In the rare event that competitors join hands, the most outstanding evolution unfolds. Such is the story of XpressJobs and MyJobs.lk, now united as one company marking a most significant turning point in the recruitment platforms in Sri Lanka. The acquisition has made XpressJobs the biggest player in the online recruitment field, adding to its renown as the most technologically advanced.
The merger has an interesting and uplifting backstory. Somewhere in 2018, Dr. Oshadie Korale, COO of XpressJobs picks up the phone almost on a whim and invites Sanjeewa Rajapakshe, CEO of Emerging Media (parent company of MyJobs.lk) and his team for coffee and a discussion. XpressJobs had been enjoying a 60% growth rate at the time, and its innovative approaches with recruitment tech – introducing smart filtering, CV less recruitment, Application tracking system, Statistic Dashboard, online testing, branch recruitment etc., – had marked it out as a trendsetter in the market. The coffee meeting ends on a positive note with discussions started on an Angel investment, which comes to fruition in 2020 with Emerging Media investing 100 million LKR for 25% stake in XpressJobs.
At the time of discussions in 2018, both XpressJobs and MyJobs.lk had two different market shares; While MyJobs.lk, started in 2014 was focused on filling shopfloor and industrial positions with a simpler set up, XpressJobs, started in late 2015 was focused on developing home-grown recruitment technology such as aforementioned smart filtering, CV less recruitment etc., catering to a more selective range of mostly white collar jobs.
In 2017, MyJobs.lk entered into partnership with Mobitel, functioning as a value added service for Mobitel’s vast customer base. The partnership enabled MyJobs.lk to market its brand for this database. Powered by Mobitel, the brand identity of MyJobs.lk took on a stronger dimension. Post 2018, the economic climate that led to the decline of many businesses starting with the Easter attacks and COVID 1st and 2nd waves, did not present a challenge for XpressJobs as built into its platform were all of the recruitment tech necessary to ride the massive waves of the ‘new norm’. As working from home became the most if only viable option left for many companies, and remote work and recruitment became the mainstay of businesses, the already existing features such as filtering based on vaccination status, paperless hiring that enabled HR in remote shortlisting candidates etc ensured XpressJobs’ dominance in the market and enabled it to have a higher market share compared to old school competitors.
In 2020 XpressJobs requested to absorb the MyJobs.lk brand but it was answered with a “No” as Emerging Media felt strongly that there was space in the market for both brands. They do come into an agreement of allowing the best performer a takeover in future. Thus the friendly rivalry between the two companies continues.
In 2022, with a year-over-year growth rate of 115% and the financial backing of the 100 million LKR investment it is evident that XpressJobs is in optimum performance. Therefore it has become an obvious strategic next step for XpressJobs to acquire MyJobs.lk and combine the resources to increase its market share in the country. With the takeover, the company now has a massive merged CV database of 520,000 serving over 6600 local and international clients. It has processed over 2.5 million applications to date. “We’re very much open to learning from our competitors. We’re open to adapting, evolving and innovating. It is crucial to stay current in this market.” is the upbeat and simple response of COO Dr. Oshadie Korale, to this massive leap the company has made. The users and clients of XpressJobs and MyJobs.lk now enjoy the vast benefits of their combined resources, steered expertly by XpressJobs’ innovation.
Key Statistics
Merged CV database of 520,000+
Merged client base of 6600+
XpressJobs services extended to MyJobs.lk clients and jobseekers
XpressJobs further strengthened by MyJobs.lk brand value + two teams working on one brand
XpressJobs Leadership – Chathum Henegama, CEO; Dr. Oshadie Korale, COO
Emerging Media Leadership – Sanjeewa Rajapakshe, Managing Director; Tyner Fernando, Director, Lahiru Silva, Director
(MyJobs.lk is a subsidiary of Emerging Media)