Jobware is one of our 880 job board partners and is one of the best generalist job sites in Germany. We recently interviewed Dr. Wolfgang Achilles, CEO of Jobware Online-Service GmbH. He talked about Jobware, its innovations, its future…and much more. He also gave us his insight of the German e-recruitment market.
- Can you provide an overview of Jobware?
Jobware.de started in 1996 as a job board addressing executives, specialists and young professionals. With more than 180 employees Jobware is one of the leading job boards in Germany. Companies of all sizes and industries post their vacancies on www.jobware.de.
The idea to build an online job market in Germany was born in the early 90s, when only a few companies and some nerds had access to the internet. We had to struggle with the speculation that the phenomenon internet would remain well limited to Paderborn. That changed, fortunately, very quickly.
- How would you describe your company culture and core values?
Privately owned Jobware offers a familiar and reliable atmosphere. Due to its flat structure the involvement of employees into decision-making is high. Since 1996 we are committed to merge first-class companies with first-class candidates by delivering first-class services to our customers, candidates and partners.
- Jobware promises candidates to have access to “first class jobs” and companies are guaranteed to find “first class candidates”. How do you select job offers and candidates that match your requirements and expectations?
First of all the price of our postings is designed to attract the right job offers. Furthermore we check every posting by hand – and we double-check it by the same mean. Categorization is done by us and only by qualified colleagues.
By composing our reach we ensure the quality of our candidates. Reading a professional journal is a quite positive signal to us and our clients.
Focusing on quality and not on numbers we succeed in delivering the right candidate.
- According to Jobboersen-check you are considered the best job board in client satisfaction, and according to Deutschlands Beste Jobportale you reached the maximum score. What are your secrets for such a success? How different is your approach to this market compared to other job boards?
Right from the beginning quality is our mission. Client satisfaction is our benchmark, B2B and B2C. Our secret ingredients are our more than 400 selected Partners, major newspapers and professional journals, where we publish the vacancies, posted on www.jobware.de. That is, why we have perfect access to the enormous potential of passive candidates. This is why Jobware is one of the leading job boards for specialists and executives in Germany.
- What are the specific features that make your job board different from your national competitors?
Relevant competitors are international, giving us the advantage that we may focus onto the very specific German market – delivering the best occupation rate.
- How do you plan to develop your business within the next years?
We invest heavily into our brand – to grow further.
- What are the main trends you’re able to identify on the online recruitment market today in Germany?
Recruiting becomes more and more expensive and time-consuming as Germany is running out of talents.
- As a job site, how do you attract your own candidates for your positions? How do you keep your employees engaged?
As our employees are highly committed we enjoy a high recommendation rate. As we are located close to the campus of the University of Paderborn many students enter Jobware during their studies and start their career with us. A flexible working time model and the option of home-work cover our employee’s needs. Beside, working within a steadily growing and investing company ensures and delivers success and opportunities.
- What are some of your best innovations since the company was founded? How do you get your employees to innovate on a daily basis?
Engagement and communication leads into innovation. We hear to the needs of our customers, candidates and partners. We keep an eye onto the development of the technical environment opening new possibilities. We have the courage, to fail.
- Are you fully satisfied with your mobile app? What are the results compared to the desktop version?
Being yesterday fully satisfied with our mobile apps, I’ll have in a few months to invest in new ones. The technical environment and client needs are changing in a formerly unknown speed.
- Do you plan on increasing your budget for advertisement in the following months/year?
Yes, of course – with more and more customers we have to ensure customer-satisfaction.
What are the main challenges you will be facing in the coming years?
Changing media-usage. With the Internet everything goes very quickly. Every month, or should I say every week, we hear about innovation. The e-recruitment market is on the same boat. We will need to quickly adapt to new media-usage.
About Dr. Wolfgang Achilles, CEO Jobware Online-Service GmbH
since 2007: CEO of Jobware
2000 – 2007 : Founder of refline AG
1997 – 2000 : Restructuring & M&A-Consultant
1994 – 1997 : Assistant in an audit and tax consultancy
