Having faced various job hunting disappointments, two college students have launched an online application to provide an efficient platform for job seekers struggling to find work during the pandemic.
Eastern Michigan University students Collin Clem (21) and Anthony Levesque (19) have had their fair share of frustrations with the usual job search process. The pair realized that applicants lose valuable time as they look for jobs now.
“We would spend so much time applying to different places, trying to get jobs, and you would apply to 30 different places and not hear back from any of them,” Clem told The News-Herald.
“Maybe you would hear back from the thirty-first – maybe – and then, it’s a no, or an interview request that doesn’t end up panning out.”
Employee RoundUp
These experiences motivated Levesque and Clem to create Employee RoundUp — an online app that matches job seekers with prospective employers without having to apply each time you find a vacancy, potentially saving a great deal of time and effort.
Clem explained that Employee RoundUp can help reduce the hours job seekers would otherwise spend on popular job search engines such as LinkedIn and Indeed. Additionally, their app focuses more on unspecialized jobs with high turnover rates.
Levesque and Clem knew that compiling a database of active applicants would benefit small businesses and employers, especially if it includes information such as the job seeker’s location and skill set. They knew that smaller employers have a difficult time finding suitable talent and hoped to be a tool to connect them with the right candidates.
“I, myself, have struggled with this,” Levesque said. “I would like to help people alleviate that, because with COVID and the problems in the world that people stress over, and I really think that this shouldn’t be one of them.”
Unemployment Relief Extended
As Clem and Levesque’s efforts add to localized initiatives aiming to make people’s lives better during the pandemic, President Donald Trump signed the $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government funding bill on Sunday. The bill redirects $900 billion towards extending unemployment benefits to jobless Americans and independent contractors.
People enlisted in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs were due to receive their last payment soon. However, with the bill signed, they stand to receive benefits for an additional 11 weeks.
However, since approval of the program came in late December, those involved in the two pandemic unemployment programs may experience a break in payments as state agencies reprogram their computers.