The hiring process has long drawn criticism for being slow and opaque. Candidates write applications and cover letters, then vanish into a black box. Generative AI has only added to the mess, as employers lean on AI screening tools. A Stockholm startup thinks there is a better way.
Fika Jobs is building a video-first hiring platform with AI interview agents. It pairs those interviews with short-form video profiles. The result feels like a cross between LinkedIn and TikTok. The company just raised a $4 million pre-seed round to expand.
The process starts when a job seeker connects a LinkedIn profile. Fika’s AI reviews the background and generates personalized interview questions. The candidate then completes a roughly 10-minute video interview with the AI agent. That agent currently runs on Google’s Gemini models.
Fika then turns the responses into short video clips automatically. It organizes them into a discoverable profile. Instead of applying to every role, candidates keep one live profile. Employers can then find and revisit them as openings arise.
Brothers Jakob and Alexander Dubois founded the company. The idea came after they nearly passed on a strong candidate over a weak resume. They felt traits like grit and drive rarely show on paper.
“When we were building [social app] Gaff, we spent a lot of time recruiting and almost passed on a candidate because his resume did not really stand out,” Jakob Dubois reportedly told media. “We ended up speaking with him anyway, and within minutes, his grit, drive, and ambition became obvious. Exactly the kind of person we wanted to hire.”
The approach carries real risks worth noting, though. Video profiles reveal a candidate’s race, age, gender, and appearance early. That can open the door to bias that blind resume screening tries to reduce.
Fika is free for job seekers and charges employers only on a hire. It takes 10% of a successful candidate’s first-year salary. That undercuts the 20% to 30% fees traditional recruiters often charge.
The platform opens early access this week, with a public launch this fall. It will start in Sweden before expanding internationally. Over 100 companies sit on the waitlist already.
If it takes off, Fika Jobs could really assist employers in evaluating communication skills and cultural fit right from the start of the hiring process, adding a fresh layer to the usual resume and application checks. This method could be particularly beneficial for early-career professionals and candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, whose true potential might not shine through on a resume alone.
