In less than five years, the start-up has conquered 1% of a market still dominated by giants in the sector, such as Manpower, Adecco or Randstad. But jostled by smaller players who tumble with dematerialized solutions, based on artificial intelligence, like Gojob. Iziwork launched in 2018, with the ambition of “dusting off” temporary work, thanks to a 100% digital model at first, and which has since been supplemented by a network of 300 agents in the field. Managing Director of the company, Jérôme Bouin is convinced that it is by walking on these two legs that the transformation of the interim will take place.
You say that the temporary work sector is struggling to reinvent itself, how does Iziwork intend to do this?
Most business sectors in France have been reinvented by digital technology, except for human resources. There was a blockage, due to the fact that human and digital would not be compatible – which is false – and because of a fairly low rate of digital equipment among “blue-collar” [les ouvriers]around 15%, at the beginning of the 2010s. At the end of the 2010s, it rose to 95%, and Iziwork was born in 2018, with the aim of bringing together temporary workers and companies through digital, only thanks to artificial intelligence.
A model that has since evolved?
Digital is a tremendous performance accelerator, allowing the client to find the right candidate in a very short time, but we realized, after two years, that we had to complete this, which is why we put set up a network of partners. These are entrepreneurs who are our agents in the field, and who liaise between the client and the candidate. Today, Iziwork is the alliance of technology and human contact, and this is what will dust off the world of temporary work. We are convinced that it is the combination of the two that will really work.
We praise the merits of artificial intelligence, which is certainly a very powerful tool, but it is also a technology that has its limits, and which cannot replace knowledge of the field?
You need both legs. Those who are 100% digital do not have the ability to analyze that in such a city, there is no night bus allowing a candidate to be present on site at 5 am. And human contact is also very useful for candidates, who certainly want to carry out all their procedures on their smartphone so as not to spend hours in the agency, but who, from time to time, need a professional in front of them, to raise their skills.
Artificial intelligence allows you to find the right candidate in how long?
If you are looking for a turner-miller in Reims who speaks French and Polish, it will be long, because such a profile is difficult to find, or even will have to be trained. On the other hand, the AI will find in a few seconds in our base of 1.7 million subscribers, the ten most competent candidates in relation to a request, and close to the workplace, which today is very important. due to the price of gasoline. I also insist on the fact that artificial intelligence avoids all biases: it does not discriminate, it thinks competently.
Your initial target was ” blue-collar »has it changed?
Indeed, we are now also targeting “white collar” workers, everything related to the tertiary sector, and we are also working more and more on permanent recruitment on fixed-term or permanent contracts, for the construction industry and the hotel and catering industry, a sector with a shortage of candidates. .
How do you analyze, and how do you adapt, to changes in the labor market, especially since Covid?
The construction industry has been a sector in tension for a long time, and still represents nearly a quarter of temporary workers in France. On the other hand, there is now also a lack of skills in the hotel and catering industry, where there has been a vacuum for months because of the Covid, which forces us to work on the attractiveness of the sector. The world of the tertiary sector has also been turned upside down with more and more teleworking. During the Covid, a lot of things were done remotely, and the switch to distancing, digital, was done by everyone, when it was still a bit of a dirty word in the world of employment. a few years ago. This is why the development of digital temporary work has been so strong since the Covid.
More generally, how do you explain this recruitment crisis in many sectors in France?
The problem for many employers is that they want someone who has done the same job before, when they should be looking for someone who has the skills to do it, because many skills can be reproduced in different areas. other trades. Example: we are looking for welders, there are not enough of them in France, these are people who have the ability to work standing up, with both hands. These are the same skills as those of a hairdresser. But to move from a sector A to a sector B, you have to support the employee, and you need employers who are looking above all for competence. Those who do this have fewer employability problems than others.