#WIB – Q&A With Kelly Louw Co-Owner Of Job Crystal
1. Can you please tell us more about your business?
A. Job Crystal is an online recruitment agency where we combine human touch (recruiters) and AI (Crystal) to create a one-stop recruitment solution for SMEs and corporates. Job Crystal is owner-run, and as such we are involved in every transaction, whether it be mentoring or assisting to ensure a successful client and candidate journey, making us their preferred, long-standing, and trusted recruitment partner – bridging the gap between talent and entrepreneurs, and making a dent in unemployment.
2. When, how, and why did you start your business?
A. My business partner and I bought Job Crystal in 2015. We were a perfect business match with my experience in recruitment and ability to find all types of candidates and her experience in Technology. Job Crystal has been steadily growing ever since 2015 and took a huge growth curve in 2020 when we took on investors Enygma Ventures.
In our experience with starting businesses, we discovered that finding staff took far too long and that this was often the breaking point for many businesses. After further research, we found that for smaller companies, agencies were often too expensive and didn’t provide realistic payment plans. In short, there was no specific agency support tailored for SMEs.
This led to the core drive of Job Crystal:
- A passion for helping people find jobs.
- Focus on the SME market with an agency that understands cash flow (Job Crystal was an industry leader in offering a payment period on recruiting fees to SMEs, knowing how tight cash flow and budgets can be in business), and an AI tool that understands time (Crystal, our AI-driven tool that can search and screen 34 million employable people across 43 websites including job boards, job portals, and social media sites, reaching active job seekers and passive hiders).
3. What is your role in the business?
A. I started my Recruitment career in Durban, KZN, and have successfully recruited nationally across South Africa, for the past 16 years, establishing a name and brand in Cape Town too. I have managed several Recruitment teams throughout my career and currently manage the dynamic and passionate Job Crystal Operations Team of Recruiters based across SA. I play an active role in the recruitment partnership community, ensuring all Ethical Recruiters work successfully together with the ultimate important goal of helping candidates find their dream job.
4. Where did you study and what did you study?
A. I currently hold a Diploma in Public Relations and Media Studies (PRISA) and an International Marketing Management Diploma (IMM). This is coupled with my recognized prior learning in Recruitment and Selection (CAPES) and IPSC. I work in line with APSO standards and ensure I attend various seminars and workshops in the Recruitment space to make sure I’m up to speed and on the cutting edge of recruitment technology and trends.
5. How did you finance your business?
A. When we started on this journey, we were self-funded, any extra capital we would put back into the business and improve our tech and automation processes. Job Crystal has been steadily growing ever since 2015. In 2020, we took a huge growth curve when we took on investors Enygma Ventures who invested in our business to build our AI Intelligent Recruitment tool, called Crystal.
6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.
A. We are very team focused and my average workday is spent in and out of conversations with business owners on how we can best help them, as well as driving my Team who works on recruiting the Talent for the roles. I am very involved in most client and candidate interactions to ensure that we deliver the best possible client and candidate experience, we pride ourselves on this.
7. How do you balance your home life and your work life?
A. I am all about work-life balance, being an avid horse rider and dressage enthusiast, my day starts very early at the stables where I ride most mornings before anyone is even at their desk. The driving balance between work, home, hobbies, and family is very important. We have always been about balance and it’s one of the best aspects of working for a Team like us, we work to get the job done! The majority of the team are working Moms, and whether that be early mornings or late nights, we encourage our team to be at those little ones sporting matches.
8. What drives you and inspires you?
A. I am passionate about people and making a difference, ensuring that Recruitment & Talent attraction, supports the business strategy by assisting clients to employ the right people. There is no better feeling than placing a candidate in their dream job.
9. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
A. I am a bit of an insomniac, and I find those 2 am early morning thoughts are where I do my best work. I find this to be my quiet time without distraction to jot down my best ideas and get ahead of my day. In addition to this, I often take a break from my desk with a lunchtime walk down on the beach to reflect and clear my mind.
10. Where and how do you market/advertise your business for sales leads?
A. Job Crystal is present on all social media platforms (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/LinkedIn), we have a weekly blog, and we have established long-lasting partnerships where we support & promote our offerings. We have found that up until now, prior to investment, networking and referrals have been our best lead generators. We have established a very good brand name and we pride ourselves on this. Recently we have started with paid PR and Marketing which is proving to be a great sales lead tool.
11. What is next for your business?
A. My current plan is to disrupt the Recruitment Industry, better known as ‘RecTech’, by ensuring clients can hire fast and effortlessly! The Job Crystal vision and my why each day is to #make a dent in unemployment and with Job Crystal’s new AI tool called Crystal I foresee the team doing just that! Job Crystal is indeed a force to be reckoned with in the ‘RecTech’ space.
12. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs hoping to start their own businesses?
A. Running a business on your own can be a very lonely and daunting path. I have realised having a Co-Founder or Business Partner to bounce ideas off and strategize with, makes all the difference in driving your growth. In my experience, we are the ‘Ying and Yang’ of Job Crystal, both bringing a very different combination of expertise, as well as experience together.
For more visit: https://jobcrystal.co.za/