Proven App Gives Users A Leg Up on Job Search

Most job-hunting apps are a dime a dozen.  They utilize the same or similar search engines to aggregate job listings.  But there is one app that is taking job hunting to the next level.  Proven is proving to be (sorry for the pun) quite different from the rest.

Proven was started by Pablo Fuentes, who is a first generation immigrant from Chile.  He started working in finance before realizing he wanted to build something and also help people get jobs.  With more than 50 percent of Americans using a smartphone, it only makes sense that they would search for jobs on their mobile device.  And that was the lightbulb moment for Fuentes.

Interestingly, his first idea was to help people get jobs using text messages, but that was back in 2009.  Since then, he has been building on the idea that people would use their smartphones to search for jobs.

“People are never more than ten feet from their mobile device at all times so its a combination of responding to posts in a timely manner, and actually doing it.  So the fact that people have the convenient experience at their fingertips with their phones- that’s really powerful.” Pablo said.

The app, which has more than 100,000 downloads (and a 4 1/2 star average in both app stores), works with Simply Hired and Craigslist to search for jobs across a number of listing.  By combining Simply Hired (which is one of the biggest job aggregators) and Craigslist, which pulls classified listings from papers, Fuentes said it lists virtually every job in America on the app.

But what makes Proven different is that it gives users the option to build their resume within the app.  The resume builder was previously only available on Android but on Monday was released for iOS.  For Fuentes, making that option an additional part of the app wasn’t just an added feature, it was a vital tool to help those individuals that don’t have the same access to resources that other job hunters have.  He has found that about 10 percent of users don’t have a resume and even more have outdated ones.

“People take for granted having career centers, having people help you through this process of representing yourself and there’s a certain science to it,” Fuentes said.  “And a lot of people have never had that message so for us it’s really powerful for free be able to give people a very easy way to create a new resume so that they can then come across professionally to employers.”

So what’s next for the app?  Fuentes said he will continue to focus on user experience and improve the Proven.com website, which acts as the backbone to the app.  Proven is also working with employers to make sure they have a good user experience on their end as well.  But ultimately, Fuentes’ focus is people; making sure people have the same access and tools to give them a leg up on the job search.

“We are a company that is really passionate about changing the way that people apply to jobs, it’s impossible for us to imagine a world five years from now where most job applications aren’t happening through a mobile device of some sort,” Fuentes said.  “And we’re a company that’s bringing that vision to a reality.”

Passion.  That’s the difference between Proven and the rest of the job-hunting apps out there…