Outside the Caja

Online job boards aren’t new, acknowledges Jesus Gutierrez, co-owner of Broomfield’s 3 Margaritas. But they’re underutilized in the Hispanic community, he says, due to the cultural preference of applying for jobs in person. “Whenever you want to hire someone Hispanic, there’s no platform,” says Gutierrez. “You ask people, ‘Do you have a brother? Do you have a sister?’”

In April 2020, Gutierrez and a group of fellow Denver-area entrepreneurs wanted to help suddenly out-of-work Hispanic restaurant employees find employment wherever they could. So Chamba, an app connecting businesses of all kinds with Hispanic employees, was born. Job postings can be submitted in English or Spanish, but are translated and posted in both languages. Co-founder Gutierrez says the app has grown thanks to promotion on social media. “Everyone has Facebook,” he says, joking that “the only thing we [Hispanics] use our phones for is to call people and look at Facebook.” National media attention and appearances on Despierta América (“the Hispanic Good Morning America”) have also helped expand Chamba’s reach.

Chamba is free for job seekers. Businesses can pay $2.99 per applicant, or opt for monthly rates ranging from $39.99 to $100. “We have what Indeed doesn’t have,” Gutierrez notes. “We have the Hispanic worker. They really care about their jobs. For them, hospitality is a career; they’re not just there until they leave for college. Chamba’s goal is to be the platform that every Hispanic uses to find work.”

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