Recruitment Platform 'Wanted' Storm... 500,000 Won Compensation for 3 Months Work
Recommendation Letters Datafied by AI... Introducing High Acceptance Rate Companies to Job Seekers
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The recruitment market is rapidly changing. Companies are reducing regular recruitment and prefer on-demand hiring of a small number of personnel as needed. Hiring freelancers for each project and disbanding the organization when the project ends, known as ‘gig hiring,’ has also become commonplace.
Recently, ‘WantedLab’ has been making waves in the recruitment market with its referral system and reward payments. WantedLab is recognized as one of the most efficient companies responding to the rapidly changing recruitment market through its referral recruitment platform, ‘Wanted.’
When you submit a resume on Wanted, it recommends companies with the highest acceptance rates, and if you get hired and work for three months, both the successful candidate and the referrer receive a reward of 500,000 KRW, making it a standout in the recruitment market. Even after acceptance, it supports various educational programs tailored to individual preferences to help build a career. It also manages career life throughout one’s lifetime and introduces suitable practical skills and companies when changing jobs.
The core of Wanted is ‘referrals.’ Acquaintances who know the job seeker’s specialties, work style, and personality well write recommendation letters and sometimes add them to a ‘recommended person’ list. For corporate recruiters, these recommendation letters serve as objective and important evaluation materials, and the entire process is datafied through artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning, allowing updated data to be reused during reemployment or job changes.
Lee Bok-ki, CEO of WantedLab, said, "Wanted uses data to introduce job seekers to companies with the highest acceptance rates and provides necessary information together," adding, "According to our analysis, people who obtain information through acquaintances have higher acceptance rates than those who only get information from the internet. Visiting school seniors or acquaintances to learn about companies is also one way to increase acceptance rates."
Since its establishment in 2015, WantedLab has over 2 million registered users and helps more than 1,000 people pass each month, totaling over 10,000 annually. Corporate members have also surpassed 10,000. Unlike other job sites that operate on advertising revenue and often do not know whether job seekers have been hired, WantedLab has accurate job statistics. Because of this, many institutions request statistics, but due to a lack of manpower, they often cannot respond.
WantedLab charges a commission of 7% of the annual salary received from companies per successful candidate. This is much cheaper compared to general headhunters who charge at least 15-25% of the annual salary. Companies welcome Wanted not only because of the low commission but also because of the ‘recruitment speed.’ While it generally takes an average of three months for a company to hire one person, Wanted completes it in 28 days.
Thanks to this, sales are also on the rise. Sales increased more than fourfold from 3.3 billion KRW in 2019 to 14.9 billion KRW in 2020. This year, sales have been increasing by more than 10% monthly compared to the previous year, and operating profit was recorded for the first time in the first quarter. They expect sales of about 26 to 30 billion KRW this year, roughly double last year’s.
On the 16th, WantedLab submitted a preliminary review application for listing on the KOSDAQ to the Korea Exchange and plans to complete its initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of the year. CEO Lee said, "This is just the beginning," adding, "Wanted is currently serviced in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and soon it will spread its wings as ‘Global Wanted.’" Global Wanted is a system that allows free applications from Korea to Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and vice versa, and is reportedly in the final stages of development.
Recently, ‘Wanted Gigs’ has become popular. Wanted Gigs is a ‘gig hiring’ service that connects projects and freelancers. When companies or institutions look for talent needed for mid- to short-term projects, it matches suitable talent. The market size is about 10,000 people annually, generating monthly sales of about 100 to 200 million KRW, showing rapid expansion.
CEO Lee said, "The gig economy wave is blowing strongly in the recruitment market as well," adding, "To respond to the rapidly changing recruitment market, top talents such as data analysts and data scientists are quickly adapting to market changes."
Regarding recent points to note in the recruitment market, he diagnosed, "The concept of a lifelong job has long disappeared, and job seekers do not hesitate to choose or move to companies where they can build their careers, that is, companies that help their careers," adding, "It is no longer an era where companies hire employees, but an era where job seekers choose companies."
*Gig hiring ? The term ‘gig economy’ refers to the economic phenomenon where non-regular freelance work increases. In the recruitment field, this phenomenon is called ‘gig hiring’ instead of ‘gig economy’ or ‘gig economy’.
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