Home Scene Pro wants to create more job opportunities for students and grads

After watching his post-graduate friends struggle to find jobs, Jurell became terrified to enter his senior of college in New York. “Everyone left ready to attack the job market, but a few years later those same friends didn’t have jobs, let alone jobs in their field. With graduation right around the corner, it was the…

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Jurell Tanksley pitches for Home Scene Pro.

After watching his post-graduate friends struggle to find jobs, Jurell became terrified to enter his senior of college in New York.

“Everyone left ready to attack the job market, but a few years later those same friends didn’t have jobs, let alone jobs in their field. With graduation right around the corner, it was the scariest moment in my life,” said Jurell Tanksley, co-founder of Home Scene Pro.

Finding a job after graduation can be a tough process. The team at Home Scene Pro wants to make that experience easier by providing a platform that links students and graduates to consumers seeking professional services.

How Home Scene Pro works

The Groupon-like style of Home Scene Pro offers professional services in 16 areas such as personal training, tutoring, home maintenance and photography. When a consumer is interested in purchasing a service from the site, the service provider gets an alert that a job is available. The consumer then pays a low hourly rate for the student’s work while Home Scene Pro collects a small fee from each transaction.

“Often times, students and graduates are underemployed due to lack of experience. We’re trying to create more opportunities for them by selling their services at an affordable price,” said Tanksley.

Comparable sites like Thumbtack or Angie’s List offer services from mainly hobbyists in comparison to Home Scene Pro’s student and graduate service providers.

“We’re different because our services are sold at a set price, there is no bidding and our service providers have degrees or certifications within that niche,” said Tanksley.

Home Scene Pro services are also backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee, unlike many other professional service apps.

From New York to the Iowa Startup Accelerator

After starting the business in New York, Home Scene Pro landed in Iowa after an introduction to David Tominsky, the managing director at the Iowa Startup Accelerator, through the website AngelList.

“We started exchanging emails with David and after a two-hour conversation we knew we had a really strong connection. He’s been a great advisor to us ever since,” said Tanksley.

When asked about how the team is liking Iowa he said, “It’s definitely a change of pace from New York, but there are so many hard workers in the Midwest and we’ve found such a great support system that it has been an amazing experience so far.”

From experience to full-time employment

Home Scene Pro has over 10,000 service providers and 235 career advisors using the platform. Tanksley said the team is looking forward to expanding their vision even further by setting up service providers with more permanent jobs through their recruiting services for larger businesses.

He explained there are currently five plans for businesses using Home Scene Pro to recruit.

“We have an unlimited job posting plan where there is no cost to post, but we charge 5 percent of the monthly salary of each new hire. Or there are 4 other set price plans where businesses can pay a flat fee for us to staff open positions.”

When asked about how the team stays motivated to solve such a big issue like unemployment he said, “If you have a dream or goal in life, you have to have the tenacity to follow through. It takes a lot to make things happen, and you have to have the same intensity from the beginning to the end and believe in what you’re doing.”

Melanie Lucks is an intern for Silicon Prairie News and AIM Careerlink.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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