Sofía Giraudo
Tech Entrepreneur
CSO & Founder
FirstJob
Latin America | Chile
My career as an entrepreneur began in 2012, while I was still a university student. I participated as a volunteer in job fairs, where I noticed the problem of companies to connect with the new generations, and of students to find a place to start their working life.
I met my partner that same year, and we launched an MVP with only $200 USD. We created a website that allowed us to collect CVs and a Facebook fanpage to generate user traction and post job offers. With only 23 years old, we got our first 3 clients: that's when FirstJob started.
In 2013, we managed to be part of the 2nd generation of Wayra Chile, which allowed us to launch the 1st version of our platform, exceed 50,000 users and $200,000 USD in revenue in our first year. After 2 years, we positioned ourselves as the leading recruitment solution for internship segments and jobs from 0 to 2 years of experience.
In 2015, we decided to launch our Employers for Youth (EFY) study, which seeks to recognize the Best Companies for Professionals under 35. This study, which is 100% digital and is in a constant process of automation through our developers, is the main insight to know the work experience of the new generations and find areas of action in companies that allow them to improve in this professional segment. In addition, it has an open ranking of best companies for Female Talent and another for best Tech companies, which allows young people to make informed decisions about which company to choose to start their professional career.
Today, we have a team of 43 people, which thanks to technology and automation allows us to be present in 15 countries, making us the largest study in Latin America focused on young professionals. More than 1300 companies and 100,000 professionals are measured year after year with us.
My path as an entrepreneur has always been accompanied by innovation and the development of digital products and solutions, focused on improving the quality of life of young people at work and their experience in organizations. I am convinced that they are the future, and that the first work experience marks you for the rest of your life. That is why I am driven and inspired to lead organizations to be their best version, and why we will constantly continue to develop products that accompany us in this mission.
I met my partner that same year, and we launched an MVP with only $200 USD. We created a website that allowed us to collect CVs and a Facebook fanpage to generate user traction and post job offers. With only 23 years old, we got our first 3 clients: that's when FirstJob started.
In 2013, we managed to be part of the 2nd generation of Wayra Chile, which allowed us to launch the 1st version of our platform, exceed 50,000 users and $200,000 USD in revenue in our first year. After 2 years, we positioned ourselves as the leading recruitment solution for internship segments and jobs from 0 to 2 years of experience.
In 2015, we decided to launch our Employers for Youth (EFY) study, which seeks to recognize the Best Companies for Professionals under 35. This study, which is 100% digital and is in a constant process of automation through our developers, is the main insight to know the work experience of the new generations and find areas of action in companies that allow them to improve in this professional segment. In addition, it has an open ranking of best companies for Female Talent and another for best Tech companies, which allows young people to make informed decisions about which company to choose to start their professional career.
Today, we have a team of 43 people, which thanks to technology and automation allows us to be present in 15 countries, making us the largest study in Latin America focused on young professionals. More than 1300 companies and 100,000 professionals are measured year after year with us.
My path as an entrepreneur has always been accompanied by innovation and the development of digital products and solutions, focused on improving the quality of life of young people at work and their experience in organizations. I am convinced that they are the future, and that the first work experience marks you for the rest of your life. That is why I am driven and inspired to lead organizations to be their best version, and why we will constantly continue to develop products that accompany us in this mission.
About innovation and new technologies
At FirstJob, technological innovation is the pillar that sustains our products. One of our main tools are the AI agents developed with OpenAI technology, integrated through its API to act as early alerts for any possible non-compliance with the posting policies.
These intelligent agents review each posted vacancy and, if any irregularities are detected, immediately notify the responsible team to take appropriate action. This continuous monitoring ensures a safe, reliable and policy-aligned environment for all our users.
In addition, we are implementing a vacancy search system using OpenAI's Ada model for embedding generation. By combining this technology with a vector database integrated into our current architecture, we aim to achieve an exceptionally accurate search engine that makes it easier for candidates to find the opportunities that best match their profiles and skills.
We don't stop there; we also employ AI clustering models to standardize the hundreds of thousands of open-ended responses obtained in our Top of Mind study, where we asked more than 100,000 professionals under the age of 35 in Latin America in which 3 companies they would and would not like to work (open-ended question), allowing companies to understand their aspirational and External Employer Branding. This methodology allows us to analyze large volumes of textual data and extract the information required for our study.
Finally, many of the teams use AI applications consumed through SAAS platforms that boost team productivity.
From voice translation systems and audio and video noise eliminators, to advanced conversational technologies such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, each tool empowers our collaborators and allows us to focus on the points of the processes where they can contribute the most value.
Another tool we use is Google's BigQuery. Since we now have the data in database format, we can have the ability to access more useful, simple and powerful queries than we used to be able to just using Google Sheets, through SQL language.
These intelligent agents review each posted vacancy and, if any irregularities are detected, immediately notify the responsible team to take appropriate action. This continuous monitoring ensures a safe, reliable and policy-aligned environment for all our users.
In addition, we are implementing a vacancy search system using OpenAI's Ada model for embedding generation. By combining this technology with a vector database integrated into our current architecture, we aim to achieve an exceptionally accurate search engine that makes it easier for candidates to find the opportunities that best match their profiles and skills.
We don't stop there; we also employ AI clustering models to standardize the hundreds of thousands of open-ended responses obtained in our Top of Mind study, where we asked more than 100,000 professionals under the age of 35 in Latin America in which 3 companies they would and would not like to work (open-ended question), allowing companies to understand their aspirational and External Employer Branding. This methodology allows us to analyze large volumes of textual data and extract the information required for our study.
Finally, many of the teams use AI applications consumed through SAAS platforms that boost team productivity.
From voice translation systems and audio and video noise eliminators, to advanced conversational technologies such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, each tool empowers our collaborators and allows us to focus on the points of the processes where they can contribute the most value.
Another tool we use is Google's BigQuery. Since we now have the data in database format, we can have the ability to access more useful, simple and powerful queries than we used to be able to just using Google Sheets, through SQL language.
About entrepreneurship and inclusion promotion
I have always been passionate about DEI issues and have sought to integrate them with my team, both internally and in our solutions for clients. DEI is the foundation of FirstJob, it is the heart, because we seek to promote that all young professionals, regardless of career, gender, orientation or university to which they belong, can find the first job of their dreams.
In addition, we seek the same diversity in our hiring. We seek to break down paradigms and prioritize skills, motivation and experience over university, country or career. We work with talent from Chile, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, who provide regional support, and all this thanks to our 100% remote work policy, which we implemented in 2020 and maintain to this day.
A few years ago we were the first company to implement a 4x3 workday, which allows us to better reconcile the work-life balance of our team and above all to provide greater flexibility to enjoy their families, which is a priority for us. We have cases of mothers who, at the end of their post-natal period, have chosen to stay at home for a few more months with their children, where we have given them the time and space to wait for them with their jobs intact, including C-Level roles, where I can also proudly say that 71.4% of these roles are occupied by women.
In terms of our solutions, for our Employers for Youth (EFY) study we launched the EFY FEM category in order to make visible which are the best companies for women under-35 in Latin America, which challenges organizations to improve their DEI indicators and become better workplaces for Female Talent. We also included a dimension called “Diversity & Culture” to evaluate how diverse companies are in their hiring, promotion and leadership development policies.
I could go on for a long time, as DEI is a fundamental pillar for us, it is even part of our business strategy. A team that is as diverse as possible will allow for a greater variety of opinions and more innovative proposals, in order to continue developing new and unique solutions for our diverse clients and users around the world.
In addition, we seek the same diversity in our hiring. We seek to break down paradigms and prioritize skills, motivation and experience over university, country or career. We work with talent from Chile, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, who provide regional support, and all this thanks to our 100% remote work policy, which we implemented in 2020 and maintain to this day.
A few years ago we were the first company to implement a 4x3 workday, which allows us to better reconcile the work-life balance of our team and above all to provide greater flexibility to enjoy their families, which is a priority for us. We have cases of mothers who, at the end of their post-natal period, have chosen to stay at home for a few more months with their children, where we have given them the time and space to wait for them with their jobs intact, including C-Level roles, where I can also proudly say that 71.4% of these roles are occupied by women.
In terms of our solutions, for our Employers for Youth (EFY) study we launched the EFY FEM category in order to make visible which are the best companies for women under-35 in Latin America, which challenges organizations to improve their DEI indicators and become better workplaces for Female Talent. We also included a dimension called “Diversity & Culture” to evaluate how diverse companies are in their hiring, promotion and leadership development policies.
I could go on for a long time, as DEI is a fundamental pillar for us, it is even part of our business strategy. A team that is as diverse as possible will allow for a greater variety of opinions and more innovative proposals, in order to continue developing new and unique solutions for our diverse clients and users around the world.