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Verified job portal launched

Amid reports that the South African job market is still shrinking, jittery graduates have been thrown a unique opportunity. The online job portal GradZ, was unveiled at a recent career day held at the University of Pretoria.

Traditionally, online job portals allow job seekers to upload their CVs via the Internet and make them available to a wide range of recruiters. There are literally hundreds of online job portals available to the South African market, hosting several million CVs.

Ina van der Merwe, CEO of MIE (Managed Integrity Evaluation), creator of GradZ, says that most portals have become sophisticated search engines built to crunch through the sheer number of entries, rather than the high value registers they were intended to be. As the name suggests, GradZ is aimed at individuals with qualifications, immediately limiting the number of applicants. It is estimated that South Africa produces about 20 000 graduates per year, adding to the amount of graduate professionals already in the job market.

“On its own, this does not make GradZ particularly unique,” says van der Merwe. “Many portals cater for specialised needs, including graduate recruitment.”

What puts GradZ firmly in the lead is the fact that details captured by a job seeker relating to qualifications and work history is verified upfront by MIE. It is a well-established fact that roughly 12% of all job seekers lie about their qualifications and/or working experience on their CVs. Recruiters are often required to perform background screening checks against all candidates, increasing the cost and time to employ. A search on GradZ returns authenticated CVs every time.

MIE absorbs the cost of background screening, says van der Merwe, and offers GradZ as a free service to job seekers. Recruiters are offered tailor-made packages that will suit their individual needs. 

Roughly 1000 under-graduates registered their CVs on GradZ on the first day of its unveiling, and based on daily trends, this number is estimated to reach the initial target of 100 000 within its first year of operation.

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