvin Lo graduated from Brown University and is a General Assembly Web Development Immersive alumnus. He also founded HypeDash Media, a digital solutions agency that provided web and mobile development, technology consulting to startups, SMEs and listed companies.
Impact:
Applying for part-time jobs can be difficult. Many temporary job seekers don’t have a CV, in addition they are burdened by time and money of traveling when employers require a face to face interview. Their busy lifestyle causes them to miss job opportunities around them. Single parents find it very difficult to find the right jobs with flexible times. Searching, amending CV, applying and interviewing for a job takes an average of 14 hours, worst of all, they may not end up getting hired. Applying for temporary jobs through local agencies, newspaper, friends referral, job fairs are inefficient, disorganized, seasonal or costly.
Genie removes these inefficiencies of finding a job by building profiles for each job seeker on their app which include job history, rating as well as a pre recorded interview so candidates no longer have to waste time editing CVs and attending face-to-face interviews. The app based job platform also saves job seekers time by allowing candidates to apply for jobs on-the-go.
Genie cares about the job seeker’s career development. We plan to roll out online videos to develop crucial skillset for job interviews, work place communications and food and beverages. Genie will also promote courses offered by institutions such as the ERB, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and various career development coaches.
So far, our unique 360 job searching solution has helped over 5,000 job seekers find work to generate income efficiently improving their lives in 8 months by helping them match over 100,000 hours of work. Our target is to help 100 more single parents to earn over 2500HKD/ month, generating HKD3,000,000 salary by Q3 2017.