This Startup Aims To Block Out The Noise When Recruiting Students In Indonesia
At the Tech in Asia conference in Jakarta last week, one startup occupied a prime piece of real estate on the bootstrap alley floor right in front of the main stage entrance. Zelos co-founder Chris Winston was kind enough to share a bit about his new company, and how it’s helping narrow the gap between Indonesian college students seeking jobs and local companies looking for fresh blood.
“I was a cook before, doing consulting in Bali for hotels and restaurants, and doing some private catering,” explains Chris. “The idea started when my co-founders Markus and Alvin were helping me one day for my catering event. […] Due to the nature of private dining events, I couldn’t find part-time students to help me with the gig.” From the experience, Chris, Alvin, and Markus decided they would create an app that streamlines the process of connecting students to employers in Indonesia. They dubbed the project Zelos.
Markus and Alvin are the firm’s CEO and CTO respectively. In the past, the two ran a startup called Votinc, which we met at last year’s Tech in Asia Jakarta conference. Unfortunately, Votinc is no longer running, but apparently it hasn’t stopped its co-founders from staying hungry and building new products. “Markus and Alvin’s startup also helped conceive this idea,” says Chris, who adds that part of Votinc’s purpose was to go around talking to different businesses in Indonesia, learning about their needs. “Why students?” Chris asks rhetorically. “We felt that they are under-represented in the recruiting field.”
Only the prime cuts
Chris says Zelos is awesome because it reduces the overall workload in the recruiting process for both students and businesses. On Zelos, only students with the right credentials can apply for certain positions. For example, only someone with a design background can submit their CV for a position as a designer. However, if that same person tried to apply for the role of a programmer, their CV would be blocked by Zelos .
