Between Work: New tech jobs platform aims to pair laid-off workers with firms like Canva and Airwallex

As the global economic forecast dims and investors shy away from risky ventures, a new job-matching initiative from Earlywork and AfterWork hopes to pair laid-off tech workers with companies still building their headcount.

Tech firms at home and abroad have recently downsized their personnel count or frozen their hiring plans, as venture capital funding dries up and companies adjust their growth plans to a high-inflation environment.

Between Work, launched last week, sees the entrepreneurial community platform Earlywork and venture capital fund AfterWork team up to assist job hunters impacted by those recent layoffs.

Between Work allows job hunters to “discretely” enter their employment history, qualifications, and experience, before being “quickly connected with tech companies that are still hiring”.

“Collectively, Earlywork’s and AfterWork’s network of tech operators are also here to support as both mentors for jobseekers and advisors for companies thinking of accelerating their hiring,” the platform states.

“What we are trying to do is just make that process more seamless by consolidating it, instead of having to apply for 100 different companies,” said Jessy Wu, head of community at AfterWork.

The platform also aims to move faster than the traditional recruitment process or established job boards.

“[It will] really flip the script and allow companies to be proactive about competing, and reaching out for the best talent to ensure these people get into their next launchpad,” Wu told SmartCompany.

Earlywork and AfterWork are both community-powered ventures, she added, suggesting “high calibre” job hunters may be more likely to turn to trusted voices in the scene for their next job instead of traditional employment-seeking avenues.

“Community is one of the reasons that we exist,” Wu said. “And we really want to step up to play our role as an orchestrator in the ecosystem.”

Between Work has already received 130 applicants since its launch last week.

Around 115 companies have already been inducted to the system, Wu said, including major players like Airwallex, Canva, and Linktree.

“There’s definitely more than a thousand roles available between them,” she said.

While it’s still early days for the platform, Wu said the data shows a significant crossover between the skills of laid-off workers and the needs of growing companies.

A lingering skills shortage means software engineering tops the list of most in-demand skills on Between Work, followed by marketing, growth, and product roles.

While demand for software engineers is still outstripping supply, candidates are coming forward with significant product skills, Wu said, making a “good match between supply and demand” in marketing and product.

Workers and companies interested in the program can register here.

As Between Work aims to help tech experts impacted by new economic challenges, fresh data shows redundancies are crossing over industry lines.

New data from workplace advisory firm Employsure, released Monday, showed a 64% increase in redundancy-related calls between May and June.