Project

Jobacy

Led product development of job aggregator scanning 400K+ listings from 6K companies in 8 minutes

My Role
Product Manager
Year
2024
Team Size
3 People
Category
Product Management
Explore ProjectView Website

Challenge

Problem Statement

International job seekers face significant challenge finding companies willing to sponsor work visas, leading to wasted time, frustration, and missed opportunities on both sides.

Like many international students, I experienced the challenge of finding U.S. employers willing to sponsor visas. Partnering with a software engineer, I built a job aggregator to connect international students and skilled workers with visa-sponsoring companies.

Market Context

Despite growing global talent pool, visa sponsorship process remains opaque, inefficient, and frustrating for both employers and candidates.

Business Objectives

Reduce Search Time

Cut job search time for international candidates by 50%

Hours per week spent searching: Reduce from 20+ hours to <10 hours weekly

Improve Match Quality

Connect international talent with employers who are actually willing to sponsor visas

Application success rate: Increase from <5% to >15%

Grow Global Talent Pool

Expand access to international opportunities

Monthly active users: 1,000 MAU within 3 months of launch

Understanding Visa Maze

Transitioning from student to work visas is complex. F-1 students get 12 months of OPT, with STEM graduates eligible for a 24-month extension. Moving to H-1B or other long-term visas adds further challenges. Despite a large talent pool, few U.S. companies actively sponsor visas.

User Research

70
Participants
4 weeks
Research Duration
3
Research Methods

Methods Used

Online surveys1:1 interviewsUser journey mapping

Key Insights

  • Candidates spend 15-25 hours weekly on inefficient job searching
  • Lack of transparency about sponsorship status is biggest pain point
  • Industry concentration in tech, finance, and consulting creates opportunity gaps
  • Emotional toll of constant rejection damages candidate confidence

Market Research

Market Size

500,000
eligible international job seekers annually
8.5%
annual growth

Industry Trends

Increasing global competition for skilled tech talent
Rising visa restrictions in traditional immigration countries
Growing remote work adoption changing talent acquisition strategies
Emergence of specialized immigration-focused recruiting platforms

Competitive Analysis

Indeed
Strengths
  • •Massive job inventory
  • •Brand recognition
  • •Simple interface
Weaknesses
  • •No visa sponsorship filters
  • •Generic approach to job search
  • •Information overload
Opportunities
  • •Integrate visa sponsorship data
  • •Create international talent focus
LinkedIn Jobs
Strengths
  • •Professional network integration
  • •Company insights
  • •Premium features
Weaknesses
  • •Limited visa information
  • •Overwhelming for niche searches
  • •No specialized filters for international job seekers
Opportunities
  • •Enhance international job seeker experience
  • •Add visa-specific filters
VisaJobs
Strengths
  • •Focused on visa-friendly jobs
  • •Simple interface
Weaknesses
  • •Limited job inventory
  • •Outdated information
  • •Poor user experience
Opportunities
  • •Improve data freshness
  • •Enhance verification process

Visa Sponsorship Gap

10%

US companies offer visa sponsorship

Mismatch between talent supply and sponsorship availability

Wasted Application Effort

5%

International applications receive responses

Leading to frustration and inefficient job search processes

Information Asymmetry

20%

Job listings clearly indicate sponsorship status

Creating uncertainty and wasted effort for international candidates

My Role & Approach

Led product vision and strategy by collaborating with engineer and designer. Additionally, I leveraged Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT to develop data pipeline to process official USCIS data, enabling us to identify Applicant Tracking System providers used by more than 6,000 organizations.

Key Decisions

Prioritize data quality over quantity

Leverage AI for data processing

Mobile-first approach

Team

MR

Manish Rawal

Product Manager

Led product vision and strategy

BB

Basu Basu

Engineer

Designed data pipelines and user experience

IB

Ilena Bose

Marketing Strategist

Created market research and GTM strategy

User Research

At the start, we lacked a clear mission or defined goals for the sponsorship experience. Without existing insights, I partnered with Ilena, a seasoned marketer, to survey 70+ international job seekers. Our objective was to understand why they preferred bulk applications over a targeted approach.

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Voice of Customer

“I apply to at least 50 jobs per week because I have no idea which ones might sponsor. It is exhausting.“
— Graduate student from India
“The worst part is spending hours on an application only to find out later they do not sponsor visas. That information should be upfront!“
— Software engineer from Brazil

Key Insights

Sponsorship-Satisfaction Gap

15-point difference between sponsorship importance and job search satisfaction indicates a significant market opportunity.

Diversity Dilemma

Overconcentration in specific industries creates missed opportunities on both sides - for candidates in unexplored sectors and for companies in need of diverse talent pools.

Expectation Asymmetry

Misalignment between candidate hopes and employer offerings points to a communication gap in the international hiring process.

Untapped Global Potential

A significant portion of skilled international workers remain underutilized, representing an opportunity to address skill shortages across various sectors.

Fragmented Hiring Ecosystem

The current landscape reveals disconnected processes and information sources, highlighting the need for a unified approach to international recruitment.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

RiskCategoryImpactLikelihoodMitigationStatus
Rapid changes in immigration policies could impact viabilityMarketHighMediumDesign flexible system that can adapt to policy changes; establish advisory board of immigration expertsOngoing
Data accuracy challenges with sponsorship informationTechnicalHighHighImplement AI verification system with manual review process; create feedback loop for users to flag inaccuraciesMitigated
Uncertain revenue model in price-sensitive marketBusinessMediumMediumTest multiple revenue streams (employer subscriptions, premium features for job seekers, partnerships)Ongoing
Potential for raised expectations that can't be metUserMediumHighTransparent communication about limitations; clear onboarding about what the platform can and cannot doMitigated

Constraints

TechnicalLimited ability to verify sponsorship status without direct employer confirmation

Required development of confidence scoring algorithm

ResourceSmall team with limited funding

Necessitated AI-driven automation and prioritization of core features

RegulatoryComplex and changing immigration regulations

Required legal consultation and flexible design

Planning

Driven by curiosity and insights, I initiated the MVP despite lacking technical expertise, leveraging Generative AI (Claude and ChatGPT) for coding until a software engineer joined the project.

We designed precise prompts for the ETL process, streamlining data preprocessing and integrating key technologies like Microsoft Azure, Docker, and MySQL. This approach optimized architecture, enhanced tool integration, and accelerated MVP development.

Implementation Strategy

AI-assisted development with rapid prototyping cycles

Implementation Phases

4 weeks
Deliverables
  • USCIS data processing scripts
  • Employer verification algorithm
  • Database schema
Challenges
  • Complex unstructured government data
  • Ensuring data freshness
  • Scaling processing

Technologies Used

React NativeNode.jsMongoDBAzure FunctionsOpenAI APIFirebase Authentication

System Components

Data Ingestion Service

Process external job data sources and government datasets

Technologies:
PythonAzure FunctionsOpenAI API
Matching Engine

Match candidates with sponsorship-friendly opportunities

Technologies:
Node.jsMongoDB aggregation pipeline
Mobile Client

Provide user interface for job seekers

Technologies:
React NativeExpoTailwindCSS

Building MVP

MVP focused on making job searches intuitive and user-friendly. Partnering with UX designer, I built a clean, accessible interface to simplify the process. I prioritized user-centric design, gathering feedback through informal interviews to address common pain points.

Key features included streamlined job listing page, enhanced search function with filters for location, industry, and experience, and simple profile system for showcasing skills. Continuous user feedback drove iterative improvements, ensuring we met job seekers needs effectively.

First Solution

Design Process

Ideation

  • 1
    Competitive analysis of existing job platforms
  • 2
    User journey mapping for international job seekers
  • 3
    Feature prioritization workshop

Wireframing

  • 1
    Low-fidelity mobile wireframes
  • 2
    Interactive prototypes
  • 3
    Information architecture mapping

Usability Testing

Participants
12
Iterations
3
Key Findings:
  • Users valued clear sponsorship indicators above all features
  • Search filters needed to prioritize visa-specific options
  • Profile creation needed to be streamlined while gathering necessary visa information

Final MVP

Design Process or MVP Visualization

Impact & Outcomes

Impact & Results

User Acquisition

150
MAU
First 3 months

Search Time Reduction

62
%
Average per user

Application Success Rate

18
%
Response rate increase

User Satisfaction

8.7
/10
NPS score

User Feedback

Aisha
This platform saved me countless hours of frustration. I can now focus my energy on applications that actually have a chance of sponsorship.
Luke
I got three interview calls within my first week on Jobsy. The targeting is so much better than general job boards.
Tejas
The transparency about sponsorship status is a game-changer. No more wasted time on applications that go nowhere.
Aisha
This platform saved me countless hours of frustration. I can now focus my energy on applications that actually have a chance of sponsorship.
Luke
I got three interview calls within my first week on Jobsy. The targeting is so much better than general job boards.
Tejas
The transparency about sponsorship status is a game-changer. No more wasted time on applications that go nowhere.
Aisha
This platform saved me countless hours of frustration. I can now focus my energy on applications that actually have a chance of sponsorship.
Luke
I got three interview calls within my first week on Jobsy. The targeting is so much better than general job boards.
Tejas
The transparency about sponsorship status is a game-changer. No more wasted time on applications that go nowhere.
Aisha
This platform saved me countless hours of frustration. I can now focus my energy on applications that actually have a chance of sponsorship.
Luke
I got three interview calls within my first week on Jobsy. The targeting is so much better than general job boards.
Tejas
The transparency about sponsorship status is a game-changer. No more wasted time on applications that go nowhere.
Aman
Found my current position through Jobsy after months of frustrating searching elsewhere. The focused approach makes all the difference.
Luis
As someone who's been through the visa process before, I can say this platform addresses the exact pain points international job seekers face.
Aman
Found my current position through Jobsy after months of frustrating searching elsewhere. The focused approach makes all the difference.
Luis
As someone who's been through the visa process before, I can say this platform addresses the exact pain points international job seekers face.
Aman
Found my current position through Jobsy after months of frustrating searching elsewhere. The focused approach makes all the difference.
Luis
As someone who's been through the visa process before, I can say this platform addresses the exact pain points international job seekers face.
Aman
Found my current position through Jobsy after months of frustrating searching elsewhere. The focused approach makes all the difference.
Luis
As someone who's been through the visa process before, I can say this platform addresses the exact pain points international job seekers face.

Lessons & Next Steps

Key Insights

AI as a Development Partner

Leveraging Claude and GPT for development accelerated our progress despite technical limitations, showing how AI can be a powerful tool for small teams.

User Pain Points as North Star

Focusing relentlessly on the specific pain point of sponsorship transparency kept our product focused and valuable.

Data Quality Over Quantity

Users valued accurate, reliable information far more than comprehensive coverage, influencing our technical priorities.

Rapid Feedback Cycles

Regular user testing and quick iteration cycles allowed us to refine the product efficiently.