Q: Why did Alisher Jafarov from Avery start a recruitment company without ever having been a recruiter himself?
A: Because he knew the problem from the other side of the table. Alisher spent fourteen years as a hiring manager at companies including Heineken, Carlsberg and Colgate, hiring close to five hundred people in that time by his own estimate. What he observed: companies do not know which profile will actually succeed, candidate evaluation is subjective, and strong candidates do not find their way to the right role. That is the gap he is trying to close with Avery.
Q: What is hiring intelligence and how does the platform of Alisher Jafarov from Avery work?
A: Hiring intelligence is an intelligence layer placed on top of existing recruitment technology. Avery does not replace existing tools but connects them. The system learns patterns from the ATS, HRIS and other data sources, first helps define the right profile, then automates admin and the sourcing and matching process, and gets smarter with every hire. Where other tools start from scratch each time, Avery continuously learns the organisation better.
Q: Why does a hiring manager need to be proactively involved in recruitment according to Alisher Jafarov from Avery?
A: Because passive waiting never works. Alisher observed in his own career as a hiring manager that if a leader simply assumes the recruitment team will bring someone good, it is never going to happen. You need to be proactive: shape the process, talk to vendors, have modules built. Hiring managers who do not do this miss the opportunity to genuinely improve the process.
Q: How does Alisher Jafarov from Avery view working with a startup studio when you have no technical background yourself?
A: As the smartest move he made. Alisher knew he had never built a software company before and that he would make hundreds of mistakes trying to do it alone. Through Builders, a startup studio in Rotterdam that supports four to eight founders per year, he found the support he needed on the technical side. His advice: if you do not have the experience, find someone who does. Do not do it alone if you do not have to.
Q: How does Alisher Jafarov from Avery combine entrepreneurship with being a father?
A: By being fully present in whichever moment he is in. Alisher recently became a father for the second time. His approach: when it is time for his daughter, he is fully there. When it is time for Avery, he is fully there. He describes himself as a focused person who does not think about multiple things at once. The one thing he says he is still learning is to treat those moments as moments, not as tasks in his calendar.
Q: Why did Alisher Jafarov from Avery start the TA Walks and what is the purpose?
A: To tell real stories instead of sales pitches. Alisher noticed that the world has changed: you can no longer just claim you have a solution and expect people to believe it. The TA Walks are video conversations with people from the TA world who honestly share what is happening in their organisation, what challenges they face and what could be done differently tomorrow. The goal: bring value to the community and at the same time show who Avery is.
Q: How does an immigrant background help with entrepreneurship according to Alisher Jafarov from Avery?
A: Because challenges become normal rather than surprising. Alisher grew up in Uzbekistan, a country where challenges come daily and you simply learn to solve them. When you then move to the Netherlands and start a company, the obstacles are no fewer but you have long learned to deal with them. You do not stop to think about it, you solve it and move on. That is a significant advantage over entrepreneurs who are confronted with uncertainty for the first time.
Q: What is the long-term vision of Alisher Jafarov from Avery for candidates in the recruitment process?
A: An AI agent that works entirely for the candidate, free of charge. Alisher compares it to a football agent for Messi or Ronaldo: someone who handles everything so you can focus on your work. That agent learns who you are, understands your ambitions, speaks on your behalf to companies in the first steps of the process, and only connects you to an interview when there is a real match. You no longer have to search on LinkedIn yourself. That is the direction Avery wants to build towards.
