HaveMyShift

I adore all forms of social media.  From Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, Yelp and Twitter, just name the website and I was probably a member of it.  As with most people, I had this notion that social media could only be used for social purposes.   You know, sharing the pictures from your latest vacation, looking up restaurants to go to dinner, raving about your newest crush, etc.  But,  let me tell you – I was completely wrong.  To my surprise, I found that social media could be used for a ton of professional purposes, as well.

You see, back in August 2009, I began to actively look for a new job.  My work environment was rapidly deteriorating, my managers were incompetent and there was no advancement available within the organization.  Because of this, I left work every night feeling drained, annoyed and unhappy.  For the benefit of my mental health, I needed out – ASAP.

With rising unemployment rates, I was doubtful that I would find a new job.  But, I began exploring my beloved social media websites and used them as avenues to network and find job opportunities.  I would comb through Craigslist ads, investigate connections on LinkedIn and Tweet multiple recruiters, in hopes that they would respond to me.   If you love social media, use that to your advantage!  A new job could just be right around the corner.

Let’s start with Twitter.  Take a look through some of these tips:

• Follow and tweet! – Compile a list of the companies that you would love to work for.  Then, perform a Twitter search to see if they have a profile.  If they do, often times, those companies have HR people posting job descriptions and manning the @replies.  If you send them a tweet saying that you’re interested in a particular job, they probably will send you a tweet back with information on how to submit your resume.  Direct contact with a recruiter is amazing!  (Shoutout to @OrbitzTalent and @HyattCareers!)

• Take notes! -  There are a TON of Twitter profiles that are dedicated to career advice.  You can look on Twitter for resume help/suggestions, ways to make a career-switch and some useful interview tips.  Follow these people for some awesome advice.  Somedays, they’ll have contests where the the right answer might get you a free career course or free resume help.  Nice!  (Check out @jobsavants, @careerrealism, @pongoresume, @heatherhuhman, @Keppie_Careers
  for tips!)

• Get updates!-  Nothing like having real-time job opportunity updates!  If you follow the right Tweeps, you’ll be the first to know what postings are out there.  Sure, CareerBuilder and Monster are great places to find postings and emailing your favorite recruiters is great, too.  But, if you want to have first dibs on a position (thus, showing the potential employer initiative and huge interest), then start following profiles that post jobs daily.  (Here’s a couple: @AccountantsCHI, @FinanceChicago,  @TwitJobSearch, @jobsearchninja, @jobsphere)

• Explore your options! -  Maybe you’re not 100% happy with your career and are looking to eventually transition into something else.  However, since you’re also not sure that you’ll be happy (and/or successful) in another field, you might want to try your hand at it first.  One way to do this is through an unpaid internship!  This way, you’ll gain experience in something totally new, but you won’t sacrifice your current career.  A fabulous site for this is @urbaninterns.  I adore them!

Although looking for a new job can be tedious and depressing (at times), using Twitter (and other forms of social media) might be one of the ways to make it a little more enjoyable!

Interested in how to use other social media sites?  Stay tuned for Pt. 2!

The Wall Street Journal posted a story about Starbucks yesterday.  To sum it up: Starbucks is looking into ways to make more money.  No surprise there!  With a quarter of every dollar that crosses the counter going towards employee pay (we are talking about $2.5 Billion per year!), it’s also not surprising that they are looking for ways to sell the same amount of coffee with less time spent behind the counter.

Finding ways to work efficiently is a good thing, it’s the core of how we are all able to live more enjoyable lives than our ancestors did.  Imagine if we still had to hunt and gather for our dinners, it would take hours out of your day to find a good meal.  Instead, we can take a walk to the supermarket and pick from a variety of fresh dinners!  All of this convenience and abundance stems from one simple idea: if we can find a way to spend less time tomorrow on the work we did today, and get the same result, we’ve found something good!

A more efficient Starbucks store, one that makes more money while spending the same or less money means more good coffee for all involved, customers and employees.  Who would refuse more good coffee for less money?  Who would refuse a supermarket stocked with all manners of dinner for a sparse prairie and endless hours of work to even find something worth eating?

Of course, there is a catch: if the increase in efficiency means that the people who work at the store are unhappy, or feel like they are being used by their employer in some kind of numbers game, who wins?  What’s the point of increased efficiency and more good coffee for all if the people involved are not enjoying their time at the store?  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather spend endless hours hunting and gathering than feel like I’m just a cog in the big machine my employer uses to line their pockets.  How do you strike a balance between increasing efficiency, making more of good things for everyone, and living your life, living how you want to, exploring the world on your terms?

That’s what HaveMyShift is about!  Stephen and I set out to find a way for people to strike that balance, and to allow people to strike their own balance.  We are retail employees, we know what it means to work on a schedule, to have to call in sick because we’ve got to study for tomorrow’s exam, or because we just need a break.  We also know what it means to work hard for our jobs, and to have every desire to make things work at our jobs but have no resources to help us do that.  HaveMyShift is that resource for us.  We offer it to you in hopes that you will use it to help you strike the balance between your responsibilities at work and your life, your happiness.  Work Flexibly!  Live Happily!

P.S.  The silver lining: Starbucks will probably save a good chunk of their $2.5 Billion in wages if they roll out the ‘lean’ Japanese Techniques to all of their stores.  How much would they save if every employee at every shift was totally excited to be at the shift?  If every employee at every shift wasn’t worried about the study time that they are missing out on, or wasn’t too tired or too sick to be at work, but only there because they need the money in their next paycheck?  How efficient would those employees be during their shifts?

Communicating with the network of coworkers that have registered for the site is the backbone of how HaveMyShift has been able to help employees get their shift covered by coworkers who want more hours. Word of mouth has, for the most part, been able to get many of your coworkers in your area on the site. For that, we thank you for making the site so successful for everyone using it!

When we first built the site, relying on having nearby coworkers sign up for the site was good enough. Today, we want to expand how many of your coworkers hear about the site and sign up! We’re officially announcing our integration with Facebook to help you tell more coworkers in your area, with a simple click of a button. With tools like Facebook and future developments like sending your coworkers text messages/email directly, we can increase the chances of getting your shift covered dramatically!

We have big plans in giving you all the most effective tools to both find shifts as well as get your shift covered but we need your help: How can we make our tools better? As someone looking for shifts, how can we get you to cover those shifts faster? Integrate with iCal? Google Calendar? Better text messaging? If you are trying to get your shift covered, how else can we improve the chances of getting your shift covered? Tweet your shift for you? Maybe I will just get off my computer and start covering shifts again. I make a mean cappuccino.

Let us know what you think! This blog is as much yours as it is ours! Thank you all for your support!

Obvious Fail

So, i’ll admit. One of the most important reasons HaveMyShift exists is to build tools and a community around a group of people who are often handed the short end of the stick. We have a TON of pride knowing that we originated from my experiences as a Starbucks barista and love telling our story to anyone who would listen. Some of you may have noticed that we released some new functionality into the site that may have barred you from actually using the site! We thought this would actually make the site better! Obvious, FAIL.

The problem that we were trying to solve by restricting some users, was that some people were signing up in states like California or Tennessee and had a bad experience using the site. They would go through the process of registering and posting their shift only to see later that not even one person had looked at their shift! So the idea was to restrict people in those situations from posting shifts until there were enough people in the area. Unfortunately, some of you who were genuinely using the site, ended up not being able to post or pick up shifts and then sent us feedback. Thank you all for your feedback, we really appreciate it! Without it, we wouldn’t have known that we screwed up. As a quick note, if you need help growing your area, hand out these fliers in your area and get activated!

To prevent things like this happening again, we are forming a small group of “beta users” that we plan to ask what they think BEFORE we do something like that again. This will help ensure that we only work on the most important, most useful features for the site as well as getting new ideas on how we can better improve the site. You all really are the most important resource to us, we will make sure not to take that for granted again! Send me an email (stephen [at] HaveMyShift.com) or comment on the post if you want to be in the beta user group! Thanks for all of your support!

Flexible work alternatives may be the single most important factor in allowing us to create the lives we want for ourselves and our families.

1. You are not your job.

If you have a passion for writing, painting, being a chef, a job at the local coffee house is great for you.  You’ll meet tons of people and learn how to make a good impression.  It doesn’t matter that making a great latte isn’t your specialty, as long as its funding your dream.

2. Have more options.

A big part of having wealth is having options.  If you have a job where you can easily swap a shift out on a moment’s notice, you have more flexibility than most CEOs.  Then you can fly out on a moments to that conference where you will pick up that dream job.

3. Your Mom will be proud.

Well, maybe.  If you’re in college and part time job helps you pay your cell phone bill instead of Mom and Dad, they’ll be happy you made the effort.  Having a flexible schedule will allow you to make sure you will still have time to focus on your studies.

4. Your company will be better off.

Ultimately, all jobs would be better of with a little flexibility.  When a person shows up to work preoccupied about having missed their kids dance recital or skipped going to class, everyone loses.  Companies are better off when their employees can focus on their work.

5. Travel the world.

The world has less than 200 countries in total.  Why not see a few of them?  With a flexible schedule you could work 7 days a week for 3 weeks in a row, and then take the 4th week off.  See twelve countries in a year, and see all of em in less than fifteen.

6. Don’t get bored.

It can boring doing the same job day in and day out.  Why not switch it up?  With a flex job you can be a programmer on Monday, and a gardener on Tuesday.

7. Be there for your family.

These days families get scattered all over the country.  Sometimes we only get to see each other on the holidays.  With a job that lets you travel and pick up shifts in another city, you can be in multiple places without giving up income.

8. Make more money.

When you work a job that has flexible shifts, there will be opportunities help coworkers by covering their shifts.  That means more money for you.  A few hundred dollars here and a few hundred there, and soon enough you’ve got real money.

9. Be healthy.

How many times have you heard “I’d go to the gym, but I don’t have the time.”  With a flex job you have options to get that run you need a couple times a week.

10. Be happy.

Sometimes you just need a bit of time off.  A flex job lets you take quick breaks to blow of some steam so you can get back in the saddle feeling refreshed.  Freedom enables happiness, and flexibility is a slice of freedom.