Founder of Las Vegas startup seeks to replace resumes

After 16 years of working in HR, she said she’s seen recruiters become too obsessed with what’s on a single piece of paper. Her startup JobzCafe, headquartered in Las Vegas, launched April 19 and hopes to reinvent the job-seeking industry by focusing on people instead of resumes.

The subscription-based networking tool allows job seekers to build relationships with recruiters. There are also opportunities to sign up for coaching sessions and practice interviews, which are paid for through the website’s “bean” currency. Users collect beans by engaging in the online community and referring others to the website, so unemployed users won’t have to worry about spending cash while money is tight.

“I have a fundamental desire to change the way people find work,” OShea said.

The interview was edited for length and clarity.

Why make this website?

I want job seekers and recruiters to meet in a place where the resume isn’t the first point of contact. The whole idea of this is recruiters come in, they post jobs and the community will actively try to match people together and make those decisions. We want people to get work.

How is this different from other job recruiting platforms?

People have been doing things the same way with job boards since the introduction of job boards. In the end, people hire people, not resumes. That’s the problem we’re trying to solve. I don’t want recruiters to see somebody as a piece of paper. At the end of the day, people are the asset to the company. Why don’t we treat people like people? Sometimes we can’t write the best representation of ourselves, and sometimes people don’t interview well.

Who would use it?

As you get older, it’s going to be more difficult for you to find connections. There’s this whole group of people that have been forgotten. I’ve noticed that if you’re over 40, you have to do this whole different set of procedures. There are all these companies out there targeting millennials and Gen X, but no one’s focusing on the other people. My target demographics are people over 40, the long-term unemployed, felons, military spouses and veterans. People who don’t fit into the norm.

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.