Imagine going to a far-off place for a short-term job that not just allows you to apply your skills in a fast paced workplace but also provides cultural learning experience. Freelancing and temp jobs are fast becoming the norm, especially in the creative and tech sector. And services like Uber and Airbnb have ushered in the Sharing Economy where we are sharing not just doge meme and cat videos, but also our cars and homes as a viable means of business. So why not share job skills as well?
Powered by a Rockstar Team
The brains behind Jobbatical are veterans in their field, and created this company while they were on a “jobbatical” themselves, “After leading the launch of seven TV channels in the Baltics I really wanted a jobbatical – take my skills to a new team for a short while and learn something myself in a different cultural environment”, says Karoli Hindriks, founder and CEO, who was ranked by Business Week among the top 20 Entrepreneurs Under 25 in Europe in 2007. That’s not all, she invented reflective knitwear in high school and became the youngest inventor in her country. Her brother, Ronald Hindriks, is also involved, having worked with MTV and some of the biggest media company in the Baltic region and yes, in need of a jobbatical! The third co-founder, Allan Mäeots, started early as well, selling projects to a local aviation company at the age of 15. He has extensive experience as a software developer and handles the technical side of things.
Also on Jobbatical, are marketing head Claire Millard from Tesco and social media expert Isabel Hirama, a globetrotter.
Redefining how We Work
Hiring talents is like dating – the best ones are already taken and skills have become global – a great developer in NYC is great also in Paris. Finding full-time employees is arduous and expensive but short-term jobs that also offer a rich travel experience for professionals looking to take a sabbatical (or rather, a jobbatical!) while at the same time gain new perspective on their skills, can find many takers. Says Karoli, “We actually interviewed professionals across Europe and the US and as many as 74% said they are planning to take a career break and 60% told us that the ideal way to do it would be to work on a project abroad”.
Currently, this system of hiring only makes sense for experienced individuals who can officially take-off from their full-time workplace and offer something substantial in a short span. But Karoli is confident that this is how all us will be working in the future, “A year long project in London, six months in Rio de Janeiro, nine in Shanghai…work is moving towards an on-demand model and the proof of it is the rise of temporary jobs and freelancing”.
A temp job is fast paced, both in terms of skill application and payout, and it will slowly belittle the perks of a full-time job like health insurance and stable workload – as long as services like Jobbatical makes finding newer jobs in further-off places just a click away. And as of now, they are the only ones offering this unique blend of work and travel.
Jobbatical is fast gaining foothold in US, Europe and Brazil and the company has plans to expand to newer territories. Employers pay up for talent discovery but the service remains free for jobbatical seekers!
Take a leave FOR work by heading over to:
