Job share

[Cottagepieandpeas]

Does anyone have any advice / experience about applying for a job share?

I have a potential partner but don't know about the application process - presumably we should get together and consult about our individual applications?

I've no experience of job sharing so anything would be helpful.

I wouldn’t expect a joint application for a job share role. I would expect the employer to recruit two people separately, or more likely they already have one person and are hiring the other.

Sometimes working at one part of the week can be easier/harder depending on the role.
Make sure you are kept up-to-date with any changes as if you are not there, you can be left out of new developments.
Having a job share partner can be a good thing as long as you both communicate.

@Aprilx

I wouldn’t expect a joint application for a job share role. I would expect the employer to recruit two people separately, or more likely they already have one person and are hiring the other.

The job is advertised as available for job share so I’m assuming that if we both apply we could just indicate we are interested on a job share basis.

No you should separately apply and clearly state on your application that you would like job share.

Apply separately and indicate you are open or only willing to job share. Unless you already both work for a company you don't align yourself to someone else. It is likely they already have part timers they can match potential applicants with.

I jobshare. Who you do it with has a massive impact on how successful you are, a good fit is number 1 priority so you should absolutely apply and state that your intention is to do it together.

How to make it works probably depends on what sort of job it is. I'm in a professional office based role so tips geared to that. Communication is key and getting your hand over material right takes work but worth it. Be open and honest with what is and isn't working and what could be done to improve it. Try and think as one and set each other up to succeed - setting up meetings, chasing actions etc. Think about whether you are going to share responsibilities or split them or a mix.

I love job sharing so happy to share insight if it's relevant to your situation.

Thanks @firsttimekat that’s really helpful. The role is also office based, professional so some useful insights, thank you.
It’s a new role and reasonably specialised so unlikely to be many internal candidates, but we’ll see.

I think it's a great idea to do a joint application if they are looking to recruit 2 members of staff you have just taken the ache out of searching for two people who can make this work together and demonstrated you are already thinking like team thinking about how you can make this work! It's like a gift! If they are only looking for one part of the job share they will probably treat you separately with your permission. Good luck!

Yes you apply as two separate individuals and then they pick the best two candidates from those interviewed and ask you both if you'd like to job share. This is assuming someone who wants all the hours isn't a better candidate.

As you can see from my username my first experience of job sharing started out badly because of a lack of communication and handover between us, which I'm pleased to say has incrementally improved! Overall our styles of working are very different but we are equally capable and therefore we are achieving in the role, it is just harder than I think it could be due to having to remind my colleague about needing handovers. In the end my manager had to speak with the person about the impact not handing over was having and then I suggested a couple of options to try out and so did they. We're getting there! The benefits outweigh the disadvantages for me.

Best of luck.

For applying. Is the application process flexible enough for you to set out that you want to job share and who with, perhaps addressing how the job share might work better for the employer than a single person e.g 2 sets of experience, different skills, 2 heads to think through a problem, likely to take leave at different times so shorter gaps when no one is available. Can help if the employer hasn't had experience of working with job shares before.

For making it work - finding a partner before applying rather than accepting whoever you might be paired with if you can help it. Communication communication communication!!!! It's likely to be difficult at first and for me managing an inbox between us was a particular problem but we worked it through and I wouldn't be without her!

When we start working with new people we always talk 5mins to explain how our set up works and that we should be viewed as one and we take care of handover so people shouldn't need to repeat themselves.

Because of the way meetings fall one of us ends up attending some meetings and the other a different series but in some ways it can help with knowledge retention but we are always clear that the other can cover follow up conversations. I work early in the week and tend to take more of the meetings and my partner tends to have more time for thinking through things on a Friday or clearing things from our team, you just have to accept that you might do different things but that overall contribution is equal.

Will you have line management responsibilities? Think about how to share these and how you'll support staff effectively without placing extra burden on them.

I could whittle on for hours so feel free to ask any specific questions.

@firsttimekat

For applying. Is the application process flexible enough for you to set out that you want to job share and who with, perhaps addressing how the job share might work better for the employer than a single person e.g 2 sets of experience, different skills, 2 heads to think through a problem, likely to take leave at different times so shorter gaps when no one is available. Can help if the employer hasn't had experience of working with job shares before.

For making it work - finding a partner before applying rather than accepting whoever you might be paired with if you can help it. Communication communication communication!!!! It's likely to be difficult at first and for me managing an inbox between us was a particular problem but we worked it through and I wouldn't be without her!

When we start working with new people we always talk 5mins to explain how our set up works and that we should be viewed as one and we take care of handover so people shouldn't need to repeat themselves.

Because of the way meetings fall one of us ends up attending some meetings and the other a different series but in some ways it can help with knowledge retention but we are always clear that the other can cover follow up conversations. I work early in the week and tend to take more of the meetings and my partner tends to have more time for thinking through things on a Friday or clearing things from our team, you just have to accept that you might do different things but that overall contribution is equal.

Will you have line management responsibilities? Think about how to share these and how you'll support staff effectively without placing extra burden on them.

I could whittle on for hours so feel free to ask any specific questions.

You sound amazing - we had job share teachers and it was always a bit of a nightmare when problems needed resolving - they didn’t have a clue what was going on - didn’t even attempt to.

@londongram that's very kind of you. I'm not a teacher and can only imagine trying to keep track of 30+ kids progress/issues is really hard I struggle with my 5 direct reports.

My son hasn't had a job share teacher but the one I've seen at school I'd guess that they don't have enough handover time. My partner and I work a combined 1.2FTE so we both work Weds and it's gives us a chance to have a handover discussion and a joint SMT meeting.

I don't think you can be effective if you don't have any common time where you can discuss issues - at least not in my type of role. I know some jobshares who do the handover bits in their own time but I don't think that's fair.

Dh has worked with a senior job share team - they both worked Wednesday together, he said they were amazing completely on top of everything - no excuses from them about not being up to speed with projects or missing deadlines they stood out. He said it was a case of you spoke to one, you spoke to both and given that he works in fast paced projects when one person in a job can struggle to stay on top of everything - they made it work and they worked hard at making it work.

Thanks again everyone. Really helpful stuff here.
I like the idea of both partners working 0.6 to give some proper handover opportunities.

@Cottagepieandpeas

Thanks again everyone. Really helpful stuff here. I like the idea of both partners working 0.6 to give some proper handover opportunities.

Paying 1.2 FTE for one role is expensive, I expect both parties would want to bargain hard on their salaries - you'd have to convince them the merits outweighed the costs. I see Ofgem have just appointed their first co director job shares - not aware of their actual arrangements but the diversity card was played very strongly.