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By Chayut Setboonsarng
BANGKOK (Reuters) – When application developer Sattha Puangput wanted to move from a start-up to a new role, he updated his profile on GetLinks, a website linking technology professionals to companies that want to strengthen their technical teams.
A few days later, he was summoned to several interviews and finally accepted an offer from the Tesco Lotus hypermarket chain to develop an Android software using Kotlin, a Java-based language that uses fewer lines of code and allows more efficient application development.
Knowledge of new programming languages and tools makes it possible to create software faster and allows developers to work easily together.
Customers say GetLinks stands out for its goal of matching specific technical skills such as application development and programming languages such as Flutter and Docker – not just general programming – to meet business needs Asian companies with high growth but also more traditional companies looking for talent. that internal recruiters are not able to find.
Chinese technology giant Alibaba, the Thai conglomerate Siam Cement Group and the Australian job market, SEEK Group, participated in a fundraising event for GetLinks, headquartered in Bangkok, which helped collect "eight figures" in US dollars, announced the co-founder of the startup, 26- Djoann Fal, born in France, aged one year.
The funding will help GetLinks set up local offices in Indonesia, Malaysia, Shenzhen and Taiwan, Fal said.
Sattha, 30, said she had consulted other job sites, but could not find companies that were looking for her specific skills.
"Usually, the (job) search is long, so I was impressed with GetLinks," Sattha said. "The offer was fast, there are good opportunities."
So far, GetLinks, a three-year-old, has placed more than 1,000 candidates in companies such as Tencent, Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand and the start-up of the travel industry in Indonesia, Traveloka, said Fal.
GetLinks is a "good model" for matching companies with candidates, but it may be difficult to hire more experienced executives, said Punyanuch Sirisawadwattana, director of British recruiter Robert Walters in Thailand.
Companies risk losing good candidates if there is no intermediary to find a solution to tricky issues like pay, which requires "soft skills" to negotiate – a problem that technology can not solve immediately, she added.
TRADITIONAL ENTERPRISES
Still, the explosion of demand for technical expertise in Asia should serve the website well, Fal said. "The digitization we saw in Europe is essentially happening," he said.
Chinese technology giants and regional startups such as Grab and Go-Jek have aggressively developed into digital payments and e-commerce, increasing the demand for progamers, designers and digital marketers.
A November study by Google and Temasek predicts that the Southeast Asian Internet economy will reach $ 240 billion by 2025, a fifth more than the estimate previous in 2016 due to growing mobile connectivity.
Sea, supported by Tencent, is known for its recruiting activity through GetLinks.
"The advantage of this system is that we can consult the profiles of the candidates and contact them directly," said Anyarin Teerachawansith, person-in-charge at Sea Thailand.
Sea uses more than 10 people in its Thai operations with GetLinks, including complete developers and search engine optimization experts. However, Anyarin said most companies were still recruiting through their own network, sponsoring agencies and recruitment agencies.
GetLinks charges businesses 15% of the candidate's first-year salary or a monthly subscription ranging from $ 1,000 for two recruitments per month to $ 10,000 for unlimited recruitments.
Traditional businesses looking to invest in digital transformation and technology find GetLinks useful, Fal said.
Siam Cement Group, Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate, launched its own digital initiative in 2017.
"We were new and wanted to enter the market," Joshua Pas, director of digital transformation and enterprise technology at Siam Cement, told Reuters.
The unit hired people through its own recruiting team, but also found its technology manager via GetLinks, said Pas. Until now, GetLinks has placed more than 20 positions in the company.
The business partnership worked so well that the centennial company, led by Pas, also invested in the startup, as the search for talent "is a bottleneck" and the demand will increase.
(Report by Chayut Setboonsarng, edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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