launching disability-friendly employment awareness
Xpressjobs.lk is a startup that was launched in November 2015, to fill a vacuum between jobseekers and job-offerers. Pioneered by Mr. Chathum Henegama and Dr. Oshadie Korale (B.Sc) (PhD) the website is meant to provide a relevant platform for job seekers to connect with companies that require staff in a quick and effective manner.
The online portal has enjoyed unprecedented popularity, as in the last six months alone they have collected an impressive lineup of over 1000 companies offering employment, including top companies such as MAS Holdings, the Colombo Stock Exchange, John Keells Holdings and HSBC etc.
“Posting a job advert is very easy on our portal, as there is no waiting time in between the time you click on ‘post a job’ as the job vacancy immediately goes ‘live’. This means you can start collecting CV’s as soon as people start responding to the new posting. We also have over 20,000 registered candidates on Xpressjobs.lk and they get alerts on new job postings on a weekly basis.”, said Dr. Oshadie Korale.
She also went on to speak about a new initiative by the company, “ I am very excited to announce that we have launched a project to bring awareness to ‘disability-friendly employmen’t. Once we launched it, within a matter of just 30 minutes we had 20 companies on board. We will be putting out the list of these companies by the end of this week. We have differently-abled candidates from Blind graduates to those with hearing impairment struggling to find jobs, so we are trying to bridge the gap and find them suitable jobs too by listing all companies willing to come on board to our platform. The posting will display an icon to show companies that are prepared to take in these candidates.”
Xpressjobs.lk is very different from all other online job portals. It makes the job seekers life very simple. Submitting a CV has been made very easy. Once the candidate has registered, they can just click APPLY on jobs they are interested in, and the company will get their CV with along with a cover letter. Applicants can also send tailor made CV’s and cover letters to each company through the jobseeker system. One other very interesting feature provided is a weekly email to all registered job seekers offering selected jobs suiting their criteria, but across a range of industries, showing scope available, in the event the candidate wishes to gain experience in a new sector.
In addition, job vacancy’s have been divided into sectors to narrow down the search by Job Sector, Job Location, Part Time/ Full Time, Temporary etc. There is an integrated system in place to make the company’s Human Resource Departments’ life easy so they can manage the CVs, make notes while interviewing, and also have a range of drag and drop options.
Xpressjobs.lk is also reaching out to job seekers on social media. Their Facebook page has generated over 40,000 followers to date and has a host of tips and advice for jobseekers. The online portal of Xpressjobs.lk has also received a good ranking on Alexa Rankings; they are currently slotted at 575th place and are rapidly moving upwards on a daily basis.
Mr. Chathum Henegama is a product of Ananda College and a graduate of Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is currently also the Chief Technical Officer of Davton UK. Dr. Oshadie Korale is well known locally to have co-founded Adopt a Dog in Sri Lanka (ADSL). She is a Pharmacologist but currently works in the IT Sector.