Jack & Jill raises $20 million to bring conversational AI into the job search process

Between endlessly scrolling job boards and the bewildering rise of fake applicants using artificial intelligence to submit their applications en masse, searching for a job is quickly becoming one of the most confusing experiences the internet has to offer. Listings are posted and republished across various platforms as requests go unanswered, creating a torrent of spam-like activity on both sides.

“If you post a job on LinkedIn, you might get 1,000 people applying for that job within the first six hours,” says Matt Wilson, a London-based entrepreneur. “Some companies don’t even review applicants who apply for these jobs, because the signal-to-noise ratio is so low.”

Wilson’s new solution is Jack and Jilla new platform that uses conversational AI to reinvent the hiring process from the ground up. The company announced a $20 million seed round today, led by EU investor Creandum, but it hasn’t been subtle. The service is already live in London, where the site has attracted nearly 50,000 users – and Wilson wants to use the influx of funds to fuel US expansion and take Jack & Jill to a new level.

“There hasn’t been much change in how people find jobs since LinkedIn and Inced came on the scene 20 years ago,” says Wilson. His bet is that with AI-powered chatbots changing workplaces around the world, now might be the time to shake things up.

As you might imagine from the name, Jack & Jill is a two-part platform. The “Jack” side of the platform handles the applicant aspect, giving users a 20-minute AI-powered in-person interview before providing them with a curated list of roles drawn from online databases. From there, Jack can be used for mock interviews or more involved career training. Jill works with employers, building a profile for a specific role and upgrading candidates who fit its requirements. As with LinkedIn, part of the goal is for both workers and hiring managers to maintain an active presence on their apps, allowing the app to pull players off the sidelines as needed. The service takes a standard commission from any successful employee, and as the platform grows in scope, Wilson hopes to make Jack & Jill indispensable to both sides.

This may seem like a standard recruiting system with a little AI on top, but Wilson believes that conversational chatbots are more important than a simple matching algorithm. By building the process around chatbot interviews, he believes he has found a scalable alternative to the endless shuffling of lists and resumes, potentially reinventing fundamental elements of the modern hiring process.

The use of AI systems to conduct first-round interviews has become increasingly common in many parts of the world – especially in China, where many multinational companies have Use the practice to recruit for local roles. But while a surprise interview with an AI-powered hiring manager may seem off-putting, Wilson hopes the Jack and Jill approach will lead to more intelligence being applied to hiring in general.

“I think the way we deal with the companies we work for, and vice versa, is completely ineffective,” Wilson says. “There are billions of people who could have better jobs. This is a task worth working on.”

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