This bootstrapped startup is building a job portal for the education sector

Despite education being one of the top five employment generation sectors, candidates searching for jobs on various platforms mostly end up with low-quality job search results, with many of those positions never filled up. 

Looking to solve this problem, Manav Shah started Eduvacancy along with Nitil Gupta and Nikita Shah. The Mumbai-based startup is a job search platform that focuses on the education sector and offers both teaching and non-teaching jobs. Launched in 2021 in beta mode, it went live a month ago.

“Our platform helps employers assess right talent via video resume and video interviews, which is a game-changer for education sector hiring. Also, good and qualified candidates from Tier II, III cities and below do not get access to these opportunities. At Eduvacancy, we are committed to enabling them to showcase their skills, talent, and real potential, thus opening up a plethora of options for these candidates,” says Manav.

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The startup covers the entire spectrum of employers -- from preschools, nurseries, schools, colleges, edtech companies, coaching classes, and test prep centers. 

“Our job seekers’ database comprises principals, deans, vice-chancellors, teachers, vocational teachers, academic staff and non-academic staff,” says Nitil. “Through our streamlined online platform, individuals and institutions can seamlessly apply for multiple job opportunities and hire the right talent in the education sector,” he adds. 

The platform also has a video resume feature that allows candidates to give their best 60 seconds and treat it as an elevator pitch.

The bootstrapped venture with a team of  28 people claims to have grown exponentially in the last ten months with 16,500+ active vacancies, 10,000+ employers, and 1,00,000+ registered users. 

How it started?

A serial entrepreneur, Nitil Gupta has worked in the education industry for nearly two decades. Both Nitil and Manav knew each other for a long time and shared a common interest in entrepreneurship. Nitil says that they both noticed a huge gap in quality education hiring in the country. 

“All job search platforms cater to IT, BFSI, Oil & Gas sectors, making it extremely hard for educationists to find relevant jobs,” he adds. This laid the foundation for Eduvacancy, a self-explanatory name for the startup.

Nitil and Manav chipped in Rs 1-1.5 crore from their own pockets and started building a niche digital platform that advances careers in education by disrupting a tedious recruitment process dominated by middlemen. 

“We believe the sector is highly unorganised and people are posting for job vacancies and enquiries on multiple platforms with no response,” says Nitil.

He adds that Eduvacancy allows institutions to choose the best talent at their fingertips and make recruitment simpler. “We are striving hard to streamline the interview screening and job market process at both ends, that is, for both the candidate and the hiring manager,” says Nitil.

“Besides catering to quality talent, we also eliminate middlemen from the entire process and directly connect job seekers with job providers, making the entire process smooth,” says Manav.

Market and competition

While the co-founders claim that Eduvanacy is a one-of-a-kind platform and has no direct competitor, the platform indirectly competes with the likes of Naukri.com, Monster.com, and Indeed. 

According to the founders, the startup stands out for its next-generation features like video resumes and niche focus on the booming education and edtech segment. 

A report by Naukri.com revealed that it saw 4X growth in demand for education professionals in 2020 as compared to 2019. Overall, the pandemic has paved the way for massive growth of the edtech sector, with an estimated addressable market size of $10.4 billion by 2025. 

The startup earns via a freemium model. While it is entirely free for candidates, it offers personalised and premium recruitment services for senior positions like Principal, Director, and Vice-chancellor, among others. Eduvacancy also charges a subscription fee from the employers. 

Manav says the startup is in the process of adding more revenue streams by adding value-added features on its platform.

Funding and plans ahead

The founders have invested capital to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore so far in the venture and are now looking to raise funds to support its growth plans. 

“We aim to onboard approximately 15-20 lakh educationists on our platform in the next 12-18 months and onboard over 150,000 employers,” says Nitil. He adds that the company also aims to list more than one lakh vacancies on its platform. 

“Our goal is to transform the hiring process of the Indian education sector to benefit both the candidates and the players in the sector,” says Manav.