Talking jobs, talent, and Jobandtalent with Karl Bornefalk

Workaround Community Profile – Karl from Jobandtalent

Jobandtalent came into being to help address nothing short of a crisis; since 2008, Spain has struggled with an ongoing financial crisis resulting in persistently high unemployment. In 2009, the Spanish founders of Jobandtalent saw an opportunity to make a positive impact in their country by using digital technology to revamp the whole employment process — from job searches to employment administration — to help qualified jobseekers connect with employers eager to find them. We spoke with Karl Bornefalk, an advisor to Jobandtalent, about their past, present and future:

How would you describe Jobandtalent?
–Jobandtalent is a digital staffing marketplace which makes it easier for candidates and companies to find each other. Once a match is made, we take on much of the bureaucratic hassle for companies and employees by handling interviews, training, payroll administration, tax and legal compliance. We can even schedule workforce coverage to meet variable demand.

Jobandtalent has grown rapidly — from 0 to 100m Euro run rate in only 12 months —  and continues its rapid international expansion, recently having entered Sweden with the acquisition of Stockholm-based digital HR service company PaySalary. Karl has been a spending much of his time in Stockholm at Tegelbacken hub, integrating PaySalary into the Jobandtalent fold.

How has Jobandtalent managed to grow so quickly?
–We entered a sector which hasn’t developed much over the last 20 or 30 years.The big companies in the space have tried to digitize, but they have so much legacy infrastructure and ways of doing things that makes it hard for them to turn their business around. Jobandtalent came in from scratch, building something with the right mixture of the smartest people from staffing industry and other relevant areas like engineering and management. That expertise mixed with a lean organization means we can lower prices and grow our market share, all while providing a better service through the best technology.

Karl’s background makes him uniquely qualified for the mission. Karl was raised on the west coast of Sweden. His entrepreneurial journey led him to move from Sweden at 18, traveling the world to try out business ideas in Spain and Latin America before settling in London over five years ago. Given his appreciation of good food and wine, he picked some great destinations on his journey. But he never quite stopped missing many things about his original home, such as the most famous staple of Swedish cuisine: meatballs. He’s enjoying his chance to revisit Swedish comfort food but still enjoy the multicultural culinary diversity of London. While enjoying the best of both worlds, he can reflect on an exciting path full of learning he is eager to share:

Do you have any advice for new entrepreneurs?
–it’s all about knowing your market to the fullest possible extent. In my first project, I didn’t quite know 100% how the technology worked and it proved hard to go into a new sector without having a full knowledge of what the customer needed.

–There are no shortcuts in building a business, you really need to do your homework. By becoming an expert in your field there is always a problem to be solved. Become an expert, solve problems, and work hard; hopefully, you find something that helps a lot of people.

 

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