I read with interest about a new website that will promote working from home in the Sunday Business Post the other day. eWorkingIreland.com is the site and when I went into it on Sunday I met a static holding page without an email capture box, instead visitors were asked to email them to be notified of a live date. Well I went along a moment ago to see it is live (a redirect from Centrecom who are maintaining the site) and it's worth a visit. There are some basics like the benefits to eworkers and companies which most of us already know - no commute, less stress, more productivity and higher staff retention and so on. However, I did have a brief look at section on Studies, Report and White Papers and I have to say there's a lot of good content and case studies there. Definitely worth a look.

Labels: contracting, flexible work, part-time work, self-employed, smart work, work life balance

Just back from Wexford town where I attended and spoke at an event on social media (blogging, podcasting, social networking) hosted by Wexford County Enterprise Board and the Irish Internet Association. It featured a really good line up of speakers (of course I would say that) starting with an edu-taining piece from Philip Macartney, Head of Sales Ireland for Bebo, then a very funky presentation from Donald Douglas from Return2Sender showcasing all his highly creative mobile media campaigns. After the coffee break (my mint tea), Brain Greene of Doop treated us to history lesson on radio and IT and its convergence today to blog radio, podcasting and general audio recording as a tool for business. Then I spoke about Flexitimers' activities in the social media space and hopefully I imparted some titbits of knowledge for small businesses out there to get out and start their own conversations, communicate and engage with their customers, clients, staff and any other interested parties.
I met some very nice people - yes it is nice to log off every now and again and actually meet people face-to-face. Then had tea in the bar later with my two college buddies Chris and Ed - we all met on the SEEPP programme in WIT this time last year. Also met a few people from the home town including Dave (office neighbour) from Cada Media who was kind enough to email the photos below so thanks a million for that. Overall I had a good day and I hope the delegates did too. Feel free to comment below and they won't be moderated!

Labels: Flexitimers, small business, social media, social networking, web2.o, wexford web

Just reading David Behan's post The Internet is Good for a Recession and he made some excellent points about the effect the recession will have on the Internet for consumers, business and the web industry itself. I added a comment saying I feel the recession is a good time for freelancers and contractors as companies will opt for a lower risk outsource rather than hire someone full time which is always good news for us. A friend of mine who manages a geo-engineering company was looking for a full time marketing manager to increase their visibility and I told him to hire a good designer and copywriter to revamp collateral (freelance gig), a business consultant/mentor to help with strategy (freelance gig), a journo / PR person to write and more importantly distribute press releases (contract gig) and a smart administrator to work maybe 8-10 hours per week to manage all of the above. I reckon he'd get a lot more done in a fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost. This is the message we have to send out there - work still needs to be done, it definitely needs to be professional but it can be compartmentalised and be done so much better by the right people with the right skill sets. Hooray for Flexitimers.

Labels: Flexitimers, Recession

There was a feature in today's Irish Times about Flexitimers saying how we're a new recruitment website catering for flexible working. The article talks about the demand for more work flexibility by several of our target markets - working parents, retired professionals and freelance and contract staff. It also talks highlights the benefits to employers in providing flexible work arrangements as a means of retaining staff but more importantly as a solution to companies' staffing requirements in these uncertain economic times. Feel free to join the conversation.

Labels: Flexitimers, Media Coverage

We had a meeting with Krishna De yesterday to get advice on our blog, social marketing and general online activities. I have to say she's very impressive. I met her during the summer as she's also a member of the Irish Internet Association's Social Media Working Group and then more recently at this years Podcamp Ireland un-conference in Kilkenny which she organised. To me she is the ultimate Flexitimer - a career and CV enviable to even the noblest HR and marketing professionals. Now she's out on her own evangelising social media and helping hundreds of companies and not-for=profit organisations to just get out there blogging, tweeting and whatever it takes to join the conversation. I took a picture to add to this post and when and if I find the flex that connects my phone to the laptop, I'll upload it. So thank you Krishna for your time and excellent counsel. Talk to you soon.

Labels: Out and About

I'm not pretending to be a recruitment or HR specialist but something I've noticed recently is people applying for jobs despite not having the required skills or experience. This is a major no no.
Think about it, you're run off your feet trying to manage your business / dept / team and when you finally get the g0-ahead to take on some extra help, what you certainly don't want is to receive a pile of CVs from people from a wildly different career / skill set you require.
Now I'm all for career promiscuity and trying new things but from my personal experience - the only times I've moved into something completely different was when I'd met someone either socially or formally, got to know them and then was invited to 'try' it out. In these circumstances the 'personal' or 'face to face' relationship was what got me the job or contract not a speculative email to a stranger saying 'I'm a dentist but I've always wanted to cook'. So what I suggest is go out more, network, meet people and see what pops up but in the meantime if you're applying for jobs online or by snail mail, remember the stranger at the other end justs wants someone to muck in and get the job done.
Now to Flexitimers, if you have a profile on Flexitimers then you'll be automatically alerted of any job that matches your experience and requirements and the employers will be told about you too. You also have the option of browsing the site and applying for jobs directly but think about this: if our system doesn't think you're a match, then maybe you're not and please don't waste your time applying for positions (which I'm sure you're capable of doing) but haven't done before: save that for the offline interludes where people can assess you face to face and make a call on whether you're suitable. Flexitimers is all about people - ideally people having a positive experience on the site and positive rewards - finding flexible work and flexible staff. If we apply for jobs and get rejected because we're not suitable well that's not a positive experience for us or the employers. We really want to make this work because we think flexible work is the future so think twice before applying for a position just because it's in your area or the hours you want - make sure it's a right fit for your professional experience and remember it's early days and new jobs are being added daily so something absolutely perfect with your name on it will pop up - wait for it. The best things are worth waiting for.

Labels: FlexiTips

There was an article about us in yesterday's Sunday Independent in the business supplement. Essentially it's about our philosophy about the changing nature of work - you don't have to work in a full-time permanent job to have a career. Benefits for employers too but you can read about that in the Flexible Future. We've received an enormous response to this article not only in registrations to the site from both professionals and employers but also for the many kind and well wishing emails we've received. So thank you all for that. And remember Flexitimers is a person-2-person platform and works best when there are lots of people on it so don't forget to tell your friends: if you pass us on via the site you can enter our fab competition to win a chef in your kitchen for a day who'll cook up a storm and fill your freezer with mouth-watering ready made dinners. Yum.
PS That's a particularly unforgiving picture of both of us but I would say that anyway!

Labels: flexible work, part-time work, work life balance