Despite having the right set of qualification, many Iranians have to struggle to get a job unless they have a well-connected relative or friend pulling the right strings or making a strong recommendation.
More often than not, university graduates are compelled to take up jobs not related to their field of study or do other low-paid work.
In light of Iran's slowly-recovering economy in the post-sanctions era, one wonders whether there aren't enough jobs or qualified individuals are simply going down the wrong lane.
If we were to take the latter for a fact, the development of online businesses should bring about a productive change and help generate more jobs.
One such budding business, which has recently set out to tackle unemployment, is www.jobinja.ir which is an online platform that connects job-seekers with potential employers.
Mohamadreza Khani, 25, co-founder and CEO of Jobinja, explains that the idea for such a site first took shape in the summer of 2015.
Starting with small web companies, Khani first became familiar with the latest trends in web and mobile designing before eventually making his way into Internet entrepreneurship.
Inspired by online job boards like Glassdoor, The Muse and Monster, the young entrepreneur thought technology could make the job hunting experience easier and productive.
Jobinja started as an exclusive job board for startups but after receiving significant traction in the early days, Khani thought "this can be the next big thing" and the categories expanded.
The website started as a two-man team but now has 10 members working full-time in engineering, sales and marketing teams.
> Challenges and Market Strategy
According to Khani, the main challenge facing the team was to battle with "the old-school approach to employment".
"It's not easy to convince employers to use innovative online tools to hire," he said, adding that usually there is a big gap between the time a graduate leaves university and the point where one attempts to enter the job market.
An ironical fact that cannot be ignored, he says, is that "companies do not train interns, but they all expect highly experienced workforce when hiring".
Khani believes that a good deal of customer/user training is needed to change this situation.
"We see this as one of our missions," he said.
The fledgling business is less than a year old but claims to have a decent market share.
According to the CEO, Jobinja is well known as the most modern online job board in Iran.
"We have tens of thousands of unique job-seekers visiting Jobinja to find their next job," he said.
The company now serves firms in diverse business fields, including technology, advertising, finance, education and manufacturing.
Using Jobinja is "free for job-seekers, but services are offered to employers at a fee".
"We have a solid marketing and advertisement plan for both employers and job-seekers. Jobinja is highly active on social media, which is helping the brand go viral," he said.
> Competitors and Vision
Jobinja distinguishes its competitors as "old-school market leaders" and smaller startups that follow—in terms of market share.
There are players that have been in the market for over 10 years, but have not updated for some time. These websites can be compared to the classified job ads.
Some older websites are not even designed to meet the needs of Iranian job-seekers. They don't stand a chance in future, if they do not change their old ways.
Jobinja was selected by both judges and users as the top online business in the category of employment and job-seeking in Iran Web and Mobile Festival held in Tehran in 2016.
What sets the business apart from its competitors, according to Khani, is that Jobinja is a well-tailored solution aimed at addressing all the needs of employers and job-seekers.
"We've filled all the gaps experienced by customers and users, and the service is continuously improving in terms of features, results and user experience," he said.
Jobinja relies heavily on data, which ensures that the site is developed for real users and not based on assumptions.
Khani noted that working with Sarava, which is one of the biggest tech funds in Iran, has helped his site a lot.
"In addition to funds, they are always providing us with knowhow, business practices and more," he said.
Jobinja aims to build the best platform for finding a job.
"It is going to be the leading job board and employment platform of Iran. We plan to continue improving Jobinja with the latest technologies," Khani said.
