Modern Business Profile: Mississauga's Guhuza
/In conversation with Mississauga entrepreneur, Marc Belaiche, on the creation of his new and innovative recruitment company, Guhuza.
1. You've described Guhuza as "An all-in-one technology solution for the hiring needs of businesses with 1-100 employees in the Greater Toronto Area."
What prompted you to create this service?
The idea came about as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The pandemic has changed the recruiting process and labour market in major ways.
As everyone has gone virtual overnight the recruiting process also has become virtual.
As a result of the pandemic, we needed to pivot our business with new products and services and Guhuza was something that seemed to be a great opportunity.
We have also found that businesses with less than 100 employees struggle with all the different methods that they can find staff and all the added steps including testing, reference checks, criminal checks and so on – Guhuza makes this entire process especially easy for these types of organizations to hire
2. What separates Guhuza from other recruiting resources?
It’s unlike any recruiting service out there.
Our recruitment platform provides everything needed to connect an employer with the perfect job seeker and vice versa in minutes instead of weeks with our matching AI technology.
It eliminates the potential of “ghosting” from both parties, it provides skill testing and background checks all in one place, and it offers the ability to interview live in the moment.
3. How exactly does Guhuza work?
It is a new way in how job seekers and employers find each other.
This recruiting platform that makes recruitment completely digital while saving steps and time for both the candidate and employer.
Guhuza takes the best features from Netflix, Uber and dating sites and connects the perfect candidate to companies in minutes instead of weeks.
Employers need only upload their job descriptions and our matching AI technology reaches out to potential job seekers who are available to interview live in the moment.
The entire process is automated from job opening to person starting, this includes reviewing resumes, contacting candidates, scheduling interviews, testing, and background checks.
Job seekers need only upload their resume to the platform and our AI technology will notify them when a company is interviewing live.
Guhuza cuts out the time-consuming and stressful application process.
“For candidates, this platform is a significant time saver from having to search and apply to positions and not hearing back.”
4. The live interview aspect is intriguing - how has the response been so far from both candidates and companies?
The company feedback has been very positive so far and has helped us with making more updates
While the platform is working right now, the algorithms that we are using are being improved each day and we expect further rollouts and updates to improve the process in the next few weeks.
For candidates, this platform is a significant time saver from having to search and apply to positions and not hearing back.
5. You launched in autumn of 2021 and as the owner of TorontoJobs.ca for several years, how has this creative experience differed from previous ones?
The many years of experience for both myself and our team at TorontoJobs.ca – designing, developing and updating the TorontoJobs.ca job board over the years – has really helped provide a base of understanding for developing Guhuza and working with the development team
While there are similarities with TorontoJobs.ca, Guhuza has more features that align with where the recruitment industry is going and how job seekers and employers find each other
6. What was the largest obstacle in launching Guhuza?
Time is our biggest obstacle as we want to have a number of initiatives but each one takes time to conceptualize, research, implement and test and each one of those areas takes time to complete
While there have been a number of overall hurdles to overcome (such as setting up accounting, marketing, social media, etc.) these have not been significant obstacles to getting Guhuza launched.
“There will always be a need for the traditional service that recruitment firms provide in the very same way there is still a need for taxis even though we have Uber and Lyft.”
7. Guhuza is an interesting word - what does it mean and why did you select it?
Guhuza (pronounced “Gah-Hoo-Za”) means "to connect" in Rwandan.
The word was chosen because that is the crux of what this platform is about - connecting businesses and job seekers by finding them the perfect fit in minutes not weeks.
We wanted something a little more mysterious than something that just had “jobs”, “recruiting” or “hiring” in the name.
8. Do you predict that other recruitment companies will follow Guhuza's lead in the coming months/years?
I suspect that organizations that are hiring for staff will use our technology as it can save them significant time
Overall, I think there will always be a need for the traditional service that recruitment firms provide in the very same way there is still a need for taxis even though we have Uber and Lyft.
While the pandemic may not be forever, the effects of it will last a very long time - more people, especially young people, already operate mostly in the digital space and with more people working remotely Guhuza will be a convenient option for jobseekers.
