Teen creates job platform for youth in Mississauga

School is out for the summer, but many students have a hard time finding a job these days.

Grade 10 Mississauga student said his fruitless search for a job last fall led him to build his own job platform.

Serge Boghossian, 16, built Jobbli, a free hyperlocal platform that connects Mississauga teens aged 14 to 17 with independently owned local businesses for part-time work, he told INsauga.com.

The St. Martin Catholic Secondary School student said he was in a civics course last fall and was given a project to find a job.

“I could not find a job, I looked everywhere,” he said.

Boghossian went to Indeed and other job websites, but found no listings specifically geared to teens. The popular job sites tend to have filters for the type of position and location, but nothing for students.

“There was no job that was for teens,” he said.

He said he heard similar stories from his students at his school. Youth (15 to 24 years) unemployment rate is high, at 14.3 per cent in April 2026, according to Statistics Canada.

So he built a platform with real-time messaging, employer dashboards and interview scheduling. He added security features to protect youth. He learned how to code through YouTube videos.

He finished the final version of Jobbli about four months ago.

“I am filling a gap between the job-seeker and the employer,” he said.

Students have signed up for the job board, but as of mid-June, Boghossian is looking for employers. He hopes employers enrolled in the Canada Summer Jobs program, which provides wage subsidies to employers hiring youth aged 15 to 30, will post positions to his site.

Boghossian said he was accepted into IDEA Mississauga’s Summer Company 2026 program, which will help him promote the site and find employers.

Right now, it is free for job seekers and posters to use the site. He plans to find ways to monetize the platform.

He expects to get about 40 to 60 posts this summer and then continue building the platform. He said it is a long term project.

“I want to gain momentum in Mississauga and then expand throughout the GTA,” he said.

Students and employers can check out the platform at jobbli.org.