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Finding your perfect match: how job share can help you back to work

As the old saying goes, “a problem shared is a problem halved”, right? The same is true of a job! So if you’re looking for a part-time position so you can fit in family life too, job sharing can be a great option.

The big plus is that job sharing opens up more opportunities because there are generally more full-time roles available than part-time positions. With the right partner, job sharing can provide added flexibility, as you may be able to work between yourselves to cover each other when you have a sick child, or for holiday periods and other family commitments. It may also help to ease you back into the workplace after a parenting break – you can draw on each other’s knowledge to fill any skill-gaps while you get back into the swing of things.

But where do you start? How do you find your perfect match? And how do you go about getting the job?

There are several ways you can find a job share partner:

When teaming up with someone, there are some important considerations. Compatibility and communication are key elements to a successful partnership.

  • Choose a partner who has complementary skills to your own, rather than identical experience and qualifications. This adds value for any potential employer, and will also help you to work effectively as a team.
  • Ensure your partner has a similar work ethic and commitment to the role. Like any team project, sharing the same goals will lead to success.
  • Select someone who has a similar communication style to your own. This will help not only with communication between each other, but also relationships developed with co-workers.
  • Obviously, ensure that your job share team is able to physically cover full-time hours. You need to determine in advance who will work which days, and how you would manage absences like sick leave or holidays.
  • Be honest and frank at the outset about what you will do if one person decides to leave the job. This can save a lot of heartache if your situation changes later on.

When you do establish a job share relationship, it’s time to start applying for those jobs! Include both your resumes in the application, making sure they are set out and formatted in the same way so the document is cohesive. Your cover letter should include how you will work as a team – what your time split would be, how you would conduct hand-overs, and your plan for managing sick and holiday leave.

There are many advantages that a job share partnership can bring to an employer, so make sure you highlight these in your application. Employers gain a wider breadth of experience and skills by employing two people in a role, and bringing those skills to an organisation can enhance problem solving and decision making capabilities. Job-share teams can provide continuity. If one person is sick or on leave, the other is still able to perform the role. Also, during peak work periods, it may be possible for both partners to work, meaning that the organisation has more capacity to meet business demands. Ultimately, your application should demonstrate that you have an effective partnership, and allay any fears that the employer may have about hiring people in a job share arrangement.

Once you’ve landed the job, it’s time to get down to business.

  • Making a job share partnership work requires you to trust and respect each other. You and your partner need to support each other at all times. Don’t undermine them or their decisions with colleagues, trust their judgement, don’t compete with each other for brownie points with the boss, and don’t play the blame game when problems arise!
  • Communicate openly and regularly. Decide on a method you will use to communicate in a hand-over. Technology offers some great solutions for sharing notes and WIP lists. Set up shared email accounts and calendars so you have easy access to information you may need on the job. Keep in touch with your job share partner throughout the week, and take time to discuss any major decisions with them. It’s often a good idea to have a cross-over day where you both work for a portion of the week.
  • Make sure you pull your weight! Decide up front how you will split the role – will you each take on different tasks associated with the role? Will you share all the tasks and just split the days? Or will you do a combination of the two? This will depend on what the role entails, and the company’s requirements, but you should also take your differing strengths and weaknesses into account.  Whatever the split, make sure you each do what has been agreed.
  • Create opportunities for social interaction. Work teams often have after work drinks, office morning teas and the like to bring people together and generate a more effective, cohesive work group. Your job share partnership is no different, but you may pass like ships in the night, and rarely see each other in the work environment. It’s important to make the effort to have regular face-to-face get togethers.

Job share can be a great option for return-to-work mums. Whilst there are some hurdles to overcome, and it can require an up-front time investment to get the partnership right, it is a model that allows you to maintain your career progression while achieving significant benefits in terms of work flexibility.

Employers are increasingly starting to see the benefits of this model too, and job share opportunities are on the rise. There’s never been a better time to find a partner, and get back to the career you love.