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Loose Monkies *** The next big thing for job seekers ***

Tired of dropping your resume to uncountable companies? You think you are good enough but the typical system never allows you to know the update? The battle of getting a call for an interview right after graduation never gets easy for anyone. We keep posting our resume, applying for jobs and very often, we get a call back. This can get real frustrating for job seekers. To make it worse, we keep firing our resume to any possible job, without even evaluating our chances. Loose Monkies, a newly launched job portal with advanced features came in with a solution to all these troubles. Mr. Nadim Rahman, CEO of Loose Monkies and Ms. Faria Samreen Nizam, Head of Marketing and Sales of Loose Monkies talk about their new venture with Next Step.
Next Step: What's the story behind such an eccentric name?
Nadim: This name was actually selected as a code name for the project. The URL was available, it sounded catchy it was kind of fun, it had a retro feel to it and we kept it as such. Towards the end of the project, when I pointed out the necessity of a name, there was a lot of resistance. My partners wanted to keep the name, as everyone liked it. We actually gave it plenty of thought, because we really had to figure out if it was going to work.
NS: How is it any different than other job portal?
Nadim: I guess the best way to understand is to look into the inspiration. Unlike other newspaper-style-websites who emphasize on semantics, we tried getting a more scientific angle to the employers and employees. The matching process uses an algorithm that allows both employers and employees to see how fit they are for a particular job. You will find a matching percentage which will clarify to both parties- employees of their worth and employers for the potential candidates. Most importantly, the job seekers are no longer paying too much attention to where they are applying. It becomes a number game really. As a result, the system of finding a job and giving a job has broken. What Loose Monkies has done, if anything is that it tries taking the responsibility to find the job seekers a suitable job interview. We will show them how compatible they are and what's their percentage over other candidates who have applied for the same job. We are giving people an intelligent website.
NS: So, what you are saying is that the process is science?
Nadim: I'll be honest with you. There were a lot of people who were skeptic about our system. I can guarantee you that we spent one a half years designing the algorithm. So, it wasn't just cooked up overnight. There were
universities involved, a lot of smart people involved. My answer is in fact very simple. Consider what exactly you are comparing us with. Chances are, and there have been studies on it, that your eyes will get tired after going through the first two pages. So, no matter how good the job is, or no matter how great the site is, job seekers simply stop making the connection at a point. The result- huge margin of error. We have an algorithm and you ask how can you know if it's right? Well, how worse can it be than what you are doing? Human margin of error after a few pages jumps to 50% and our margin of error, at worse, is 10%. You can do the math.
Faria: To add onto that, like Nadim bhai said, we are trying to show them the job they can fit the most which may be on the eighth page on a newspaper-style job website. Think of the amount of time the employers have to spend on checking resumes. So, we are trying to save
both parties a fair amount of time.
NS: According to you, what's the best part of Loose Monkies? Is it the inspiration behind your initiative, is it the science, or is it the office and colleagues?
Nadim: I'd say it's all of the above. But to dignify your question with an answer, it's the inspiration to break a system and bring positive change. A lot of students come out with good degrees, they are bright and yet, they fail to land a job because of lack of contacts. The HR has a gigantic problem in hand if the job is requested to be given to someone unworthy because of an "invisible push". He's been hired to make sure that the company gets the perfect fit and yet, he's been overwritten. There's nothing the HR could've done before. But now, they can get a print out of both the percentages and tell the boss how the requested candidate ranks and how the
other candidates rank. The owner definitely doesn't want the company to go down. There was no analytics to back this before. We are hoping that soon enough, perhaps the candidates can at least get a fair chance.
NS: Extra-curriculum activities play a vital role as an addition to candidate's educational background. How are they evaluated if candidates are to sign up and you have an algorithm to match his compatibility with jobs? Does ECA increase their percentage?
Faria: We tried our level best to avoid semantics. If we allowed the ECA of a candidate to match with something, we'd fall right into the old system again because it leads to word specific search. It could also be a part of the video resume, something we are trying to introduce here in Bangladesh. There is a section where you can add any skill that was involved. Nadim: The algorithm is short and sweet. The soft skills are best being addressed in an interview. But what Faria mentioned, there is an entire section dedicated to describe your skills. If you have been a president of a club for three years, then "leadership" is something you can add to your skills. This section is actually very strong and comprehensive.
NS: Do you have any plans to go international with the project?
Nadim: Of course. I live in Montreal and I have always wanted to come back and do something here first. Most importantly, my plan was to take the IT sector of Bangladesh up there and make a place for us in the world map. Our country has incredible potential. In fact, a major part of our project was developed here and they have done a tremendous job. I really wanted to showcase our IT talent in the world map. Bangladesh is the start, but soon we are going to launch Loose Monkies in America and Canada. It's only a matter of time that you will be head-hunted by a company in California without you even knowing it. I'm proud of the fact that at least I was successful to light a fire and if it keeps burning, then hopefully one day, Bangladesh will come in the map not just a place where people throw work as outsource, but something more than that. The hope is that big companies will come to Bangladesh and want to set up an office here because the coders are good.
It may be a beginning of something amazing. We only need to see it for ourselves. I hope the website helps both employees and employers and establishes our IT potential as world class. There's no doubt that Loose Monkies is here to make a change. Let's see how successful it becomes. I await!
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Words: Asif Kamal Illustration: Catninja