At a Glance
Location: Romania
Impact Areas: Employment Generation, Placement
People Supported:
People with Disabilities, Refugees and Migrants, Youth NEET, LGBTQIA+
NESsT Program: CEE Accelerator / Violet Fund
Joined NESsT Portfolio:
2023
Overview
Founded in 2016 by Mihai Cepoi, Jobful is a Romania-based digital solutions agency with a mission to create fair, inclusive pathways to the job market. Romania has one of the highest rates of unemployment among young people aged 15–29 neither in employment, nor education and training (NEET) and people with disabilities in the EU. Other groups that face difficulty in accessing employment opportunities include refugees and migrants, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Jobful’s recruitment platforms are designed to help all individuals regardless of background to secure fairly-paid, formal jobs through ethical and transparent hiring practices. Its annual-subscription recruitment platform can be integrated with corporate career sites, and which is currently used by B2B clients in a wide range of sectors, including Coca Cola HBC, ING Bank, Microsoft, and ERSTE Bank. The platform uses an AI-driven matching process with gamification and algorithms to improve candidate engagement and reduce unconscious biases.
In March 2022, in partnership with the local foundation ‘Project Voyager’, Jobful launched jobs4ukr.com– the region’s largest employment platform for people affected by the war in Ukraine. Since its inception, more than 17,000 refugees have registered with the database to access verified job opportunities in Europe and abroad, and in globally remote positions. Jobful also offers an online resource center with government support guides, details of free Romanian and English courses supported by the EBRD, and job matching and counseling services tailored specifically to the needs of displaced Ukrainians.
With NESsT’s support, Jobful expanded its recruitment services to support anyone facing difficulties to get hired with the skills and opportunities they need to thrive at work, launching Jobs4All in 2024.This comprehensive platform currently has more than 2,500 employer profiles and supports more than 150,000 registered professionals, including refugees and migrants, people from the LGBTQIA+ community, youth, and people with disabilities – who represent approximately 800,000 job seekers in Romania.
Results & Impact
+17,000
refugees & migrants reached through training and job opportunities at jobs4ukr.com
800
people facing exclusion placed in jobs by 2027
+1M
jobseekers reached by 2027
“From the beginning, we set out to build technology centered around the individual, supporting people in their journey to find meaningful employment. Without a job, people are often excluded not only from the economy but from society itself. For us, the most meaningful long-term investment in stability is helping someone find the right place to work.”
NESsT Investment
Jobful joined the NESsT Central & Eastern Europe Accelerator Program in 2023 to expand its recruitment services via the platform Jobs4All to support other groups facing difficulties to secure jobs, with a focus on people with disabilities.
Through mentoring with NESsT portfolio managers and IKEA co-workers, the Jobful team streamlined its operations, doubled down on software development, and hired new staff members, including people facing displacement from Ukraine. As the enterprise expanded its customer base and generated new revenue streams, it worked alongside NESsT to implement tools to track and measure its social impact across all of its recruitment platforms.
In 2026, Jobful secured a loan from the NESsT Violet Fund to support the expansion of its Jobs4All platform to serve a broader range of audiences, including the LGBTQIA+ community, youth, the elderly, and refugees and migrants. Working closely with NESsT portfolio managers, Jobful will deepen its work in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with measurable targets, appointing a DEI committee to review progress and launching inclusive hiring and training programs.