Ushift, a specialised job portal offering only short term or freelance work, has just launched in Singapore.
According to CEO Robinson Blanckaert, the portal created to take advantage of the growing preference for freelance or part time work over full time in Asia. This shift in the market is due in part to the inefficient hiring process that’s currently in place. There’s real demand from businesses like event management firms, restaurants, and catering outlets, but most recruiting in Singapore is done ineffectively through Facebook groups or word of mouth.
But with Ushift, job seekers just create an account and fill in self-descriptions, work timings and preferred industries. After the profile has been confirmed, the Ushift team will get in touch with applicants for a video chat. Background checks will also be done to ensure that information posted is accurate. Only when everything checks out will the application be finalized.
There’s also a separate page where companies can post job listings for free. But to ensure the legitimacy of the companies Ushift works with, the team works only with companies registered locally, ensuring that their certifications check out before these companies are allowed to post short-term jobs which will last a minimum of 1 day and a maximum of 1 month.
The job portal startup has the backing of German company Rocket Internet which allows the team to get access to their network of companies, with a goal of 1,000 employers and 50,000 freelancers by end 2017.