Jobberman, the single largest job placement website in sub-Saharan Africa, has today announced its Alliance for Better Work initiative, as part of its longstanding partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

The employer-centred initiative is geared to radically bolster recruitment in Nigeria, with a focus on driving female hires and providing integrated end-to-end support on the easy to use online jobs platform.

Large corporations to SMEs in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna will be able to capitalise on access to over 182,000 pre-vetted jobseekers between the age of 18-35, segmented by industry and qualification level and with a core focus on the agricultural, creative and digital sectors in Nigeria.

The Alliance for Better Work has been designed to improve job retention, workplace productivity, business development and, crucially, bridge the gap on gender unemployment which according to recent data is 35.2% compared to 31.8% for men. To-date, employers have faced challenges such as cost for training new employees, a flood of unfiltered applications and wide skills gap.

The campaign will run in parallel to Jobberman’s successful soft skills training program, which has already equipped 190,628 young people between the age of 18-35 for the workplace, as well as placing more than 82,600 in dignified employment.

The latest drive will see the pioneering platform draw from its leading expertise in the market to tackle both strands of recruitment with equal volition and on course to reach its target of securing employment for 3 million young people by 2025.

The Alliance will establish a commitment between Jobberman and employers in the agriculture, creative, digital, finance, healthcare, retail/FMCG, advertising and education sectors to #hirebetter and move beyond the inertia of costly recruitment processes.

According to Jobberman’s data insights, companies can spend an average of 4-6 weeks on their hiring process and cost an estimated 20-25% of the annual gross salary of a candidate to recruit.

The Alliance for Better Work is an exclusive recruitment club that gives employers access to the largest pool of trained quality candidates in the country, innovative end-to-end recruitment and post-hiring support, brand amplification, and exclusive rates, all tailored to companies specific needs.

Speaking on the initiative, Rolake Rosiji, CEO of Jobberman Nigeria said, “The Alliance for Better Work is ultimately about unlocking the competitive advantage of Nigerian companies, often lost in long and poor cycles of recruitment.

By joining forces with Nigeria’s most astute companies we aim to set a standard of progressive recruitment practices that will allow businesses to flourish. Plus, this opens up the opportunity to accelerate our mandate with Young Africa works in placing trained young people in dignified work. Employees are a company’s greatest asset and Jobberman has the experience, the tools, platform and the resources to make this a reality for employers.”

Country Head Nigeria, Mastercard Foundation, Chidinma Lawanson added, “The Mastercard Foundations Young Africa strategy aims to give 10 million youth, and women access to dignified and fulfilling work in Nigeria – 70% of which must be women.

The Foundations’ partnership with Jobberman is one of the many ways that we intend to achieve this. The launch of the Alliance for Better Work Campaign is intentional in filling the gap in the recruitment process, particularly as it pertains to gender unemployment. We look forward to seeing its impact.”

With over a decade in the recruitment business, Jobberman has used its platform to develop job seeker skill sets, identify gaps in the labour market and streamlined the hiring processes for employers. The partnership with the Mastercard Foundation is steering transformative change in the issues surrounding unemployment in Nigeria. The partnership aims to train 5 million job seekers and place 3 million in dignified employment over the next five years.