Get a job in 24 hours.
That’s the promise Barcelona-based CornerJob makes to its users, and the appeal must be working based on the amount of venture capital. The company just closed on a Series C round of funding to the tune of $19 million. This follows a July 2016 $25 million Series B round and a $10 million Series A in February 2016. Total funding to date is $54 million.
Investors in this latest funding round include Northzone, Samaipata Ventures, Randstad Innovation Fund, e.ventures, Caixa Capital Risc, Sabadell Venture Capital, Mediaset Italia, Groupe TF1, 5M Ventures, Media Digital Ventures, Augesco Ventures, Mediaset España, and TV Azteca.
An interesting aspect of its funding strategy is to bring in media partners who barter airtime for a stake in the company. CornerJob’s Series B included a media-for-equity deal to the tune of $5 million. Competitor JobToday inked a $35 million media-for-equity deal in March.
The latest infusion of cash will be used for product improvement, said CEO David Rodriguez, as well as growth in current markets and expanding into some new ones, including the U.S. The company currently does business in Spain, France, Italy, and Mexico.
The service focuses on service-based and blue-collar jobs where turnover is high and traditional resumes are rare. The solution is also mobile-only with native apps for both iOS and Android. After downloading the free app and submitting a simple profile, users can apply to job openings on the platform. CornerJob promises job seekers will have an answer as to whether or not the employer wants to conduct an interview within 24 hours. A quick turnaround is a nice feature to provide, considering the black hole so many job seekers endure.
Candidates chat with employers via the app’s messenger technology, which looks similar to popular solutions like Facebook Messenger. On the employer side, CornerJob is focused on a variety of new features which added investment is sure to expedite.
Rodriguez says it’ll increase machine learning initiatives and reinforce their presence on every element of the recruitment process. Flash questions are one upcoming feature which will allow companies to perform multiple choice questions very specific to a job offer. This will also translate into a chatbot interaction, currently being used by others like Mya and Olivia.
“We’re also introducing a set of features that add more transparency on candidate and company behavior on the platform with reviews, ratings, response times, etc.,” said Rodriguez in a recent interview. “These are just a few examples of evolutions underway.”
CornerJob touts 150,000 registered companies currently using its service. The company says its repeat business is 74 percent and that it’s growing at 10 percent month-over-month.
Mobile job search has historically been a tough nut to crack. Most apps are just a traditional job board on a four-inch screen. Also, many candidates still don’t own a smartphone, for example, so many employers are hesitant to cast their net to such a limited audience.
The opportunity is too great to ignore though, and many U.S.-based solutions are hoping to stake their own claim in an ever-mobilizing world. Stateside companies making waves in the blue-collar category include the likes of Job2Careers’ ipply, WorkHere, Indeed’s Job Spotter, and Facebook.
While none of these solutions, regardless of where they do business, have completely solved the mobile recruiting question. It feels like we’re getting a lot closer, 10 years after the introduction of the iPhone. Eventually, someone is going to strike gold. No doubt investors and established players want to be around when that happens.