Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark and Debbie Emery.
Hi Mark and Debbie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Juvo was born out of our 30+ years in the hiring industry and our personal experience of watching our children struggle to find hourly wage jobs close to home. To us, it just didn’t make sense that hourly workers have to go through the same drawn out application process as salaried workers. It doesn’t work for business owners who are dealing with workplace churn, and it stinks for the hourly workers who get stuck with a long gap between paychecks. So we founded Juvo – an easy to use app that gets seekers and employers connected fast.
Our goal with Juvo is to create thriving, inclusive local economies by getting people into work. We have several partnerships with apartment complexes, technical colleges and non-profits to get Juvo into the pockets of those that need it most. Whether you’re a student, a veteran, an individual with disabilities, or need to work around your family’s schedule, Juvo is focused on matching you with the right hourly job.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When we founded Juvo, we were very conscious that we did not want to be another job board. We like to call job boards the “pay and pray” method of hiring. As an employer, you have to just hope that the right job seeker is going to be on the right page, of the right job board, in the right 30 page period to see the advertisement that you paid $300 for!
Juvo shifts the emphasis away from you finding a job to a job finding you.
So that was the key challenge for us – disrupting a whole hiring industry that is just not built for hourly wage jobs. Disrupting a marketplace like this is a big hill to climb but we’re getting a huge response to Juvo already. We’ve enjoyed explosive growth in the past six months. Due to huge demand, Juvo was pulled up and out of Georgia and into a national presence. This level of growth is intense but we’re now getting well over 100,000 employer locations receiving applications nationwide, and Juvo is connecting employers and job seekers in a way that has never been done before. We can see Juvo actually having a real-time impact on local economies now and that feels fantastic.
We’ve been impressed with Juvo, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Hourly work and salaried work are not the same. So why do we expect people to find these jobs in the same way? In fact, there has never been a system in place to enable 63% of America’s workforce to find employment. That’s double the population of California that have been overlooked!
Job boards just don’t cut it. They have failed to evolve to meet the needs of hourly workers today. Meaning across the US, there are 80 million hourly workers looking for jobs without sufficient tools to support them.
We understand this struggle professionally and personally. When our children were searching for jobs, we were frustrated by the lack of awareness of local opportunities. Therefore, we created Juvo; a better way to connect seekers and employers that takes the hassle out of hiring.
We identified three key issues with the current system: awareness, location, and application.
Juvo addresses each of these directly to enable the hourly worker to thrive.
Location
As a business, having employees that live nearby that can come into work on short notice is essential. Yet the average hourly worker faces a 19.7 mile commute each way to work. We know this is unsustainable for the seeker and the employer. But, current job boards are not addressing this problem. Organizing by zip code creates too broad an area. Indeed, depending on where you live, a job that appears to be 5 miles out of your zip code can actually result in an hour and a half commute. This needs to change.
Awareness
Juvo is not a job board.
Instead, the Juvo app leverages innovative geolocator technology to organize job openings by location. The app actively pushes job opportunities to seekers that are nearby. This is an approach that no one else is taking.
Juvo is creating a paradigm shift from seekers looking for jobs to jobs finding seekers. We know that seekers and employers are moving towards more automated technology to help with employment, and Juvo is already experiencing great success with this model.
Application
Then we spotted another issue. When our children did find a position that looked suitable, the long process of filling out a paper-application, waiting for a possible interview, and waiting again for an offer, frustrated the gap between paychecks; putting them in more financially vulnerable positions than their siblings.
Due to the income disparity between hourly and salaried work, it just doesn’t make sense to us that hourly workers should go through the same application process. Employers want to see a candidate’s attitude and aptitude towards the position, that’s why Juvo hosts video resumes instead of cover letters. So the employer can see the candidate’s personality and connect immediately.
What were you like growing up?
Juvo is really a personal business for us, it was inspired by our family and we’ve always liked to work on projects that have that personal meaning. Mark and I met in high school, and whilst we had our own separate careers (I started as an elementary school teacher), what we love working on together is start-ups and getting these new companies running. We’re in this business because of our family and it’s important to remember that at the heart of Juvo what we’re trying to do is connect people and support communities. It’s all about the connection!
Pricing:
- Juvo Jobs app is free to Job Seekers
Contact Info:
- Email: Mark.Emery@juvo360.com, Debbie.Emery@juvo360.com
- Website: https://www.juvojobs.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juvojobs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JuvoJobs
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuvoJobs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH2_9w_R3nffQ7d8AqFUHOA
