As a fan of rock band Guns N’ Roses, Jérémy Clédat wanted to start his company with a name that not only resonated with the global job search market but also had a positive word in English.
A decade ago, French recruitment platform Welcome to the Jungle was launched. “When you join a company the first word you want to hear is ‘welcome’,” says Clédat, co-founder and CEO.
‘Welcome to London’ may well have been a phrase Clédat also received from the founders of UK-based Otta, the fast-rising job search platform which was purchased by its French rival last year having raised nearly £43m to establish a global recruitment presence.
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Over an 18-month period, Clédat travelled back and forth on the Eurostar from Paris to Otta’s Barbican base over 30 times to meet its three co-founders, who built the company from their bedrooms in 2019.
Clédat and Otta’s Sam Franklin had known each other for a while and would have coffee every six months or so. When Franklin mentioned that they were looking for an exit, Clédat knew it was “a great match”.
Otta was acquired for an undisclosed sum only a few months later. Data specialist Dealroom had given Otta an estimation value between $80m (£59.6m) and $120m after investment in 2021.
“We operated a bit differently in terms of platform, but we both had the same vision in that looking for a job is quite soul-crushing and we need a better search experience for people,” says Clédat.
Indeed, in an interview with Yahoo Finance UK in 2023, Franklin said “feeling like a second-class citizen” was a common response for job searchers. It was one reason why Otta was launched, as well as to champion salary transparency globally.
“What they did right was understand the needs of the candidate,” adds Clédat.
The UK team at Otta was kept on and 45 staff now work for a global outfit of over 300. Some 4 million candidates use Welcome to the Jungle’s platform, bolstered by the 2 million acquired from Otta.
Globally, Welcome to the Jungle is now working with over 13,000 companies and with 5,000 paying clients.
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So, to the company name and the reasons for launching in 2015. “When I tell new people that it’s a great song, they go ‘Who are Guns N’ Roses?’ Things are changing but it’s still a great song,” smiles Clédat.
“Its name is coherent with the job market but we can give you the tools and means to what you want to find.
“It is a very transactional industry. You search, apply, wait and pray. We knew we could do more and to be sure the human side was central to the experience.”