Job looking could be daunting, particularly in case you are a non-immigrant within the U.S. Not solely do you must compete on the deserves of your resume, however you additionally must scour by means of tons of of postings to determine the few that sponsor work visas. And when you lose your job, you solely have 60 days to land one other place earlier than you must go away the nation.
The lottery — the H-1B program that randomly selects expert foreigners to work within the U.S. — is notoriously tough to win. For the fiscal yr of 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) obtained practically half one million entries, in keeping with official knowledge. About 120,000 of them had been chosen to maneuver onto the “registration” section, however ultimately, solely 85,000, or 18%, of all candidates will obtain a visa.
A California-based startup known as Jobright.ai needs to make job search simpler for international staff within the U.S. As an immigrant, firm co-founder Eric Cheng is aware of firsthand the struggles of international staff, so it was a no brainer to construct an “H1-B filter” into Jobright, he informed TechCrunch. The function, which is predicated on USCIS knowledge of firms which have traditionally supplied H1-B visa sponsorships, grew to become an instantaneous hit amongst job seekers from India and China.
“This group has long been overlooked,” Cheng stated, who beforehand labored as Field’s early engineer. Up to now, round 30% of Jobright’s customers are international staff. And due to its H-1B filter, Jobright has amassed 50,000 registered customers since its launch in April, with out spending on advertising and marketing.
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he travelled throughout China after promoting his content material collaboration SaaS firm, Cheng conceived the thought of a job-seeking platform. Over the months-long journey, he visited principally underdeveloped cities, the place he met dozens of younger individuals struggling to land jobs amid a worldwide financial slowdown. Cheng ended up serving to 10 of them safe jobs just by asking about their skillsets and suggesting profession choices.
“They were talented, but their understanding of the job market was pretty limited. They just didn’t know what jobs were out there and what they could possibly do,” Cheng stated. “What if they all have a seasoned headhunter who knows them well and can recommend jobs that are beyond their knowledge? The arrival of ChatGPT gifted me the ability to build such a tool.”
Leveraging massive language fashions, Jobright created an AI agent that acts as a headhunter tailor-made to particular person job seekers. The AI interprets candidates’ expertise and recommends jobs that they won’t have in any other case thought-about. It scores positions primarily based on their compatibility with the candidates, a function utilized by 60% of Jobright’s customers daily. It additionally helps customers seek for LinkedIn contacts who would probably supply them a job referral by figuring out their alumni or former co-workers.
Regardless of competing within the crowded AI-powered job search market, Jobright thinks it has discovered a distinct segment. Whereas it shares some options — like utilizing AI to put in writing resumes and fill out purposes — with extra established gamers corresponding to YC-backed Simplify, its goal customers are completely different.
“Most of our users are mid- to senior-level professionals with at least a couple of years of work experience,” Cheng stated. “Their challenge is not applying for more jobs, but finding personalized job search strategies and opportunities that align with their career stage and professional strengths.” Simplify, however, is well-liked amongst internship-seeking college students and contemporary graduates, the founder noticed.
“Yes, there are LinkedIn and other job listing platforms, but users still need to spend a lot of time searching on their own. The information asymmetry is huge,” he added.
When requested if he frightened LinkedIn might develop related AI options to interchange Jobright, Cheng prompt that the large is essentially a social community, whereas Jobright is designed to be “AI-native.”
“The cost of LinkedIn to fully embrace AI is high because it will have to topple its core ad-based business model, which is driven by clicks rather than accuracy. We aren’t just an AI wrapper. AI defines all aspects of our product, whether it’s data, recommendations or user experience.”
Jobright beforehand raised a $4.5 million spherical led by Lanchi Enterprise, adopted by UpHonest Ventures and Supply Code Capital. Down the highway, the startup has plans to develop its consumer base exterior the U.S.
