OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2012. The business angel Startobaza has announced its investment in the Smart Start project – an HR-application for social networks, designed by Alexander Svinin, the SKOLKOVO Startup Academy graduate.

Smart Start is a one-of-a-kind service on the recruitment market aimed at students and young specialists who are in search for the first or second working positions. Due to an unusual approach to the application design functions non-typical for the HR market are implemented there as well. For instance, CPA (Cost per action), which is a tool of the advertising market that enables payment for the single users’ actions, such as vacancy view.

The Smart Start application is really user-friendly as it offers finished options for applicants based on their data, which simplifies the searching process. It applies the social networks’ opportunities as a user’s resume is formed upon the information placed in his or her profile: age, sex, education.etc. Combined with the project focus on students it gives a chance to search for a working place faster. With the help of Smart Start users can place their resumes right in a social network, receive invitations from employers and respond to open vacancies.

Nowadays the unemployment rate on the market of young specialists is twice as high as the average unemployment rate on the whole market. Graduates in Russia more often have to face the job placement challenge after universities and institutes despite the fact that many of them do have working experience within their profession. Today neither the state nor business do not pay any attention to that issue, however in 5-6 years that rate will reach 40%. Smart Start already has a solution for that problem.

Svetlana Nikiforova, managing partner at Startobaza, comments, “The HR-market grows really fast, and Smart Start has found there its own niche – addressing only young specialists and students who a ready to climb the career ladder. Actually everybody has once been in those shoes. Smart Start will help them to establish themselves offering vacancies from the major employers, and for companies it is a good chance to gather a team of people who, having started career with them, step-by-step will be able to reach the stars. As the project team perfectly understands the challenges that their target audience is facing and offers fresh solutions, we have chosen Smart Start as our new portfolio company, and we are ready to work together”.

Investment from Startobaza is the second flow of the means attracted by the startup. In June 2012 the deal between Smart Start and Softline VP was signed. At that the total investments sum makes nearly USD 500 thousand.

“It is a significant point for us, right this week the Smart Start project will be six months old, and the Startobaza investment is the proof that we have grown and are heading in the correct direction, - believes Alexander Svinin, CEO and founder of Smart Start. – Within that time we have gathered more than 300 clients, accumulated more than 1500 vacancies and earned trust of 20 000 thousands users. We are going on to develop every day and already in November launching a mobile application and in a year every third student will search for a working place using Smart Start”.