Giraffe platform will help with work in South Africa

Giraffe platform will help with work in South Africa

By Ray Johnson

Budrigannews.com – The economics graduate started using a recruitment website called Giraffe after months of being ignored by recruiters in South Africa. Zondani says that getting help every step of the way was like “a breath of fresh air” in comparison to the experience of being “ghosted” by other recruiters, and she eventually got a job with an insurance company.

Zondani is aware that she is fortunate in the current economic climate. Before the pandemic, South Africa was already in recession and had a record-high unemployment rate. It had the highest youth unemployment rate in the world in 2019, at 56 percent, and Covid-19 has caused even more job losses.

However, Giraffe believes it can assist the most affected: workers who lack education and skill. Giraffe, which was established in 2015 by Anish Shivdasani and Shafin Anwarsha, has automated the process of recruiting, from finding candidates to screening them.

Jobseekers can now upload their resumes to the online platform, and an algorithm will match them with relevant jobs, replacing the traditional methods of applying for positions in person or on paper.

Shivdasani explains that Giraffe was designed for mobile devices, which are the primary means of internet access for the majority of South Africans. From 2016 to 2019, 91% of the country’s population owns a smartphone. 60% of people who have access to the internet do so on a mobile device.

According to Shivdasani, Giraffe’s primary focus is on entry-level to mid-level jobs, whereas other job portals and recruitment agencies frequently target job seekers with high levels of skill.

Shivdasani tells, “We really target the mass segment of the market.” It is defined as monthly salaries ranging from 177 to 1,470 rand.

He adds that people in this income bracket make up about two-thirds of the workforce in South Africa.

Anwarsha and Shivdasani met while working as telecoms strategy consultants. According to Shivdasani, he had always envisioned creating a platform to address social issues in South Africa. He realized that unemployment was at the heart of many of them as he considered where to begin. We thought that unemployment was probably South Africa’s biggest issue,” he says.

Shivdasani explains that while Giraffe charges businesses to post jobs on its platform, it is free for job seekers.

It currently has one million job seekers registered on its platform and has collaborated with approximately 3,000 businesses. Through partnerships with Facebook, according to Shivdasani, Giraffe reaches approximately 10 million job seekers. Giraffe has even developed a voice note function that enables businesses to listen to applicants answering questions before inviting them to interviews. What sets us apart from other platforms is a combination of matching, screening, and voice clips, according to Shivdasani.

The business received a grant from UNICEF this year, which it will use to build a content portal with career advice for job seekers. The amount of money that was given to Giraffe was not made public.

Unemployment is rising, and inequality is widening, as South Africa slowly emerges from one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. According to a recent UNDP report, economic growth and employment will not return to their pre-coronavirus levels for at least five years.

One way to help young people, according to economist Vimal Ranchhod of the University of Cape Town, is to use platforms like Giraffe to develop skills.

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However, he warns that structural issues in education and the labor market, many of which are connected to the country’s apartheid past, will be difficult to resolve. According to him, the problem’s scope and nature necessitate a substantial and prolonged government intervention. This does not mean that individual groups should not assist when they can, as even a small amount can be helpful.