A new way of matching people with opportunities

It was the cards in the Newsagents window, advertising everything from piano lessons to Pekinese puppies that gave me the idea for Shopwindow, a feature of the Excelerate Resources website where individuals could post their own profiles, emphasising what they could offer, rather than wait for specific jobs to apply for.

They could feature a particular aspect of their experience that may be of interest on a contract or project basis, whilst not interfering with their search for full time work.

This reflected a change in the employment market. Those in mid-career, coming off the corporate ladder for the first time, found it increasingly difficult to secure their footing, with a series of quick moves ensuing. Their experience, energy and potential squandered in the pursuit of another 'secure' full time role, ignoring the opportunity to take their skills to market. The Shop Window is intended to attract employers who need those skills but who hadn’t created a fulltime hole they needed to fill.

When I described this to Jonathan Smith, the creator of the Talk Business network, it connected with his view that the independent businesses, charities and major employers that he had been effective in drawing together across the Midlands, needed their own job board.

The conversation quickly moved on, and it not only became a place where post-pandemic, individuals might find work, but for freelancers and small businesses to promote their services, and for local businesses to put up opportunities they needed resource to help with that fell outside the standard nine-to-five employment briefs.

There was discussion of the new feature that had appeared on LinkedIn, a tool we both used extensively. This was the green semi-circle, that individuals put around their pictures with the line '#opentowork’. It was this phrase that was settled on as the name for this project.

The disruption caused by Covid has been fertile ground for many good ideas, the challenge bringing them to germination. Both of us were seeking to change the nature of our businesses during lockdown.

In Jonathan's case, the huge task of moving a programme of face-to-face networking events online and in my own, to change the focus from finding senior people for the drinks and hospitality sectors to a more international and diverse one. Jonathan's success in creating a powerful virtual network was inspiring and with some additional time and a spare website in the back of the cupboard, we were able to move to a soft launch relatively quickly.

Not the ideal way to build a new platform as I'm sure any number of digital consultants would confirm but it is now live and open to individuals and businesses across the Midlands at www.opentowork.uk.

Here you will find interesting opportunities from a mix of standalone sole-practitioners and substantial businesses in the Midlands. You will also find well established freelancers alongside individuals taking their first steps towards running their own business by sharing what they offer the market.

There is no middleman in the way of connections being made. Not as many individuals as we expected as yet. It may be the pain-killing effect of furlough has meant many businesses and individuals in them do not yet know the full impact of the pandemic until the lockdown is lifted, revealing how many of their staff will be needed to service their new business models.

Do take a look and let us have feedback. Put up a post in one, more or all the categories. The site is set up with a small charge - £1 pound for individuals, £5 pounds for a business to place an opportunity to contribute to overheads. So, get posting and let’s make sure the Midlands emerges from Covid with a strong and sustainable economic base of small businesses.

Are you #opentowork? This is a platform for those with skills to offer to businesses looking for talent or for companies to list opportunities as well. Get involved at opentowork.uk or email david.kelham@excelerateresources.co.uk