Sommersemester 2010 

Executive Summary

jobsunited is an international online employment and career platform network connecting students/graduates, companies and universities in various countries in CEE. A new business model, which revolves around parts of the application process and an integrated matching algorithm, ranking applicants by their fit to the job, enables companies to find high-qualified students at reduced time and cost.

Product Description

jobsunited is an international online employment and career platform network, connecting students/graduates, companies and universities in various countries in CEE. The newly structured application process enables companies to invite the desired candidates to apply for the job immediately after advertising the vacancy. By using Europe-wide standardized attributes for education, work experience etc, students of all participating international universities can be compared directly. All candidates are matched and ranked according to their fit to the job by the means of these standardized attributes and companies on the other hand can see, who meets their requirements best and request those to apply for the job immediately. With jobsunited the duration of the whole application process is reduced by at least 53%. Partnerships for additional features (e.g. Online Assessment center) have already been established and implementation is technically feasible at any time. Serving as a perfect substitute for career centers, the platform is not just totally free of charge for universities, but they even have the possibility to receive a 30% commission of all revenues generated through their students. companies have access to highly qualified students from different universities and countries and students are provided with job offers from numerous countries on one single platform.

Market Entry

jobsunited will be first launched at the University of Liechtenstein. At the beginning of 2011 the platform will be implemented at 5 other European universities, where oral agreements already exist. Later in 2011 and 2012  jobsunited will be launched comprehensively in 6 CEE countries.

Business Model

Only companies have to pay fees for the services offered by jobsunited, while for students and universities, all services are completely free. In contrast to ordinary job platforms, the placing of job offers is free of charge at jobsunited. companies have to pay only in the event of any submitted application. Other services such as online assessment or advertising mails constitute additional sources of revenue.

Sustainable Competitive Advantages

jobsunited benefits from its first mover advantage as it is the first international and interconnected employment and career-centric platform network in Eastern Europe with a focus on students and graduates. jobsunited is completely free of charge for both, universities and job seekers and universities even earn money through the platform. Once implemented  jobsunited, universities will face high switching costs in case of partnering with other platforms.

Market and Competition Analysis

Only those universities that are not equipped with a career center represent the target market of jobsunited. And for the time being, especially those universities situated in Central and Eastern Europe are being focused. In  CEE, the market potential is extremely high since most universities there have no career centers. The countries of our interest are: Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia and Hungary. Along with the need of companies for highly qualified staff and the need of students for work experience abroad, the market for online recruiting is steadily increasing. It is true that strong competitors such as Monster or Jobzippers.com have already gained a foothold on the market, but the product differentiation of jobsunited will substantially contribute to its successful launch and its desired market position.

Swot-Analysis

International connection and Europe-wide standardized attributes of applicants are the greatest strenghts jobsunited offers. In addition, jobsunited benefits of an extensive first mover advantage. However, bureaucracy can become a problem in the future. Nevertheless, favorable market opportunities, trends towards online recruiting and increased mobility of students provide jobsunited with a variety of great opportunities.

Financials

In the case of the most likely scenario the initial investments are expected to amortize as early as in the second business year of 2011. Considering the cost structure, it becomes evident that personnel and marketing expenses represent the major pools of costs. 

Employees will be paid a bonus for achieving the targeted turnover. Furthermore, since the University of Liechtenstein is providing  jobsunited with the necessary server and office, no substantial investments are needed at the beginning and the break-even point will be reached in 2011. Due to the fact that  jobsunited is willing to accomplish moderate and stable growth and aims for upper quality job offers, all costs will be containable.

Cooperation Partner

• Patrik Schneider
  Marcel Vaschauner
  Stefan Debortoli
  Harald Schmidt

  
  

  Ansprechpartner

  
  

  Patrik Schneider
  Marcel Vaschauner

Student Team

• Roland Felber

  
  

  Michael Forster

  
  

  Chen Ji

  
  

  Philipp Parrer

  
  

  Thomas Wohlfahrtstätter