Idea validation: Part-time only jobs
Hi everyone,
I used to work at a startup as a Product Manager but hated the mandatory schedule and "presence time" in there, so I quit. I started looking through the web for something different, a part-time gig but more stable than freelancing, typically a 4/5th, half-time, or something in-between.
And I couldn't find ANY. Not a single job board around here that answered this specific problem : what if I don't want to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 45 weeks a year? Where can I go and look for something like this?
What would you think about such a job board?
I've been on both sides of this fence and I understand the frustration with job sites. In my opinion, most job sites do a pretty bad job of helping you filter down to the jobs you're looking for and also a pretty bad job at helping employers find the right candidate.
When we hire people at the company I work for we typically put much more focus on finding someone that is the "right fit" and less focus on their desire to work full-time or part-time. In other words, if we find the right person for the job, the work hours are negotiable and often fall outside the typical 9 to 5.
My take on a good job board would be flipped around. Instead of employers posting job ads I would make it so that job seekers create profiles and have employers find the profiles that suit the company.
For example, imagine I wanted to hire someone to work at my company, so I go to this "job seeker" board and filter down to people that live near my city with the skillset I'm looking for. Maybe you "swipe right" or something lol
I know for sure LinkedIn does this for recruiters, where they show a list of all available candidates and let you filter. However I think this is like a premium version of LinkedIn, or an app only for recruiters.
I kind of anticipated a comment like this :) Maybe it's just me but I feel like LinkedIn started out with this vision but eventually evolved into a weird hybrid between a social network site and a job board. Now I just get spammed all the time by recruiters trying to get me to jump companies.
I mean, I understand they where probably just trying to boost engagement but I think it detracts from the purpose of employers finding job seekers in many ways. I can imagine a site that does this much better.
That said, any site like this with a "two-sided market" is going to be a tricky business to get off the ground. Who are your first users? Job seekers or employers? How do you get them to sign up?
I work as a software engineer and just started as 75% time this year. I basically went to my current employer, said this is what I want to do, and they let me do it (along with a compensation adjustment).
I think it worked out for me because (1) I have a really good relationship with my employer and (2) I had a good reason for asking for reduced hours, one that didn't directly compete with my day job in any way except for time (I'm pursuing some competitive sports endeavors).
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Hey, thanks for your answer!
Quick question: what would have happened if your employer had said no? Would you have stayed / quit? Would you have searched for a 3/4th elsewhere, and if so, where?
My plan was if they said no, then I would probably have let them know I was considering quitting, and then if I had to quit I would do my best to make money contracting. I wasn't super optimistic about finding a part time job elsewhere, except for maybe something like a grocery store/coffee shop, which would have been hard being on my feet all day with all the exercise I've been doing.
Now that I have the 3/4 time, I'm loving it but it does make it harder to consider other jobs for the exact reasons you've mentioned. My best thoughts on how to approach it if I was to look for another job would be to just apply to full time jobs and ask if they would consider 3/4 time during the first stage of the interview or screening. Sometimes job postings are exact, but a lot of times they're just an approximation of what an employer think . s they need, so I figure it's not that outlandish to think they might consider a part time employee for a full time posting.
How about Remotive and RemoteOk?
In my mind, different answer to a different problem.
Remote work addresses the freedom of place, part-time addresses the freedom of time. Moreover, looking for a part-time job doesn't mean not wanting to be in an office. I could like being around my teammates for example, but still want more time for myself.
Does that make sense?
This is exactly what I'm currently looking for!
Hey thanks for your answer :) Could you possibly elaborate a little, especially on the "why you're looking for" (and also the how you're looking for it?)
Thankssss
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Well, this has to be decided. Obviously I come from a technical background and jobs revolving around web products / websites are usually the ones that are the most flexible (freelancing, remote, etc.).
If the trend of not-full-time job comes from somewhere, in my mind it'll be coming from this field, so it's probably the one I'm gonna focus on (if I ever build this)
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Exclusivity of such offers.
Sure, there are offers of part time / compressed hours job on the market, but from what I saw / experienced while looking for such a position, very few of the job boards I usually go to have filters like these. And when they do, they're completely empty or filled with low-level / starting jobs such as internships.
Another reason is, these part-time offers are often drowned in full-time jobs and internships offers, making them very hard to locate.
And finally, today : where would you go to find SPECIFICALLY a part-time job in tech? You'd google "part time job tech" or something along these lines (it's what I did). I've found absolutely nothing
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