Company founded by Harvard grads helps Palestinians get jobs via mobile phones

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With 40% of young men here out of work - and checkpoints restricting movement - the option to upload a resumé or browse job listings by SMS (text messaging) isn't just convenient, it's a lifeline. Since 2006, Souktel Inc. has been providing this crucial service to Palestinians across the country, helping them find new work or employees on the Middle East's first phone-based job network.

Now, the stressful hunt for a job is about to get easier for thousands of local college grads as well. Today, Souktel unveiled its new customized SMS JobMatch service for students, in partnership with Harvard and Palestine's Birzeit University.

Funded through the World Bank, the new service uses advanced cell phone technology to let students browse local job listings by SMS and create 'mini-CVs' for employers to view. Souktel and its partners believe this service will help change the face of the local labor market and give a major boost to the struggling economy.

'The Palestinian marketplace is growing,' explains Souktel regional manager Mohammad Kilany, 'but new graduates are having trouble finding out where the jobs are located. Souktel's JobMatch service fills a huge gap by giving students real-time work information, even if they're in the majority of households that don't have Internet.'

In 2006, Souktel's co-founders (then Harvard fellows) launched a pilot of SMS JobMatch in the West Bank with the university's funding. Two years later, that pilot has grown into a full-fledged service which counts more than 4,500 job seekers and close to 100 employers on its network. With everyone from rural farm workers to advertising executives using JobMatch, finding a job (or a new employee) via SMS has taken hold quickly, mainly because it's fast, cheap and simple.

As it enters its third year of operation, the Palestinian venture that started as a Harvard Business Plan Contest runner-up is matching tens of job-seekers per month with jobs at hospitals, factories, TV stations, and banks, all via SMS. This groundbreaking work has earned the team an invitation to speak at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government next month, as a model social enterprise creating change in the Middle East.

'Looking ahead, we want our third year to focus on one major goal,' explained Souktel Network Manager Tamer Qasem: 'Expanding our network so that as many new grads as possible can find the work they need. This new on-campus service is a great start to that journey.'