Bossjob attracts 2.9 million users in PHL, secures $5m funding to boost globalization efforts

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Bossjob, the chat-first career platform for professional hiring in Southeast Asia (SEA), announced it had garnered over 2.9 million registered users in the Philippines, making it the leading career platform in the country’s recruitment industry.

This marks a significant milestone for Bossjob, which entered the Philippine market in 2018 at a time when the local recruitment market is relatively traditional, indicating a need for innovation.

Bossjob co-founder and COO Kiat How Quak shared, “Legacy recruitment websites, created in the Web 1.0 era, have outdated matching capabilities and business models based on selling job ads and resumes, which do not meet the expectations of companies nowadays in terms of efficiency and effective cost per hire. Some firms rely on headhunters, but their high commission rates, typically 20-30% of a hire’s annual salary, pose a significant burden for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).”

The team sees the opportunity and has since focused on improving hiring efficiency by offering direct chat and highly accurate AI-matching for both talents and employers on Bossjob’s mobile application. So far, more than 10,000 companies in the Philippines are utilizing their platform, including reputable brands such as SM Investments Corporation and Accenture as well as BPO firms like Acquire BPO Philippines and Foundever.

Bossjob, which some investors dub the SEA version of China’s BOSS Zhipin and Tianyancha, entered the Philippine market with its innovative MDD model of “mobile + direct chat + AI-matching,” introducing direct chat into the recruitment scene. With the help of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies and big data, the platform recommends highly suitable and active candidates to employers and relevant job opportunities to job seekers. This enhances matching accuracy for both parties, reduces information asymmetry, and improves recruitment efficiency.

On Bossjob, companies pay for engagement with potential employees instead of job ad views, leading to a higher payment penetration rate and reduced average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) compared to conventional recruitment platforms, thereby lowering the entry threshold for businesses. Upon onboarding, more than 80% of job seekers on Bossjob have initiated chats with employers, indicating users are recommended with highly relevant job openings. Employers are actively engaging job seekers with response rates between 60 -80%. The platform sees a successful matching rate of about 50%.

On boosting globalization efforts

Following the successful $5 million funding round and its significant traction in the Philippine market, Bossjob announced on May 8 the official launch of its globalization strategy.  The company is venturing into Singapore and Indonesian markets this month with the Hong Kong market in plan for the third quarter of 2023. They also anticipate serving more than 30 million users in SEA by 2026. To accelerate its expansion goals, Bossjob is offering free trials to companies this year.

On Bossjob’s platform, employers from countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan are looking for talent in the Philippines, showing that there is a global demand for skilled talent from SEA.

“Demand has significantly increased among global employers for talents from SEA, particularly in the Philippines. The quality of talent and the effectiveness of matching on online recruitment platforms are becoming increasingly important to employers in the face of intense competition for talent, which presents an opportunity for Bossjob’s globalization strategy to take hold,” Kiat said.

The region is projected to be the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030, with global investors keeping a close eye mainly driven by factors such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, continuous technological advancements, foreign trade transformation, and economic growth.