Kohot: the New Hiring Platform by Professional Beauty Group

New Delhi: Recognising the gap between job seekers and head hunters, Professional Beauty Group has launched Kohot.com, a matchmaking platform for the beauty industry. Vikas Vij, MD, Professional Beauty India, speaks to Priyanka Parshurami about what Kohot is all about and how it will help India’s professional beauty industry close the skill gap. 

Tell us about the Kohot app - what is it all about, where can one find it, and who can use it?

Kohot.com is part of the Professional Beauty Group, one of the world’s leading media and trade show organisers for the aesthetics, beauty, hair, spa and wellness communities.

Driven by a passion and zeal to constantly support the growth and development of our communities, Kohot was designed and built with a clear vision to solve the significant recruitment challenge within the industry, whether it’s a beautician or hairdresser finding a job in their nearest spa or salon; or an employer looking to urgently hire talent to expand their business.

Kohot is the industry’s matchmaking platform, allowing instant connection between those seeking jobs and employers seeking staff. Using smart technology and a user centric platform, Kohot is designed to solve the problem of providing job opportunities to tens of thousands of people in our industry by helping them build a digital professional profile, a career management platform, and access to the best industry jobs.

Kohot is ready and can be downloaded from Google playstore as a mobile app as well as can be used online at www.kohot.com. 

How is it beneficial for the beauty and wellness industry?

Recruitment has always been a significant challenge for the industry and post covid that challenge has only increased. Hence, the decision to launch Kohot as the recruitment partner for the industry. When it comes to finding your perfect partner, there are dozens of apps available out there. Think Bumble, Hinge, Match, Shaadi.com! When it comes to finding your ideal salon or spa employer or beautician or hairdresser to work for you, the choices are almost non-existent. The industry is highly disorganised relying on informal and offline means to fill positions.

This is where Kohot comes in as a simple, quick and effective way of finding jobs and candidates. Over time we believe that having an organised and professional way of matching employers and talent will help drive standards and best practices in the industry, allowing both sides to grow and prosper. 

What is Kohot’s USP? Does it have an edge over other recruitment apps?

Kohot is built using the latest AI software to match candidate profiles with relevant vacancies by location, flexibility and salary conditions and much more. Using our smart technology, employers only get matched with relevant, quality candidates based on the skills and experience criteria that they set, instantly!

No need to rely on old fashioned resumes. Candidates build their profiles using written, audio or video content showcasing their skills to prospective employers; and employers set up their job postings and hit search. Job done, job filled, find your Kohot!

How long have you and your team been working on the app?

The thought process behind Kohot has been there for many years but the pandemic gave us the time and energy to look at this with more focus and clarity. We went into development during 2021, researching the needs of the employee and job seeker, and over the last year we have been fine tuning what the touch, feel and usability for the app should be. What is critical for our industry is to make the user interface and experience as simple and intuitive to use as possible and phase one of the launch does that. As we get feedback from the industry, we will launch follow-up phases, which will continue to fine tune the experience and value that users can get from Kohot.

As Professional Beauty India, what advantage do you have in presenting a recruitment app for the Indian beauty industry?

Professional Beauty has been in India for a decade now, and globally since the 1980s, and we believe we have a great connection with the community not just in India, but across the world, too. A key advantage that we have is that we understand the community, their challenges and pain points and we have been addressing these for many years, primarily from an education, networking and product sourcing point of view, and Kohot is a natural next step for us as we continue to look to solve challenges for our community.

What message would you like to give to aspiring beauty professionals?

The hair and beauty industry offers incredible career opportunities. Not only is it a highly creative field but it allows aspirants and those within the industry to have a real transformational impact on the lives of their customers. There are countless examples of how hairdressers and beauticians have made a significant difference to the lives of men and women by making them look good from the outside, which gives them the confidence to feel great from the inside. It’s an industry where you really get to see magic unfolding everyday, and those working with the industry get to create those miracles on a regular basis. So, if you are keen on being a part of this industry, enter with passion and an unending desire to learn, and use Kohot to find a perfect workplace for yourself that would nourish and encourage your talent.