The economic model of demand and supply outlines the boundaries of the market, where buyers and sellers crowd the scene and form the backbone of the industry. But the product, slightly unorthodox, is a job seeker.

Track results are quite impressive. About 100,000 unemployed souls have been successfully rescued from helpless circumstances and placed at different companies through the country's first online job portal: bdjobs.com.

"The social implication of our work over the last eight years is far more than the num ber of transactions that have taken place," says AKM Fahim Mashroor, chief executive officer (CEO) ofbdjobs.com, in a recent exclusive interview with The Daily Star.

Before inception, Mashroor pondered over his dreams to do something different using the internet as a medium in the late 1990s. His main area of concern was whether he could generate revenues in the country with the world's lowest internet penetration.

But Mashroor has stunned all with the success of his venture. With humble beginnings from his living room in 2000, bdjobs.com now registers 3,500 employers, and around 25,000 job seekers click on its portal a day.

Mashroor said Bangladesh's job market mainly suffers from a dearth of properly educated manpower. He said the educational system is misguiding the next generation and not preparing them for the real job market.

"Our educational system does not align itself to the ever-changing job market. Therefore, employers are constantly on the lookout for the right person for the right job, to no fruitful outcome," Mashroor says.

Citing an example, he says ready-made garment is one of the largest industries in Bangladesh. But the question remains -- how many graduates from local private and public universities are tailored to the industry?

Mashroor says, "It is unfortunate that the garment industry has to hire people from India and Sri Lanka to run operations. It so happens that our universities are more inclined to their own business prospects, rather than developing need-based education for the country."

Unemployment is one of the major national problems in Bangladesh. Close to 200,000 graduates enter the job market a year, but only half of them can actually secure a position.

But the job market has taken on new dimensions because of recent developments in corporate houses and job seekers now have to prove their troubleshooting capacities in addition to their solid educational background.

If educational institutions encourage more sciencebased subjects, Bangladesh's job market will definitely spread to the global market, Mashroor says.

Bdjobs.com has linked more than 300 global recruiting agents, through whom the company is able to supply manpower-to the global market, free of cost.

Mashroor believes that the next probable crisis faced by the world may be in terms of skilled manpower. "And that is an opportunity for Bangladesh," he said. “To grab an early share of that market, there is no alternative to updating the educational system."

The idea of setting up a 'dot-corn' business in Bangladesh was new until 2000. Global dot-com giants, such as Yahoo and Google, hit the market and made their mark.

Mashroor says he, along with seven other friends, intended not only to profit from doing something different but also aimed at involving the

young generation of society.

They found that internet access and use among the young generation, especially job seekers, were growing rapidly. "That was our encouragement to undertake such a risky venture,” Mashroor says.

The success of a dot-com' business depends solely on its popularity. Bdjobs.com steered far from profits for the first two years. But soon the company gained a momentum with 100 percent growth in the number of daily visitors. This ultimately propelled the venture and employers went for online recruitment.

At the other end of the spectrum, job seekers have nothing to lose, as it does not cost them a penny to click on their portal, he says.

The technology is simple. "We developed our software in such a way that employers can post their advertisements, sitting in the comfort of their offices," he says.

Job seekers also can easily view all the jobs that are cur-

rently available in the market.

"Our main idea is to create a link between the employer and the job seeker," says the bdjobs.com CEO.

Besides providing job information, bdjobs also arranges training for professionals, skilled and unskilled people. Around 10,000 people have been trained via bdjobs.com workshops on different subjects that are needed to update their career skills.

"We arrange the topic for the workshops based on market demand,' Mashroor says.

Subsequent to bdjobs.com, some other job portals have also developed in Bangladesh. But those are yet to gain popularity. Mashroor explains that in order to succeed in the job portal business, something different and unique is required.

"In India and in the US, only a handful of job portals have gained popularity. Such businesses require long-term investments, coupled with patience, Mashroor says.

Bdjobs.com has turned into a new craze of sort. But the portal's popularity is limited to t graduate and post-graduate-job seekers.

So what is the future of such an endeavour?

Bdjobs.com plans to launch a Bangla-version of the site, but internet access in rural regions proves to be the main obstacle.

Mashroor says his company is in talks with mobile phone companies to provide their job search engines to the mass through internet.

The eight-year story proves short for a company aiming to. gain recognition, but Mashroor's different idea was recently recognised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has won the Best Innovative Business Entrepreneur’ award from the chamber. "The award is a recognition. It will encourage others," the virtual job market owner said.

hasan@thedailystar.net