Listen to this articlehosco was created to provide hospitality professionals with exclusive access to industry jobs, as well as ensure that employers are receiving qualified candidates for open positions. This means that hosco is an exclusive network, and all potential members must meet certain criteria in order to join and apply to roles. Those who are either hospitality educated or have worked in the industry for 2 years are welcomed to the platform, where they can discover exclusive jobs, connect with other professionals and companies, and explore a plethora of industry content. To find out more about their platform we sat down with Jemma Borocz, from hosco:
Q: Jemma, what’s the best thing about hosco that people might not know about?
A: Exclusivity. On hosco, a candidate-job match is created every minute. This means that we are constantly adding active job opportunities across the globe, and companies are proactively searching to fill their roles. We cover all areas of hospitality, and we also touch on start-ups and other related companies that people with hospitality backgrounds may be interested in.
And we’re not just a jobs platform. hosco gives talents the opportunity to connect with other professionals, view company profiles to learn more about the culture and heart of the organisations that they are interested in. We also offer exclusive articles and videos on the industry to provide insight and support to our members. Additional tools are forthcoming to ensure that members have a full solution for their entire career — not just for securing their next job.
Recommended: Lending Platform InstaLend Aims To Disrupt The Online Real Estate Lending Market With ‘Hybrid’ Investment Offerings
Q: You’ve recently announced $4M Series A funding round; could you tell us something more?
A: The funding was an important step in supporting our exponential growth. While we’ve experienced 100% YoY growth of users, traffic, and revenue for three consecutive years, the recent funding will enable us to accelerate and support our goal of reaching over 1 million members by 2020.
We plan to deepen our roots in our core markets and expand to new geographies, including Asia and the Americas. The round will also allow us to invest more heavily in the product, including focusing on features that provide companies with a complete set of tools for hospitality recruitment and give members additional services to support them throughout their careers. Providing platform technology for schools to manage careers and alumni continues to be a priority, and hosco is working with national organisations to create specialised networks uniting the industry within individual countries.
We were pleased to welcome multiple investors in this round, including existing shareholders, new business angels, and venture capital firms. The support of both previous and new investors is additional proof that we’re on the right track with our growth and future plans.
Q: What geographic markets are you focusing on currently?
A: hosco was started in Switzerland and within a couple of years, we opened a second office in Barcelona. Our beginnings were in these markets, as well as the rest of Western Europe, which means we’ve spent the most time growing our membership and clients in the European region. However, a couple years ago, we opened another office in Dubai in order to concentrate on the growing potential of the Middle East and Asia, and we’ve significantly expanded our reach there in the last year.
We will continue to grow the Middle Eastern and Asian markets, as well as provide the tool in multiple languages to better support all of our international clients, before concentrating on new regions like the Americas.
Recommended: OneDome Raises $4M Series A Funding To Improve The Property Transaction Process
Q: Who is your ideal user and why?
A: hosco has several “ideal users” as we cater to several audiences, namely members, employers, and schools.
As a hosco member, you could say that our ideal user is a passive job seeker, who is involved and interested in the hospitality industry. There is so much on the platform to discover, and we aim to provide users with targeted and relevant posts. Members can follow companies they are interested in, connect with classmates or other professionals, and indulge in exclusive interviews with hospitality leaders. As a passive job seeker, you may discover your next opportunity by accident, or the company of your dreams may reach out to you directly. Of course, we hope that active job seekers will use the hosco platform when searching for hospitality opportunities, but we want members to remember that hosco is built for more than just job searching. And soon, we’ll be adding even more features to ensure that hosco is a one-stop shop for people in the industry.
Employers and schools are also important users, and we have several levels of memberships to meet different needs. On the employer side, we provide branding and recruitment solutions to get individual brands the visibility they need to attract the most desirable candidates. For schools, we offer our technology as the base for their career and alumni management so that there is both easy management and access to students and organisations.
Q: What are your plans for next six months?
A: Most importantly, we’ll be focusing on our growth to cover more territory, as well as deepen our roots in territories where we already have traction. An important step in this is localisation so that members, employers, and schools can use the product in the language they are most comfortable in. As mentioned before, we’re also focusing on developing additional tools to ensure the product is well-rounded and provides a full solution for each segment of our audience. Our app is an important piece of the puzzle as well, which we will continue to develop to ensure people have access to hosco wherever and whenever they want.
Additionally, hosco prides itself on the diverse and energetic team. We are incredibly international: the current team is composed of more than 10 nationalities, and every employee speaks at least 2 languages. The majority of our staff studied hospitality, but we also hire area experts, especially in IT, to ensure we are creating the best possible product. We plan to continue growing our team over the next six months, with at least a 50% increase in staff.
Activate Social Media:
