Specialising in Jobsharing for nearly four years has meant that during this time I have researched, interviewed, advised, matched, placed and trained different types of Jobshare partnerships.  I have learnt there are some key practices that can make life easy for employers, enabling you to embrace Jobsharing without over complicating the recruitment process.  I’d like to share them with you as part of our commitment to making Jobsharing accessible:
 

1.       Encourage applications from Jobshare partnerships in response to all full-time vacancies

Candidates are looking for permission from employers that Jobsharing isn’t career limiting; we speak to many women who quash their ambitions post family due to the lack of senior part time and flexible working opportunities, which is why women are more likely to be overqualified and underemployed in their jobs. We find if a partnership can conceive how to share a role, it can be done. Offering equal opportunity of interview to Jobshare partnerships simply gives motivated talent the encouragement they need to take action.

You can communicate your support for Jobsharing by simply displaying a Jobshare-Friendly kite mark, or by clearly communicating on your recruitment marketing that you will accept Partnership CV’s or joint applications. By accepting partnership CVs, you are engaging with partnerships that are already formed and so being Jobshare-friendly means you empower candidates to form Jobshares, it does not mean that you take ownership for creating the partnership.

Empowering candidates to form partnerships provides the first crucial test point for a new Jobshare; creating the Partnership CV or joint application. 

 

2.       Interview the partnership together, where possible

Jobshare vacancies are typically advertised as either full-time vacancies open to Jobshare (a new or replacement role), or part vacancies where there is an existing post-holder.  For full Jobshare vacancies you may choose to interview and/or test Jobsharers separately, but we advise to also include a partnership interview. This crucial step sets the expectation and provides the space for proactive Jobshare creation and engagement with the partnership identity from the outset.  

This practice provides another key test point for the partnership pre-appointment and irrespective of whether the partnership is new or established, taking this approach means you are implementing a recruitment process that implicitly tests the application of significant skillsets; communication, negotiation, collaboration, listening, etc.as well as candidates’ expertise in the role specialisms.

For “part-vacancies”, where you are recruiting one half of a Jobshare partner, the partnership interview may not be possible from the outset.  In this case, be sure to include in the interview process a meet and greet as well as a short task for partners to discuss together. 

 

3.       Empower partnerships to decide how they plan to deliver continuous service; don’t split the role

Overcomplicating Job design can create barriers and unnecessarily increase the time cost of recruitment.  Specifically, splitting a Jobshare into separate roles to recruit for, creates issues and an unhelpful divide within the Jobshare. Instead stick with the full-time role description and output requirements, encourage hiring managers to focus on the deliverables and KPI’s of the full-time vacancy and empower the partnership to decide how they plan to deliver continuous service.  Test the Jobshares communication plan as part of the interview process and trust that the experts you have chosen to interview, have the capacity to take responsibility of planning how to effectively deliver it together.

 

4.       Ensure stakeholders understand what a Jobshare is and how it works

Creating trust in the benefits of a Jobshare arrangement is important and whilst this is part of the responsibility of the partnership when in role, at the outset it’s also the responsibility of the hiring team to make sure everyone understands good practice and benefits of Jobsharing as an option. For the hiring team to effectively recruit and interview, they need to have a clear and consistent understanding of what a Jobshare is and the best practice when it comes to set up and management.  This can be addressed in a short consultation and is largely about saving the manager time by explaining how the Jobshare works as a unit, as opposed to the managers natural instinct, which we find in the absence of a consultation can be to double up on everything and create extra work.

 

I hope you have found this information helpful and hopefully thought provoking.  If you have any questions, you can contact me at [email protected] .