Shortlist Digest (March 2023): What does Shortlist actually do?
“Remind me, what exactly does Shortlist do?” We get asked that regularly, in part because of the ways our business has evolved since our launch in 2016. Are we still a tech company? Do we still take on junior recruitments? Are we still working in India, or just Kenya, or Africa, or the world? So, consider this a reminder!
TL;DR: today Shortlist is focused on two core offerings: (1) Shortlist Search: we provide executive search services primarily for leading startups and impact organizations in Africa; and (2) Shortlist Futures: we design and implement youth employment and apprenticeship programs across Africa in partnership with donors, governments, enterprises, and education institutions.
And for those who are ready to dive deeper…
Our mission has always been to solve human capital challenges for companies we care about. After years in impact investing, my co-founder and I were starting to see financial capital as less a barrier to scaling social ventures than human capital — and much research agrees with us — and we wanted to do something about it. But how we’ve pursued that mission has changed over time.
When Shortlist launched in 2016, we were best known as a tech company, building and licensing software solutions that automated job candidate engagement and screening. And we were better known in India, where we initially launched. We had (and still have) a terrific product suite including chatbots, skills assessment, and database management tools to act as an intelligent screening layer between the chaos of job boards and an employer’s precious time. We felt this behavioral and competency-based approach could level the playing field for nontraditional and diverse candidates, while also helping companies hire better and faster. And it was working, albeit with all the usual challenges selling software to companies across Africa and India.
We also provided recruitment services, initially focused in India on mid-level managers (a persistent pain point for so many clients). But starting in 2019, our focus started to shift to senior executive hiring, where getting the right person in the right role can be even more game-changing and high leverage.
As we’ve grown, we’ve been listening to the market and it has pulled us in different directions. (Check out this piece for more context on this journey.) Today, Shortlist is primarily focused on Africa and primarily focused on two business lines:
- Shortlist Search: we are one of Africa’s leading executive search firms, managing end-to-end leadership hiring for startups, investors, and social impact organizations. We take on both non-technical (finance, general management, growth, etc.) and technical (engineering, data, product, etc.) roles, typically with compensation starting at US$80k+. We support the entire process, from role definition to sourcing strategy and market mapping to candidate engagement and interviewing to compensation benchmarking and offer negotiation. Our process focuses on deep market analysis to find the best-fit candidates (even if they’re not looking), rather than just relying on active applicants. We have a team of 20+ search consultants doing this work, spread across Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, India, and the UK. To date, we’ve worked with over 600 companies across 25+ countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe, but with an increasing focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Shortlist Futures: we design and implement large-scale talent programs across Africa, typically focused on youth and entry-level jobs and in partnership with donors, governments, enterprises, and educational institutions. We pair our recruitment expertise with our software platform to reduce friction in “last mile” job placements, providing on-the-job work experience, promoting inclusive hiring, and unlocking growth for critical sectors like clean energy. We believe that education is often not the barrier to getting young people more jobs; it’s work experience that’s transformative and let’s young professionals practice technical skills, absorb the durable or “soft” skills needed for success (communication, teamwork, initiative), and earn an experiential credential that the market actually values. We work backwards from employer demand to raise awareness for promising career paths, occasionally pair people with required third-party upskilling, and place them into apprenticeships and work experiences — and to date have worked across thousands of young professionals, particularly related to jobs in climate & clean energy and remote digital work. Ultimately, we aim for and track our impact along three dimensions: (1) job creation and work experience, (2) industry and economic growth, and (3) diversity, equity and inclusion.
Want to learn more about either of these? Hit reply and I’ll get you to the right person.
Of course, we’re entrepreneurs, so there are some other ideas in the mix — all trying to make talent systems work better in our markets, solve human capital painpoints, connect professionals to meaningful work, and unlock the potential of Africa’s workforce for the world. Should we work together? You tell us; we’d love to hear from you.
Happy hiring,
Paul
Originally published at https://shortlist.net on March 7, 2023.
