New player enters SA online recruitment market

A new South African online-recruitment portal, “developed out of frustration with existing recruitment methods”, claims to have developed creative solutions for the difficult task of match-making between employers and employees.

Sebenzi.co.za attempts to shake up the existing model, where the power is placed firmly in the hands of the recruitment agencies which have access to a database of CVs, and who frequently share the personal details of recruits without their knowledge or consent.

The new players have set out on a mission to redress this imbalance, and after two years of research and development, the site was launched with a vision to “cut out the middleman” and empower both prospective employers and employees

Sebenzi was created by three UCT Business Science alumni, Spiro Malamoglou, Steven Langley and Hargen Rode, who formed the company Mindvate in 2009 with a view to creating attractive web offerings such as Sebenzi.

The actual idea for the site was born out of their “own personal frustration of dealing with recruitment agencies to source skilled employees.”

The site allows employees to make their CVs available for anyone to scrutinise, while maintaining personal anonymity. In effect, this enables candidates to be head-hunted with no risk of their current employers finding out that they are looking to change jobs.

Once a potential employer finds a suitable candidate, then he or she sends a request through to the candidate, asking for their contact details. It is then up to the candidate to decide if they would like to reveal their identity to the prospective employer.

Sebenzi, which means “work” in Zulu, has a number of financial incentives for both recruiters and candidates, in addition to the obvious privacy benefits. It is a significant cost-saver for employers who can bypass the recruitment agency system and go straight to the source for candidates.

Employers pay a single fee of R399 to find a candidate, which is paid only once the contact details of a candidate are requested. Candidates are also paid R100 by Sebenzi when they decide to reveal their details to a prospective employer, regardless of whether they get the job or not.

Sebenzi.co.za is competing directly against established players such as PNet, Jobs.co.za and CareerJunction.