Over half of the Americans are part of the hourly workforce. And yet the big job board players aren’t designed with them — or their employers — in mind.
Most job boards, like LinkedIn and Indeed, focus on salaried positions and aren’t suitable for high turnover positions. That makes it difficult for employers to find new talent fast. And employees have a hard time learning about opportunities nearby, which means they often have to spend precious time and money commuting to an hourly job that is located miles away.
That was a problem the husband-and-wife startup team Debbie Emery and Mark Emery noticed as they built their careers in the HR technology space. And it is a problem they are now trying to solve with Juvo Jobs, an hourly workforce-focused app based in Atlanta.
Juvo Jobs, which takes a “geography-first approach” to job placement, is designed specifically to help employees get noticed by potential employees nearby. This helps hourly employees cut down on commute times, explained Mark.
Unlike gig-focused job apps, Juvo Jobs focuses on full-time and part-time W-2 workers. The app has particularly resonated with home healthcare, retail, hospitality, construction, and warehouse employers looking for new talent.
And the platform has also resonated with employees. Since officially launching in 2020, Juvo Jobs has seen over 11 million job seekers join the platform.
INSIDE THE JUVO MARKETPLACE
The dual-sided marketplace uses the tagline jobs that find you.
“A job seeker just downloads the app, goes about their day, and [Juvo] pushes jobs within five miles of where they are,” Debbie told Hypepotamus.
Job seekers can upload a short intro video, load a profile picture, and put basic information about their recent employer and their job title. In Tinder-esque fashion, the employee and employer who are mutually interested in each other can chat with each other inside of the app. The team intentionally opted for the in-app chat option instead of SMS text messaging
Employers can also move away from the stale, outdated job description and can instead opt to upload a video describing the position they are trying to hire for.
Employers are charged a monthly subscription to post on Juvo Jobs.
The Emerys see the platform as a way to “empower” the hourly workforce.
“What gets me excited for the job seeker is that we can show them opportunities in their local community that they will be a fit for but they might not have thought of,” Debbie told Hypepotamus. She offered the example of a restaurant server learning about and applying for customer service and scheduling jobs in the medical field. At first glance, that job seeker might not think about that position. But Juvo shows them how they can transfer their skills to a new industry that could give them more work benefits.
Mark and Debbie are no strangers to the technology and HR space, most recently building up the recruiting automation platform GoHire. But building Juvo is also personal for the husband and wife team. They watched as their adult children, like millions of other Americans, struggled to land jobs in the hourly workforce that was anywhere near where they lived.
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Photos provided by Juvo Jobs
