Something for all

Experience is the teacher of all things,” these powerful words by Julius Caesar ring true in the case of Neha Bagaria, CEO and founder of ‘JobsForHer’. Having had to put a break to her smooth and successful professional career after she had her first baby, Neha understood the challenges women go through when they restart their career. Her personal experience motivated her to start a platform that provides career opportunities to women with a gap in their resume.

This venture was launched in 2015 and is primarily a connecting portal that enable women to look for jobs that suit their resume, experiences and qualifications. “The struggle and anguish that a woman has to go through to achieve a position in her career is often not noticed. However, today, many women are ready to get back on their feet and start what they had once left because of marital responsibilities — in a way breaking the stereotype that marriage, kids and career cannot be handled simultaneously. This is when ‘JobsForHer’ steps in,” says Neha. 

Currently, there are 1,800 companies in the portal; putting out job opportunities ranging from full-time and part-time options to  work from home and freelance projects. Apart from this, there are also three to six months internships with a stipend so that women can upgrade their skills later. “We are looking at other ways in which women can bridge the gap. We are launching a new mentorship board which will help them to connect with the mentors who can guide them through the journey. Resume writing, career counselling, interview training and confidence building are some of the other services we are working on,” explains Neha.   
 
The venture has launched  an e-book called, ‘The way back to the way forward’ where the team chronicles some of the inspiring and impactful restart stories. These, in the long run, can motivate other women to kickstart their career, says Neha. She goes on to add that some of the most popular career options for women choosing to restart their careers are ‘human resources and admin’, sales and marketing, IT, writing and teaching.

“We were actually surprised to see that 57% of the women who come in apply for full-time jobs; after which, a big chunk of 20% look for work-from-home jobs and then a smaller section opts for internship, part-time and freelance.”opines Neha. “Freelance is a great option as it gives a flexibility of timing. But as a job opportunity, it is at a very basic stage in India. It needs to grow and develop much more,” she adds. The biggest challenge, she says, is to overcome biases and the pre-conceived notions that marital responsibility and career advancement can’t go hand-in-hand. “We have to break the notion — both from the women’s side (which is a lack of self-confidence after a long gap) and the company’s side. However, we are noticing a shift since the last two years. People are realising the importance of re-starting a career and are open to hiring women who want to start their professional life again,” she says. 

With an aim to bringing  more companies in the portal and enabling many women to pursue their dreams. ‘JobsForHer’ is turning out to be a ray of hope for many promising careers.