Rethinking First Jobs – whatimpact Partners with WorkPilots: The Most Advanced Entry-Level Job App for Businesses, Councils, and Employability VCSEs
whatimpact is a strong advocate for tech-for-good solutions and is now introducing a groundbreaking, cost-effective app technology designed to tackle the challenges of offering entry-level job opportunities. Just as the whatimpact National Social Value Marketplace helps businesses connect with local VCSEs, WorkPilots does the same by bridging the gap between businesses and a diverse pool of candidates for entry-level roles, significantly boosting local employment and promoting equal opportunities. We interviewed WorkPilot CEO and founder Eija Kiviranta to learn more.
Q: What exactly is WorkPilots?
A: WorkPilots is a feature-rich, mobile-first platform that simplifies the entire process of offering and managing work opportunities, ranging from short tasks to full internships, apprenticeships, and starter positions. It’s designed for use by businesses, municipalities, schools, charities, and other support organisations that want to connect people with real, meaningful work experiences.
With WorkPilots, users can handle everything from opportunity listings to matching, automated contracts, payments, and reporting—all in one place. And the best part? We can rapidly deploy a custom, branded mobile platform as a service—tailored to the needs of each client. It’s an easy-to-use, cost-efficient employability tool that lowers barriers and levels the playing field.
Q: How did the idea for WorkPilots originally come about?
A: It all started in 2015, when we asked a simple but important question: Why is it so hard for young people to get their first real work experience?
We saw more and more youth completing school without ever having had a part-time job, a summer position, or a single foot in the door. Traditional job markets were getting tighter, more formalised, and more exclusionary especially for those without perfect CVs or personal networks.
We believed there had to be a better, fairer way.
Q: What was your initial mission?
A: From day one, our mission was to make working life more accessible. We wanted to give young people—and eventually all underserved talents—a fast, flexible, and fair way to build experience and confidence.
WorkPilots was never just about short gigs. We built it to support a full spectrum of work-based learning:
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One-off tasks
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Internships
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Work placements
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Starter roles
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Apprenticeships
In other words, all the “first steps” that matter in someone’s career journey.
Q: Did the scope of your mission evolve after launch?
A: Absolutely. Once we launched and saw results, it became clear that the same barriers applied to refugees, migrants, people with disabilities, and many others who lacked strong networks or formal credentials.
So we expanded our mission to support all underserved or underutilised talent—anyone who needed a structured but accessible way to prove themselves.
We shifted from simply helping people get a job, to helping them build a path.
Q: What gap is WorkPilots really filling?
A: There’s a growing disconnect between untapped talent and unmet work needs.
Traditional job systems have become overly formal, slow, and credentials-driven. Entry-level jobs are disappearing. And current recruitment channels—schools, job boards, staffing agencies—often leave newcomers behind.
WorkPilots fills that gap with a digitally-supported, low-barrier model that allows people to start small, prove themselves through action, and grow from there.
It’s a platform where doing counts more than a CV.
Q: What about businesses—especially large ones in labor-intensive industries?
A: Large businesses in sectors like logistics, construction, retail, hospitality, and manufacturing often struggle to recruit entry-level talent. WorkPilots gives them an agile, branded way to list roles—be it for seasonal help, internships, apprenticeships, or starter positions—and engage fresh talent at scale.
It’s more than a job board. It’s a smart employability ecosystem that makes it easy to find, try, and develop new talent.
We also provide full backend support: automated contracting, payments, communications, and analytics—so HR and hiring managers can focus on people, not admin.
Q: How can municipalities and councils get involved?
A: Councils and municipalities are in a unique position to foster local employment and social inclusion. WorkPilots is an easy to setup, populate and manage, whether the businesses are seeking young talent, entry-level workers, part-time help or offering work placements.
By doing this, councils can:
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Support local businesses in hiring more inclusively to meet social value targets
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Create real job pathways for local residents
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Offer a digital, scalable tool for economic and social development
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Offer a platform for their supplier businesses to access local workforce.
Q: Let’s talk about support organisations how do they benefit from WorkPilots?
A: This is one of the most important areas. Support organisations including charities, social enterprises, schools, training providers, and career programs, work incredibly hard to help people become job-ready.
They run employability programs, CV workshops, interview coaching, and mentorship schemes. But even with all that, the leap into a full-time role is often just too big for someone without prior experience.
WorkPilots offers that missing first step: a way to gain confidence and skills through short tasks, internships, apprenticeships, or placements all within a supported digital environment.
Plus, these organisations can track progress, support applicants, and report on outcomes—all through the same platform. It enhances their impact and makes success measurable.
Q: How Public, Private, and Third Sector Organisations Are Using WorkPilots
A: Here are some user KPI’s. As you can see we have a proven concept and plenty of user cases and evidence of the impact.
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20+ municipalities using WorkPilots for longer-term youth programs; 50+ municipalities overall.
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1,000+ companies as task providers, including small businesses and large corporations.
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200+ VCSEs and support organisations utilising WorkPilots for a wide range of underserved groups.
Q: What is the process of setting up WorkPilots, and how quickly can it be deployed?
A: WorkPilots is offered as a turn-key SaaS solution, meaning it can be fully deployed and ready to use within one week. The platform is easily customised to match the branding, language, and structure of each customer.
We adapt the system based on your specific needs, including:
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User access: Who can access the service and under what permissions
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Offered services: What type of opportunities and tasks will be available
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Pricing models: Customisable pricing structures to suit your goals if offering paid work
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Contract types: We support various contracts such as employment, freelancer, cooperative, and volunteering
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Required teams: Configuration of teams and roles within the platform
This flexibility ensures that WorkPilots is perfectly aligned with your organisation’s requirements from day one. We are happy to give a demo of the platform!!
