Disrupting A Global Supply Chain: An Interview With Joblio CEO Jon Purizhansky
Few people understand the fragility of the global labour supply chain. Every year, millions of migrants venture out across the world to provide the labour that keeps our agriculture, industrial, and commercial sectors afloat. The global movement of labour is one of the oldest trades known to man, and the current marketplace for workers is as sordid and inefficient as it’s ever been.
That’s why innovators like Joblio CEO Jon Purizhansky are making such a seismic impact around the world with new technology platforms. Dedicated to disrupting the global supply chain of human labour, Purizhansky is injecting ethics and technological accountability into one of our oldest and most vital markets. In this interview, we sit down with the head of Joblio to discuss the hows and whys of his platform’s continued expansion across the globe.
Can you start by telling us about the problem Joblio is trying to solve?
Every year, tens of millions of migrants fall victim to modern human slavery. While many of them were recruited with the promise of a well-paying job, they were instead forced into labour that’s often uncompensated and incredibly dangerous. According to the ILO, there are nearly 25 million people currently suffering in forced labour regimes around the world. And those are only the people we know about - there are countless others who fall between the cracks that we don’t know about.
Joblio is dedicated to making modern human slavery obsolete. Currently, unscrupulous middlemen who serve as recruiters dominate the labour market. Thanks to Joblio’s new platform, workers and employers can totally circumvent these middlemen and negotiate directly with one another. We’re going to become the global standard for ethical labour relocation and ensure that human rights are preserved in every corner of the world.
How does Joblio’s platform actually provide a solution to this problem?
One of the biggest issues in the global migrant labour market is a lack of communication between workers and employers. Too often, the people doing the actual work are never actually in touch with those doing the hiring. This lack of communication means that middlemen can step in and rig the entire hiring process in their favor. Migrants are misled about their working conditions and employers don’t get the actual talent they need to make ends meet.
By prioritizing simple and transparent communication between the negotiation parties, Joblio is solving this problem. A migrant in Pakistan can now communicate with an employer in Germany thanks to Joblio’s platform. We also have dedicated experts who help overcome the logistical hurdles associated with moving halfway around the world for a new job.
What kind of jobs are available through Joblio?
Let’s say you’re a migrant looking for work in a host country abroad. Statistically speaking, some of the biggest sectors that will be hiring someone like you are: agriculture, construction, or some specialty trades. We maintain a database of jobs in these and other sectors for migrants to pore over as they seek their next opportunity.
We also provide a connection between the migrants and the actual employers. This is perhaps the most important thing Joblio does - we’re cutting out those predatory middlemen who lie and misrepresent employment opportunities to migrants around the world. It also ensures that companies hire the best worker for the job, so everyone wins.
Can you share any details about your background that encouraged you to get into this business?
I know first-hand what it’s like to be a refugee. At a young age, my family was forced to flee Belarus, where I was born. We lived in Austria and Italy for some time, where I came to understand the plight of an outsider who’s far from the comforts of home. I had to work to help keep my family afloat - it’s why I can sympathize with today’s migrants who go abroad seeking better work for themselves.
After I moved to America, I began studying and practicing immigration law in New York. When you practice immigration law, you come to appreciate that migrants are humans with their own individual stories. If we can help them, we’re making the world a better place in a measurable way.
How do you plan to grow the organization?
One of the toughest parts of this industry is raising public awareness about the plight of migrant labourers. We all depend upon migrants in one way or another - maybe they’re harvesting the food you eat, or working in a factory that produces a commodity we love. Joblio is investing in a global outreach effort that will leverage the status of major ambassadors to spread the word about migrant workers.
For example, we recently welcomed Valentina Castellani Quinn as our global spokesperson. Miss Castellani has been considering producing a documentary about abused migrants that could be seen by a global audience. In addition to expanding our operational footprint around the world, we’ll keep raising awareness about modern human slavery and wage theft that keep holding our global economy back.
We know how Joblio helps migrants - how does it attract the attention of businesses?
We deliver many of the same benefits to businesses that we do to the migrants themselves. In the case of workers and employers, we’re helping them make sure that a vacancy is filled as soon as possible. For a company still recovering from COVID-19 and the global economic downturn, getting operations up and running as soon as possible is incredibly important.
Besides helping companies fill in vacancies, our platform also reduces overall employee churn. Businesses shouldn’t have to worry about finding a replacement worker after recently hiring someone, and migrants should be able to enjoy job security if they meet the standards of the role. With better employee retention, we can save companies huge sums of money that they’d otherwise spend on recruiting and training.
We’re also passionate about partnering with companies that care about labour standards and human rights. When you’re talking about a truly global marketplace, there’s always going to be a few actors who are okay with cutting corners. If they think they can get away with wage theft, they’ll gladly do it. By promising a more accountable and ethical labour marketplace, Joblio can attract the attention of business partners who actually care about the well being of their workforce.
You recently represented Joblio at the 2021 Sustainable Development Conference in Monaco - can you tell me about that event?
That was a lovely event - it’s an annual conference devoted to generating sustainable solutions for our future. I was there to highlight Joblio’s role in reshaping the global labour market. Any time you have thought leaders, policy makers, and startups gathering in the same place, you’re sure to find an interesting group of people. It was a great opportunity for us to discuss the amount of fraud and corruption there is in this industry, and how we can remedy all of that with our platform.
We got to share with the public the fact that forced labour generates well over a hundred billion dollars each year in illicit profits. Our aim is to ensure that money goes to the people who deserve it - namely, the migrants who are actually doing the work. When those of us in the developed world begin to appreciate the extent to which migrants contribute to the global economy, we can begin to set things straight and ensure fair outcomes.
Another vision we got to share with the conference was imagining a future where any migrant could effortlessly find ethical work on their phone. Right now, many migrants have limited access to the internet, and can only reliably search for employment on their phones. Our user-friendly platform is made with this in mind, and we’re heavily focused on accessibility and ease of navigability. We know it’s not enough to have a great idea - you need to have the tech that makes your idea helpful for actual migrants.
Everyone’s worried about data privacy these days. How does Joblio manage user-data?
Joblio is incredibly serious about the privacy of our users. We want to ensure that every person who signs up to the Joblio platform has the assurance that their data is in good hands. One maxim that we follow is to make sure that users know when their data is being collected and what it may be used for. If people can’t trust us with their data, they won’t trust us enough to find a new job through our platform. So user security is something we take very seriously.
Finally, what would you say is a necessary part of achieving success in your industry?
When you’re dealing with issues of global significance, you must possess a bold and expansive vision. This is the 21st century - we can’t just think of a localized remedy for some small issue. We have a responsibility to think big. This is especially true in our industry, which is truly global in nature and requires a worldwide response if we want to eliminate human trafficking or end international wage theft.
We’re trying to inject reform into a very dynamic marketplace that is full of some seriously bad actors. There are many businesses and middlemen which make a lot of money by exploiting migrants. When we step in to provide some transparency and accountability, this upsets a lot of people. Staying confident and encouraging other innovators to join our cause is thus incredibly important.
About Joblio, Inc
Joblio is a leading technology platform in the global migrant labour industry based in Miami, FL. Chaired by David Arkless, Former Global President of the ManpowerGroup, Joblio was founded by Jon Purizhansky and Michael Svhartsman in 2020. Joblio prevents fraud and ensures compliance with labour laws in the processes of human capital relocation across the world. By directly connecting migrant labourers with their employers, Joblio removes middlemen from the hiring process to ensure fair and prosperous employment. In 2021, Joblio received the "Excellence Innovation Award in Human Rights Protection'' Award from the Abrahamic Business Circle.
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