Carijob: When Resumes Meet AI (And Save Time)
Interview with Horst, team lead at Carijob
If you’re hiring right now, you already know: it’s easy to get a flood of applicants. But finding the right one? That’s the real job.
Horst and the team at Carijob are trying to make that part less painful. CariJob is an AI-powered recruitment platform that matches jobseekers to vacancies—automatically—based on their resume, not just keywords. It’s built around the hiring struggles of Malaysian SMEs, especially those near Johor, where job migration to Singapore creates constant talent gaps.
Q: Tell us a little about Carijob.
Horst:
Our founder is based in Johor, where it’s common for Malaysian workers to seek jobs in Singapore due to currency advantages and proximity. While that’s good for workers, it creates serious hiring challenges for local employers.
Carijob came about because business owners in our founder’s network kept struggling with talent shortages. There are already job platforms out there, but most still rely on hiring managers to manually sift through a pile of applications. Many applicants send resumes to any job that’s available, even if they’re not a fit.
That’s where our AI helps. It screens resumes against the actual vacancy, and only matches candidates with the highest potential fit.
Q: How does it work for businesses?
Horst:
We keep it simple. Companies can sign up for free and post unlimited jobs. A paid subscription gives them full access to the candidate database and other premium features.
Q: How did you land your first clients?
Horst:
It’s been a mix of digital marketing and word-of-mouth. For digital, most customers go from ad to sign-up with very little hand-holding. But our strongest leads often come from offline networking—through speaking engagements and clients from our main business, which is accounting.
Q: How did you get those speaking slots so early on?
Horst:
We joined associations and trade groups that made sense for our solution. We didn’t push the product. We showed up where we could offer value—and over time, we were invited to speak.
Q: What else drives growth for you?
Horst:
We actively partner with recruiters—especially when job posters need help interviewing candidates who are based in other states or even overseas. Our system matches recruiters with those companies.
We also work with agents and offer strong incentives for those who introduce new users to Carijob.
Q: Which activity consistently gets results?
Horst:
Networking. Most of my good leads come from casual chats with business owners who are just tired of wasting time on mismatched candidates.
When they hear that we have a way to automate that part of the job, it’s a very easy conversation. One click, and they see a shortlist of high-probability matches. It saves a lot of time.
Q: What's your biggest learning from networking?
Horst:
It’s not about how many name cards you collect—it’s about who remembers you the next day.
A deep, relevant conversation will always lead to better outcomes than five shallow ones. If you’re networking just to gather contacts, you’ll struggle to convert them. But if you’re there to really understand someone’s problem, the results come naturally.
What We Learned from Horst at Carijob
Horst via his hands-on approach to selling a tech-driven solution tells us a lot about what works when you’re taking something new to market:
Start with existing trust. Early clients came from word-of-mouth, especially from relationships built in CariJob’s core business as an accounting firm.
Join the right rooms. Horst didn’t wait for invites—he actively joined associations and trade groups to secure speaking slots where potential clients were already listening.
Support with systems. While networking opened doors, the AI-driven platform helped close deals by offering clear, functional value: matching talent fast and with minimal effort.
Keep incentives simple. Agents and recruiters were brought in with well-structured compensation, turning them into advocates for the platform.
Focus on real conversations. His approach to networking? Don’t collect name cards—connect. Relationships lead to results, not just reach.
If you’re selling something that’s new, unfamiliar, or requires explanation—Horst’s path is a reminder: personal credibility often opens the door, but follow-through (and follow-ups) close the deal.
Got a story about selling in unexpected ways? We’d love to hear it.
About Carijob
Carijob is an AI-powered recruitment platform that connects employers with job seekers faster, smarter, and more affordably. Designed to support SMEs and job seekers across Malaysia, Carijob offers tools like smart resume builders, AI job matching, and automated candidate tracking—all through an easy-to-use interface.
Whether you're hiring or job hunting, Carijob helps streamline the recruitment process while delivering better results with less effort.