Sri Lankan startups are getting help for one of the biggest issues that have troubled them: attracting talent that would love the challenges of a startup. The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), is the apex Government body who is mandated to drive the Digital Transformation of the country partnered with XpressJobs, Sri Lanka’s market trendsetter for recruitment technology, to support and transform the recruitment process for the Sri Lankan startup ecosystem.

XpressJobs and ICTA are collaborating via ICTA’s Startup SL, the national online platform for product-based startups. Startup SL is on a mission to support Sri Lankan tech entrepreneurs by connecting them to other startups, mentors, investors, and incubators. The purpose of the partnership is twofold: To help the country’s startups improve their recruitment strategy and to provide ICTA with data to analyse how recruitment works in the startup ecosystem.

“XpressJobs is the only job portal in Sri Lanka that provides companies and candidates with data associated with the recruitment process. We provide transparency to job seekers on the stage of their job application to help them save time. For companies, we provide tailor-made technology such as filtering, cv-less applicant tracking, and recruitment by branches. We are a startup ourselves who have been in recruitment technology for 6 years, so we’re uniquely qualified to assist and contribute to the community.” Stated by Dr. Oshadie Korale, COO, XpressJobs.

XpressJobs has implemented the partnership in three phases.

• Phase 1: Providing special recognition for Startup SL members by creating a separate website page to recruit via XpressJobs and adding the logo of Startup SL next to jobs posted by them. This gives them an added layer of credibility by displaying their association with ICTA and Startup SL.
• Phase 2: Facilitating Information flow between startups who recruit via XpressJobs and ICTA/Startup SL. XpressJobs started asking startups who used their website whether they were one of the 606 members of Startup SL. Startups who said no were encouraged to join the program and directed to ICTA if they wished to sign up. XpressJobs also offers 20% off selected packages to companies who become Startup SL members as an incentive.
• Phase 3: Sharing non-sensitive and non-confidential statistics from the XpressJobs analytics dashboard with ICTA. This is to provide ICTA insights on the sectors, designations, and job types startups are recruiting for. This in turn helps ICTA identify issues startups are facing with recruitment. XpressJobs has discovered that 40% of startup job openings are for software developers.
  

“Partnering with XpressJobs has enabled us to gain insights into the workforce dynamics of the startup ecosystem which will further help us to take a data-driven approach to ecosystem development, mentioned by Sachindra Samararatne, Director - Startup Ecosystem Development, ICTA.

As the next stage of this partnership, XpressJobs is looking at ways to help fill the void of talent in the IT sector. ICTA has a goal of growing the Sri Lankan startup workforce to 10,000 employees strong. This would in turn greatly help the Sri Lankan startup ecosystem and the economy.

Photo - The signing of the agreement (from left to right): Sachindra Samararatne, Director - Startup Ecosystem Development, ICTA, Oshada Senanayake, Chairman / CEO, ICTA, Chathum Henegama, CEO, XpressJobs, Dr. Oshadie Korale, COO, XpressJobs