Karmany, a Talent Marketplace for the Social Enterprise Sector Launched
The social enterprise sector in India and globally has grown substantially in the last few years but the nascent, relatively less ‘popular’ sector suffers from a lack of availability and access to qualified talent. While most industries face problems recruiting the best talent, and many potential candidates have a hard time sorting through the right jobs, the problem is amplified in this lesser known, fairly young industry. This is the problem that the newly launched web-based platform, Karmany hopes to address. YourStory caught up with Shweta Sharma, Founder of Karmany, to learn more the company and its mission.Shweta Sharma moved from the U.S to India about a year ago to start Karmany. She is also the co-founder of an educational NGO, Vidya Grants, based out of New Delhi, India, supporting scholarships for children at the high school level. Shweta has been an active member of the Chicago/Silicon Valley startup ecosystem spearheading many events to bring together investors and entrepreneurs, and she serves as an advisor to many startups based in the US.
Why should employers use Karmany versus current established social enterprise job boards?
There is a lot of buzz surrounding social enterprise and dozens of job boards for the industry, however, none of this has been able to bring qualified talent to the sector at scale. I looked around to try to understand why this was the case.
While awareness of the impact one can make in the social sector is growing, the “story” of social enterprise has not been clearly articulated to young job seekers. The ambiguity prevents top candidates from taking the risk of moving into an unfamiliar space. Furthermore, even if a platform is successful in attracting a pool of candidates, there is no mechanism in place for employers to filter for quality and match. The overall current climate results in a few key issues:
- Attraction is low due to the confusion (NGO, Corporate or something completely different?)
- Filtering through the existing pool is time intensive and inefficient providing no weed out for irrelevant candidates
- Conversion rates from candidates to employees is low
Karmany tackles each of these problems.
How do job seeking candidates benefit?
While there are many benefits for the employers, the true benefit of Karmany is for the young job seeking person. When I was career-soul searching, I personally experienced the pain that went into finding the best job that connected my strengths with my passion. I believe finding meaningful work that challenges one as an individual, not only takes an investment of one’s time, but requires the right tools to find, understand, and market oneself to the space. While most job portals ask candidates to upload a basic resume and hit apply to the various opportunities, Karmany invests in “getting to know a candidate” through our intelligent algorithm providing them the perfect match. Filling out a profile on Karmany results in a strong digital representation of one’s professional history - something employers have never seen before, and a tool that candidates can utilize to market themselves.
How does the platform work?
Karmany is an intelligent web platform providing candidates and employers a space to tell their story via digital marketing. For the job seeker, the signup process gathers data on not only individual skills and experience, but also factors like personality. From there, each time a candidate wants to apply for a job, they will be provided a unique “fit score” to help them understand the probability of their match. In the future, we see someone searching their name on Google and their Karmany profile page link pops up right next to their LinkedIn page.
For employers, the focus in on three key components of their business: 1. Social Mission, 2. Innovation, and 3. Business Sustainability. The “fit score” for each candidate helps employers sort through applicants in a way that was never possible before. Once vacancies (short or long-term, virtual or local) are posted on Karmany, candidates are invited to place a bid on the positions and can be invited for an interview.
Karmany is the OkCupid of social enterprise – a platform that takes job seeking to the next level. The portal serves as a marketplace for both employers and candidates to find the perfect match. By connecting the smartest people to some of the most pressing issues in India, the team at Karmany is sure the next decade will see a massive shift in the awareness of the value this space brings to the country.
“If you are interested in the social enterprise space, beware! Because impact is contagious!” Shweta signs off.
If you are a social enterprise looking to hire or if you are a candidate interested in this space, sign up for Karmany here: http://www.karmany.org/
