The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have been far reaching. Society’s first concern has been about keeping people safe and healthy; however, people are now fighting a new battle––an economic crisis.
Zachary Flamholz, his wife Sigal Spitzer and her younger brother Gilad Spitzer have created a resource for those looking for jobs during this pandemic. I Lost My Job To Coronavirus is a website that pairs job seekers with recruiters from all over the world looking to hire in a wide variety of fields. The site is a two-sided platform that allows both job seekers and recruiters to build an account, seek talent and communicate with each other throughout the job search process.
Flamholz, who is an MD-PhD student at Einstein Medical College in New York, was motivated to launch the platform after he and some friends were discussing the financial hardship the coronavirus has been leaving in its wake.
“We kept watching the map of the disease moving across the world through the Johns Hopkins digital tracker,” he said. “We thought, ‘what if there was a map people could use to watch the unemployment crisis unfold in real time?’ We realized that unemployment was going to be the crisis that the coronavirus left on the world.”
While the website does keep track of the amount of people worldwide unemployed due to the coronavirus, this passion project soon blossomed into something much more revolutionary. The distinct appeal of the site is that, not only is it completely free to use, but there is also a greater transparency between the two parties. Recruiters normally have to pay a fee to access recruiting sites, and job seekers are often not even aware that a recruiter is considering their resumé. Through ilmjtcv.com, instead of paying to access the site, recruiters make job seekers aware of the fact that they are being considered for a job, which offers them a chance to introduce themselves or provide more information to the recruiter through the site’s chat functions.
“The core foundation of our company is this notion of transparency, which is particularly important during this pandemic,” Sigal said. She is in charge of managing the platform’s marketing and advertising. “This allows them to be the driver in the recruitment search and reach out to recruiters directly when they know they are being actively searched.”
Job seekers can also sift through a more curated search, rather than being overwhelmed by the thousands of results (most of them irrelevant) that pop up on other job sites.
Gilad, a recent high school graduate with a passion for computer science, created the website for the company. He has been working tirelessly to ensure that the site is as intuitive and as user-friendly as possible, and he is amazed at how quickly the platform has grown.
“The project has evolved so much,” he said. “What started as a tiny idea we thought we would explore is on a trajectory to becoming a legitimate website that has real value to millions of people.”
The trio was inspired to help people in their neighborhood and community that were negatively affected as a result of the pandemic. They launched the site in mid-April and have seen 30 recruiters and hundreds of job seekers join since.
“The unemployment crisis is so palpable in so many communities across every demographic,” Sigal said. “From hourly labor workers to top CEOs at global corporations––it’s a relevant issue for everyone right now.”
Flamholz hopes that the platform will continue to grow even after the threat of the coronavirus crisis dissipates. He wants to include a career counseling aspect to the site that would offer resources and advice aggregated specifically for each person’s job search.
“We want to help mentor people transitioning into new career industries or looking for continuing education,” he said. “We can find content that is most suited to each user and provide a curated experience for them. They can make use of those resources as they see fit.”
Sigal believes passionately in the platform’s ultimate mission, which is to promote community unity.
“We’re just one global community trying to solve this crisis together,” she said. “We want to make sure people out there know that we are here as a free resource to help those in need.”
If you are interested in creating an account, either as a job seeker or a recruiter, please visit ilmjtcv.com or email [email protected].
By Elizabeth Zakaim
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