[Exclusive Interview] This Is How ShortJobs Is Unleashing A Revolution For Freelancers, Contractual & Gig Workers

We recently interacted with Umang Mathur, who is the founder of ShortJobs, a new and upcoming job portal dedicated for freelancers, gig workers and contractual workers in India.

Here are the highlights of this exclusive interview.

What is Shortjobs all about? When was it formed?

ShortJobs is a recently formed HRtech company during the Covid-19 Pandemic.  As we know, the pandemic has led to approximately 6.5 million people losing their jobs; that is when we at Shortjobs as a team came up with the idea of this platform. Current situation which world is passing through, has thrown unprecedented challenges to both employers and employees, where employer is looking for passionate individuals more than ever before – experienced / freshers – for part time / short-time expertise jobs (which can eventually result into long-term too) and employee is looking for temporary assignments (maybe based on his / her passion beyond the main-stream work area).  That is where ShortJobs evolves as an “Atma-Nirbhar” conduit of connect between the aspiring employee and demanding corporate.

We started last year in June 2020, amidst the pandemic. ShortJobs is the most transparent job portal. During the pandemic there was a constant demand of contractual workforce i.e., freelancers, consultants and subject experts who are increasingly seeking flexible method of employment.  This is when Shortjobs comes into picture; we collaborate with various companies and post their requirements on our site giving the candidates to choose from opportunities for internships to permanent jobs. During this COVID-19 from march 2020 approximately 22% salaried class lost their job but gradually jobs are picking up in some sectors like automotive, freelancers, edtech,IT sectors and hospitality sector where people can work as temporary work force. The existing  job crunch in the Indian Economy where we thought we could contribute and make is difference is when we chose to start with ShortJobs. 

What is the revenue model that is followed?

We wanted to have a very simple, easy and a transparent way to access for the candidates and the employers hence we have come up with a subscription-based model. Our subscription starts from monthly to yearly package. With the growing demands we have start with personalized requirements of companies at affordable and economical rates of hiring.

What are the new developments happening in the company and future plans?

We are evolving and want to make sure we use disruptive technology of AI and ML to propel our vision. We want to become one of the largest freelancer marketplaces in India offering skilled and trained on demand workforce to achieve our goal of having about 10 million candidates and companies over 1000 across India for which  we are aiming to establish two more establishments in Bengaluru and Gurugram companies in the field of technology and day to day jobs in healthcare sector. 

What is the situation of Gig Workers in India?

The potential growth of the gig economy in a country like India is enormous. It predicted India’s gig economy could triple over the next 3-4 years to 24 million jobs in the non-farm sector — from the current 8 million jobs. The number of gig jobs could soar to 90 million in 8-10 years, with total transactions valued at more than $250 billion, the report said.

The gig economy is also expected to contribute 1.25% to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) over the long term. The increasing role of the gig economy was evident through the significant growth of online platform businesses during the pandemic-induced lockdown.

With growing use of AI, robotics and pandemic-induced flexibility, traditional full-time employment has started taking a new shape. Multitasking and multi skilling will become key for professionals as firms will likely only want to engage workers for the hours needed.

This calls for an urgent need for the formalisation of this sector. The validation of the blue-collar workforce in India could prompt a shift to outsourcing by both traditional and new-age businesses.

How Shortjobs has adapted the new-age technology to democratize the job market in India?

The demand for staffing is becoming the hottest trend in the job market, with the growing segment of the workforce choosing contractual work over full time employment. I see gig workers as the future of Indian job economy. Next 2 years will be  great for the job economy as many companies have already started to hire people on project basis (gig workers) in construction sector, i.e, chartered accountancy firms and sales and marketing based on commission.

What are the challenges that you see in Gig Economy and how did you deal with it?

The challenges in the GIG economy is people in India are taking time to adopt the fact that apart from full time there is part time workforce which helps the candidates in balancing their monthly income. Although there is 29% increase in hiring according to the report published by labour department today in the newspaper for full time. We are a very niche market where candidates can find work force in any sector whether it be nurse, driver, emergency doctors etc but it is a difficult market to tap which we are putting are efforts via digital marketing and going door to door for finding the right candidates in the Gig culture.