Yong Kim

Top 50 leaders shaping the gig economy
Yong Kim
Co-Founder & CEO
Wonolo

Wonolo, which stands for "Work Now Locally," is an on-demand job marketplace platform that is changing the way businesses find talent for their immediate labor needs. Wonolo enables businesses to post opportunities for individuals to earn extra money, learn new skills, and change their lives.

The Origin Story

Yong Kim and AJ Brustein conceptualized Wonolo after experiencing challenges in finding temporary workers for their previous startup. Recognizing the need for a more efficient and flexible solution in the gig economy, they founded Wonolo in San Francisco. The platform aimed to bridge the gap between businesses seeking on-demand workers for short- and long-term jobs and individuals looking for flexible job opportunities.

Wonolo's model allows businesses to immediately post jobs, and registered workers can quickly accept these opportunities through the app. The founders envisioned creating a community-driven platform that not only addressed the labor needs of businesses but also empowered workers by providing them with the flexibility to choose when and where they work.

Over the years, Wonolo has grown and expanded its services, enabling businesses to post jobs in various industries, and making Wonolo a significant player in the gig economy. The platform's success lies in its ability to efficiently connect businesses with flexible and diverse workers, catering to the evolving nature of work in the modern era.

An Exceptional Experience for Workers

As Yong previously noted in Business Insider, workers are opting for flexible work that offers them a chance to further develop portable skills and get access to jobs at a variety of job sites.

The future of work will be driven by innovation building on the internet and mobile technologies, which have matured over the past 20 years. From productivity tools to enterprise communications and platforms like LinkedIn, technology has made life easier for the knowledge worker. Meanwhile, blue-collar workers have not had the same tools to find jobs, promote their skills, and build networks that could advance their interests.

Wonolo has built its platform with the needs of frontline workers at the center of its solution. By giving workers the ability to find jobs that meet their needs and build an experience that matches their goals, Wonolo empowers blue-collar workers to have a voice and gain more control over their work lives. Bridging the worker-to-company connection brings scale to finding workers and creates an exceptional experience for workers.

The Wonolo Solution

Almost 50% of blue-collar jobs go unfilled on a regular basis, but there are 70 million people who are looking for extra work. Wonolo is singularly focused on solving this problem.

Location-based

Wonolo means Work. Now. Locally. Location is at the center of their solution. When users sign up, in addition to other basic information, they must enter their zip code to begin searching for jobs. Wonolo has streamlined this process by giving frontline workers the ability to see jobs in their area immediately upon signing up to their mobile application.

Pay Transparency

In the realm of blue-collar roles, workers often lack clarity on the compensation of a particular job or project. With Wonolo, users can search for the jobs with the highest estimated pay or highest hourly pay. When users search for jobs in their area, they are presented with jobs that include hourly pay, estimated pay per workday, and the distance from the user’s location. This gives workers the key information they need to decide whether to accept the job.

Other Resources

The Wonolo platform also includes features that enable workers to showcase their skills and earn badges so that businesses know the expertise they are bringing to the job. Earning badges not only enables businesses to know the expertise a worker is bringing to the job and gives workers access to more job opportunities, but it also ultimately enables them to keep building their professional skills that will help them succeed in jobs beyond the Wonolo platform. In addition to quick payments, referral bonuses, and job opportunities, when using Wonolo, blue-collar workers have the control and flexibility that all workers seek when looking for jobs.

Wonolo’s Vision for Transforming the Future of Work

With over 5 million unemployed Americans and 11 million open job positions, traditional practices have not met the demand for filling available jobs. Accordingly, there has been a shift towards focusing on skills when finding workers. Wonolo’s marketplace bridges this gap and enables individuals with strong work backgrounds and soft skills to connect to the jobs seeking those skills. 

Wonolo’s vision is for gig workers to have the opportunity to cultivate a diverse set of transferable skills through various jobs, making them adaptable candidates for other future jobs.

61% of professionals consider soft skills such as time management, communication, independence, and problem-solving as essential as hard skills. By creating a means for workers to acquire and showcase these skills, businesses can consider these skills alongside technical skills when finding workers. In doing so, qualified workers will be noticed, and businesses can close the gap and fill their jobs.

More About Wonolo

Find Workers

Staffing made simple. Find workers wherever, whenever. Talk With Our Team Today. Find Hard Workers Easily. Fill your on-demand, temp, seasonal and temp-to-perm needs with locally available talent that is ready to work. Full Visibility. Full Transparency. Wonolo provides a simplified, efficient way to meet your labor needs.

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Wonolo, an on-demand job marketplace that connects workers to hourly and flat-rate jobs posted by thousands of businesses across the United States, today released The State of Financial Health of Today's Workforce report, dialing into how the current economy is impacting gig workers and full-time corporate workers.

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Wonolo Secures $138 Million in New Funding to Reshape the Future of Working | Markets Insider

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wonolo, the leading online platform disrupting the temporary staffing industry, today announced the raise of a $138 million growth round, led by Leeds Illuminate with strong participation from 137 Ventures and G2 Venture Partners. Franklin Templeton also came in on the round. This latest round brings Wonolo's total venture funding to over $200 million.

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