When I was weeks away from finishing college, I vividly remember feeling anxious about whether I’d be able to find work. Well, I knew I could (if I tried hard enough) but the whole process of looking for one felt quite complex and messy.
Despite the state of affairs, I just knew that the day would eventually come when I’d have to type out my resume, select a list of about 20 or 30 companies (at random) and then shoot out emails to each one of them (out of desperation).
Looking back, I definitely do realise that I had a horrible plan, you probably do too. That being said, you can definitely admire my vision of not wanting to become the next unemployed undergrad.
Honestly though, becoming one wasn’t an option—I have Indian parents.
Obviously, my method wasn’t the only available option, there were others as well. There are plenty of job boards, recruiters and Facebook apps that currently serve the Malaysian recruitment market but each of them has their fair share of issues.
Job boards tend to match vacant positions with candidates solely based on the information presented on a resume (as a fresh grad, I didn’t have much to write about in my resume), recruiters tend to be both expensive and slow and I still find professional social media platforms and apps quite mysterious really, however, I still could have used them to leverage my non-existent professional network.
Still, my odds were quite low.
Who Is This Tribe You Speak Of?
Weeks later, I soon began hearing chatter among most of the final year students about TribeHired, the magical savior that could get companies to compete for us and not the other way around. Soon, Ajay and Arman (co-founders of TribeHired) walked into one of our classes to finally answer my question, “Who is this Tribe you speak of?”
In essence, TribeHired is a talent marketplace where companies compete to hire top talent. Unlike the other headhunters or recruitment agencies, TribeHired curates a list of the top 100 technical talent available in a city for that particular week.
Interested companies can browse through each individual on the list, check out their reviews, and watch an introductory video of each individual that they can use to quickly assess the temperament and attitude of the person. Once they are interested in a particular person, they can use TribeHired’s auction system to place their bid and to schedule interviews.
TribeHired also conducts various workshops and tutorials to help improve the skill of their collective talent in the areas of UI/UX, Web and Mobile, etc. They also continue to vigorously mentor each of their talents even after they have been hired.
TribeHired believes that this method removes a huge amount of friction compared to their competitors.
Ajay Singh Sangwan remarked, “In a nutshell, TribeHired is all about making the hiring process extremely efficient, by completely flipping the recruitment model. Instead of applying for jobs, we get companies to compete for you.”
In a broad sense, TribeHired plays the role of a matchmaker for both the companies and their talent. TribeHired implements numerous filtering mechanisms within their system to provide both value to the companies and for their users.
Firstly, their system only allows people with technical skills in PHP, RoR, Android and iOS development, front end design among other creative fields like graphics and games, to be accepted into their exclusive list.
Ajay added, “Our secondary targets are business developers, sales executives, social media and marketing executives. Every IT product needs to be marketed and sold!”
After the presentation, they made sure they gathered contact details of those who were interested and I was one of them. A week or two later, Ajay gave me a call and made sure that we met in person and he took me through the entire TribeHired process.
Faces Behind The Tribe
Devan Singaram (founder), Ajay Singh Sangwan and Arman Attarzadeh (co-founders) felt that the entire process of hundreds of people competing viciously for the same job was broken. “We wanted something that excited talent and gave them the control and power back. The only way we thought this would be possible was to flip the entire model 360 degrees by getting companies to compete for talent.”
“Therefore, we needed to feature talent in a unique manner and the idea of a resume did not cut the deal. A video was an apt solution as this gave each of the talent a unique identity and an employer with much needed insights before showing interest or bidding for a talent,” they add.
Devan (C.E.O) pitched the idea of TribeHired as a social networking tool for hiring people at a JFDI investor pitch bootcamp in Singapore and managed to secure seed funding. He previously started Elevyn (voted 100 most innovative companies by the French Senate), which is an online platform that sells handmade goods.
He works alongside co-founders, Ajay Singh Sangwan and Arman Attarzadeh both of whom handle the overall execution of the vision.
In regards to their name, Ajay said, “We’re a community that’s based on the principle of fellowship. We wanted that sense of community to be reflected in our company name and thus, the word ‘Tribe’ was befitting. Since, our vision is to revolutionise hiring, TribeHired seemed a perfect fit.”
A Day In The Life Of The Tribe
They begin each day of work with a morning positivity session that includes an hour of work with instrumental music. “This is to prepare the team for the high intensity of tasks and to prep them with a healthy spirit,” Ajay shared.
They then follow up with clients and talent leads through phone calls, emails, face-to face meetings, etc. They also shoot videos, edit them and put them up on the platform.
The technical team continues to work on improving the product more functional and usable while the management team focuses on analysis, strategy, partnerships and business development for TribeHired’s consistent growth.
And as part of their corporate culture, both Devan and Ajay do 50 push-ups each every time they get a talent hired. Both of them strive to motivate their team to push past their limits.
Matching Tech Skills With Personality
In the past 10 months, they’ve been able to get over a 100 individuals placed in cool startups like GrabTaxi, KFit, VLT Labs, Webqlo, Ebizu, GoGet among others, and even listed companies like Amtel Cellular. It’s important to note that TribeHired places a huge importance on technology and technically oriented skills.
In regards to people with technical skills, Ajay said, “Technical talents are sort of introverts and highly demanding; but over time, we have been able to manage their expectations and have worked strategically to close all potential gaps with the help of their feedback.”
While this may not be the norm throughout the entire board, it is true. Finding the right person for the job, especially a technical one involves a lot of work considering different factors at the same time.
For example, as the employer you need to find applicants that are proficient in the programming language of your choice. Once you do, you need to evaluate their skills, their personality and eventually determine if they are a good fit for your needs.
The considerations are endless.
TribeHired’s platform presents a solution that filters out all the unnecessary hassle both for the companies and for the talent. As the middleman, they are in a position to gather all of the necessary information about both parties, and they can make sure the right people meet each other.
Verdict: 4/5
Based on my personal experience, TribeHired’s team provides a very personalised approach through phone-calls, face-to-face meetings and through mentorship. They make sure that you’re well informed about each offer and they put in a great deal of patience and effort in answering your questions and taking you through each step.’
While individuals that have some sort of experience in the work force may not need a service like TribeHired, fresh undergraduates definitely do. As a fresh undergrad, I had very little knowledge about the employment landscape here in Malaysia. The folks at TribeHired helped me clear many of my misconceptions and in so doing, they helped me gain better understanding.
Despite having services like TribeHired, I still believe that the responsibility of seeking employment falls on the individual and not any one else. That means you have to proactive about your cause and you have to make sure that you develop the required and applicable skills (both tech based and soft skills).