Two sisters from Wichita, Kansas are helping job-seekers in South Florida get back on track. Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall created an app called QuickHire, that connects job seekers with open positions.
"We say we’re career discovery because we’re not just about finding people just a job or just a gift, it's about finding the right job and helping them progress in their career," said Gladney.
And companies with the right candidates.
"Companies are just baffled as to why people aren’t running back to work," said Gladney.
While the idea was born years ago, Deborah and Angela jumped on the opportunity when the pandemic hit. A right time to launch their business.
The app officially launched in September.
"I have a background in career and education advisement and I had students that were trying to find work and they had all these paper applications and I was just shocked with the system. If you’re in the white collar industry there's so many resources for you, not to just find a job but to find guidance in your career, but if you’re in the service industry, there aren’t a lot of resources for you," said Muhwezi-Hall.
The most recent employment data from the Department of Economic Opportunity shows, Florida's unemployment rate in April was lower than the national average, but Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate was higher than any other county in April at 6.9%.
Businesses and restaurants have had to come up with incentives. Ch’I, a new restaurant in Brickell, is one one of them, offering a $1,000 signing bonus for new hires. The team recently signed with another hospitality company called The One Group in Miami, to assist with the same issue.
"South Florida is seeing a lot of challenges that is really being seen across the nation when it comes to trying to find talent for their restaurants. It’s an interesting shift that we’re seeing, as far as the demand being greater than the supply," said Gladney.
The goal is to make the app easy for job-seekers and connect them with people with the same interests.
"We give them what’s called a career health score and they can see how they can improve it, what they need to do do [and] if they need to take a training course. We offer so many resources for them. They’re also able to connect to other people in the same industry who have similar goals," said Muhwezi-Hall.
8,000 people have downloaded the app across the nation. The sisters hope it will help people impacted by layoffs in industries like service, retail and hospitality, especially in South Florida.
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