Hey there- My name is Debbie Emery and I am the co-founder of Juvo Jobs, an app that connects job seekers with local employers in their surrounding communities. Juvo was an idea that was born with a passion to help my children succeed in the hourly working industry. Here's the full story.
Juvo’s Beginning
Before I got introduced to the hiring space by my husband, Mark Emery, I used to be a school teacher. In that position, I was always driven to help others succeed, so founding Juvo was no different in its approach. Prior to Juvo, Mark and I used to have a tech company centered around hiring, so we were pretty familiar with the space. Our biggest problem that we constantly faced in the industry was the lack of attention given to hourly workers, which was pretty shocking considering they make up more than half of the workforce in the U.S. When we left, I knew we had to start Juvo, not only for the sake of the hourly workforce but for the sake of our kids as well.
It Runs In The Family
We have four children- two are salaried workers and two are hourly workers. Our household is actually a fair representation of America’s workforce (55% of Americans work hourly jobs)! As a mom, the two that worked by the hour were struggling to find nearby jobs. They weren’t getting responses from employers and were jumping through hoops to fill out long online applications. The jobs they did find were 20+ miles away, forcing them to face an exhausting commute and put half their wages into their gas tank. Meanwhile, our salaried kids were getting approached by recruiters and had all the tools necessary to excel in their job search.
Seeing this major flaw in the hourly workforce motivated Mark and I to found Juvo. We had to bridge the gap between job seekers needing hourly work and employers who were struggling to keep up with high turnover rates.
The Launch of Juvo Jobs
With Mark’s 30+ years of experience in HR and Tech, and being a 4x entrepreneur, and my VP level expertise in Info Access and Development Management, we founded Juvo360 in 2017. We knew right away that we wanted to create an app that was based on our mission- to help hourly workers thrive in the workplace. So, in Q4 of 2019, our go to product, Juvo Jobs, was launched.
Throughout the launch, I became focused on giving job seekers an A+ experience on the app. I like to think of the seekers as my children sometimes, just because of the struggles my own kids went through and because I want to point them in the right direction. The app has the capability to ask the Juvo team questions pertaining to their job search. In many cases, I’ve developed real relationships with the job seekers and even will send them nearby jobs that aren’t listed on the app because I want them to know we’re there for them.
How is Juvo Jobs Different?
Everyone likes to put us in the ‘job board’ space but Juvo is not a job board. We understand that it’s a big risk to present such a new way of finding work but it’s worth it. The app shows pins of jobs in the area in both a map or a list view. As a job seeker, one can ‘Connect’ with those companies. Employers then have the ability to connect with those seekers and chat with them in the app to schedule interviews or just to learn more about each other.
Juvo really focuses on small businesses, and after working in the hiring industry for quite sometime, we really wanted to address some of the biggest issues employers faced when hiring. Job boards often have employers stuck on page 42 (or more) of their site, causing them to be overlooked by seekers. Those same job board charge ridiculously high ad fees and, more times than not, never give employers the job seekers they really need.
When you become a Juvo employer, your jobs are actively pushed out to local seekers to create 24/7 awareness of your business. Our mantra is ‘All Your Jobs, All The Time’- and that’s exactly what we do. Even if you aren’t hiring today, you’ll probably be hiring tomorrow, which is why we focus on keeping your postings on our app, all the time. This proactive approach to hiring is something that is crucial for employers these days to consider and, once the steps have been taken to address it, you’ll never have to worry about job boards again.
Another purpose of the launch of Juvo Jobs was to give people with learning and developmental disabilities an accessible opportunity to find work. Our own kids have learning disabilities and it’s one of their barriers to finding jobs. Writing cover letters and resumes can be a real challenge and on top of that, people hire people, not pieces of paper.
We made the choice for Juvo to host video introductions, one of my favorite things about the app. Job seekers and employers both can record 30-second video introductions, talking about themselves and why they would be a great fit for the other. Overall, this feature makes the job application process much quicker and more accessible for all.
When it comes down to it, our mission at Juvo is to provide personal touches to give users an amazing experience that they otherwise wouldn’t get with a typical job board or during the traditional job search process. I’ve sent over tips on what to say in interviews, what to wear to the first day of work, and even reached out after they’ve had the interview just to see how it went. Juvo is about being real and as the ‘mother hen’ to our app users, I want to make sure everyone is getting the resources they need to get connected to nearby employers.
The World’s Hiring Crisis
As we adapted to the changes in the world, so did our app. When the pandemic hit the next quarter, we wanted to help out the hiring industry as much as possible. To get business owners back on their feet, we didn’t charge any fees for employers to connect with our job seekers.
Ever since the pandemic, the hiring industry has not been the same. Unemployment levels have risen and fallen, the term ‘quiet quitting’ has been introduced, and ‘Help Wanted’ signs are being seen on every business door. More so now than ever, our company is dedicated to alleviating the stress of the nation’s hiring crisis. With the current evolution of the hiring process, this is the perfect time to introduce a new and unique solution. Not only is Juvo a cost-effective, easy-to-use, marketing tool for business owners, it solves the hourly workforce issues our kids were facing by actually connecting them to nearby jobs.
The Future of Juvo
We wouldn’t be anywhere without Juvo’s hard working team members who constantly make advancements to the app to enhance employer and job seeker experiences. Our company culture is unlike any other, just ask our team! Attending one of our weekly meetings may leave you laughing with a smile on your face for the rest of the day.
Juvo’s future is bright- doors are opening for us every day! We are continuing to develop some amazing partnerships with companies who share our same philosophies and bringing on more experienced team members as our company grows. As we add more employers and job seekers to our app each week, we hope to make a huge impact on the hourly hiring industry. At the end of the day, our goal is to truly help business owners find local candidates and guide job seekers along in their job search journey, all while giving both more knowledge about the ever-changing hiring space.
Juvo has always been, and will always be, about supporting local communities in a time efficient way. Simply download the Juvo Jobs app, get your jobs added to the map, and we’ll do the rest.