I am thinking of creating a service to match people who are both searching for jobs so they can be each other’s “job search buddy,” motivating each other, holding each other accountable, and helping each other prepare for interviews. Currently, searching for a new job can be very unmotivating and confusing: you don’t know what you don’t know, and you can easily get burned out, especially after a few bad experiences.
My services would help people learn from each other and approach what used to be a really solitary experience of searching for a job into a much more social and community-driven experience.
Is this something you’d want to participate in?
Wow, what a great idea! I could totally see this being useful. I would guess that people are also more successful in getting jobs when they have support systems and enthusiasm about the process. Once you start getting good results with this service, you can use those results to get more users!
I like this a lot. I suggest matching job buddies who have complementary work experience so they can also help each other break into new industries? Actually, reminds me a bit of this idea: https://sparkideas.app/ideas/cross-industry-mentorship-program/
Maybe there’s some crossover to explore?
Good idea. I suggest also having smaller groups within the solution based on industry, e.g., consulting, banking, teaching, etc. so people can get advice from others in the industry. Kind of like a cross between https://www.teamblind.com/ and https://www.fishbowlapp.com/ but more focused on the interpersonal connections!
Awesome suggestion–definitely worth a reach out!
It might be worth thinking of skills when matching job buddies as well. For example, with technical roles, will you want to match folks who are both technical? If not, the burden is more on the technical person to help the other upskill. Knowing the industry is one thing, but being able to pass technical interviews is another.
Totally agreed. Affinity groups based on skills exist informally, but it would be nice to formalize and bring positivity to those experiences. I’m thinking about, how in consulting, there are buddy systems to practice case interviews, our version of technical interviews. One challenge is that folks sometimes think that they’re enabling their “competition” to do better in the interviews by giving them more practice, but they fail to realize that people will find opportunities to practice, even if it’s without you. It’ll be an interesting challenge to think about how to incentivize camaraderie and partnership, especially in more competitive industries.
Great points. I will need to think through incorporating skills needed, industry, and where folks are in the recruiting process into these matches. Thanks for the comments here!
Thanks everyone for the great comments here! I’ll definitely incorporate these ideas in mind when I think more about matching folks, aligning on skills people are looking to learn, skills people have, industry, and where they are in the recruiting process. I’m also thinking about having some kind of community forum for people to network, share knowledge, etc. I’ll keep everyone updated as I make progress and move forward with this. Thanks again!