Facebook celebrity? Looking for a job?

The eternal procrastinating tool… Facebook. Or is it? Adzuna, a social job search engine, has developed a way to help you get hired with a little help from your friends. Launched out of a central London pub in July 2011, this small London startup, with over 1.5 million monthly visitors, classifies itself as the future Google for jobs with a social network side. Not only that, they search thousands of job websites so you don’t have to, and even give job seekers access to a wide range of job statistics and data to make their search even more efficient.

PP: So first of all the important stuff... what kind of name is Adzuna?

AH: “Zuna” means “abundance” in a number of African languages. We aim to be the most abundant classified ads site on the web, and to bring the best ads sooner than anyone else. Hence the name Ad-zuna!

PP: How are you different from other job search sites? Can you explain how the social networking feature in more detail?

AH: Job ads are fragmented and too complicated to navigate. Users want to search all the ads in one place, which is what we provide at Adzuna: a one-stop shop. We then make the search experience better and empower our users to find the right ads for them, by layering on innovations in social and big data. The biggest misconception about our business is that we’re a portal where you can post ads (like Monster or Gumtree). Adzuna is a search engine (like Google).

Adzuna Connect is a social tool that allows jobseekers to see hundreds of job vacancies they are connected to via their first and second degree social connections in LinkedIn and Facebook. The average jobseeker has no idea they’re connected to over 300 relevant, open job vacancies through their social networks. Also, over 90% of companies, large and small, are now using social media to find staff. We also provide users with rich, insightful charts and data on every search, helping jobseekers make informed decisions and setting us apart from the competition.

Keep focused. Make your mother proud. And all employees must wear flip flops if the temperature is above 20oC

PP: So who do you see as your competitors?

AH: There are a number of other vertical search engines that aggregate content in a similar way, but we’re taking the market to the next level by bringing innovations in social and big data to bear. Some sites are very US focused, solely job driven, or simply out-dated.

PP: How do you make money?

AH: We make money by referring traffic to certain jobs sites that we list, and from contextual advertising. Ads are listed for free in the organic index, with companies and portals having the option to buy premium listings. At this stage we are purely focussed on building an excellent job search experience that people want to use.

Job ads are fragmented and too complicated to navigate. Users want to search all the ads in one place

PP: What has been the most challenging time for the company?

AH: Since neither Doug (the other founder) nor myself are ‘tekkies’, and building a search engine is a massive technical challenge, putting together a crack squad of engineers to get Adzuna off the ground on a shoestring budget was tough. It took us a while to find the right “founding developer” for Adzuna and we were starting to stress that we might have to settle for expensive (and not brilliant) contractors and freelancers.

PP: How did you overcome that?

AH: We managed to track down George Karpodonis (whom we worked with before at Gumtree), and after kidnapping his family and employing a number of Jedi mind tricks we eventually persuaded him to quit his job and join us. George built version 1 of Adzuna and has hired an A1 team around him in Athens to build an increasingly awesome product.

PP: Being a start up and all... Can you tell us a little about Adzuna company culture?

AH: We think it’s essential to build a great user experience. Keep focused. Make your mother proud. And all employees must wear flip flops if the temperature is above 20oC.

PP: Do you have any advice for our entrepreneur students when dealing with potential investors?

AH: Be honest, open and make sure you can deliver a clear elevator pitch (what you are doing, why it’s interesting and how you’regoing to make money) in less than 30 seconds. If you are fortunate enough to be able to choose investors, make sure you go with people you trust, your interests are aligned and you trust each other, as you’re likely to be working with these people for a number of years through good times and bad.

If you want to build something massive ... get something small and cool out there that people can use and play around with as soon as possible

PP: What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?

AH: If you want to build something massive and amazing, get something small and cool out there that people can use and play around with as soon as possible. Don’t be precious about version 1, it’s not going to be perfect. Getting early feedback (from real people, not your mum) is absolutely critical.

In a time where unemployment and crisis have been some of the most heard words in our daily life, this team shows that it is possible to see problems as opportunities, and develop creative business models as solutions for them.

This month Adzuna successfully launched in Germany, the first stop on its international expansion plan, plus revenues have been doubling every 3 months throughout 2012 and 2013, signalling a bright future ahead. If you’re interested in joining this young company they are currently looking for interns passionate about online and not afraid of a bit of hard work. If you think you have what it takes drop them an email at internship@adzuna.com.

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