Melissa NicholsoN INTRO

MELISSA NICHOLSON: Finding your job share partner may seem daunting. The truth is, would-be job sharers are all around you who would jump for the opportunity to work half the week while slaying work with you if only they knew job sharing existed.

Introduction

INTRO: Welcome to Job Share Revolution. The show about job sharing—a partnership between two people to bring two minds and skill sets to one full-time position. I’m Melissa Nicholson, former job sharer turned founder of the first U.S. job share company. But it wasn’t long ago that I felt like an utter failure at work and as a new parent. Job sharing was my game-changer. I reclaimed four days a week to fully engage in my life while my capable partner handled everything. Together, we achieved more than I ever could solo. Fast forward to many lessons learned to bring you the training and support I wish I’d had to change lives and the modern-day workplace. Let’s live life and slay work.

Melissa NICHOLSON

MELISSA NICHOLSON: Hey there, friend. I’m slipping in on a Tuesday. I know we normally only do our Jobshare Revolution podcasts every Thursday, but I had one special extra episode I wanted to bring you.  Welcome back to Jobshare Revolution! I think you’re going to love our second training in the Myth Buster Series. If you missed the first last week and don’t, feel free to catch Will Job Sharing Work in my job? Let’s get to it and dive into busting myth #2: I don’t know anyone I can job share with. 

The first thing people ask me after the light bulb goes off when they learn about and realize how freakin’ amazing job sharing is is “How do I find my job share partner?!” It’s critical to know that job sharing is a fit for you and your future partner. In case you missed it and want a refresh, I cover it all in episode thirteen: Is job sharing right for you? As someone who has job shared with four—count them four partners—over my nine years of job sharing, and who’s helped talented folks find their job share partners for years, I know a thing or two about how you can find your job share partner. The yen to your yang. The Amy Poehler to your Tina Fey. And it’s definitely easier than you think. I didn’t always get it right in the beginning. But hey, nobody taught me how. My managers didn’t even know how to spot a good partner fit. Nobody taught them. That’s why I am teaching you! My first job share got off to a rocky start. They weren’t a good fit for job sharing. My second better, by my third and fourth partners, I’d learned so much more by my own trial and error, for years of joyful job sharing. If you’ve been listening to the podcast, you know I’m a pretty open book and a firm believer that you’ve got to share the good, the bad, and the ugly to lift as you rise. 

Finding your job share partner may seem daunting. The truth is, would-be job sharers are all around you who would jump for the opportunity to work half the week while slaying work with you if only they knew job sharing existed! Here’s the kicker: Your partner doesn’t need to be someone you work with or job sharing for the same reason you are. Learning how to identify and approach enthusiastic, talented candidates by opening your search and knowing what upfront conversations to have, will help you find the Amy Poehler to your Tina Fey!

So those partners I talked to you about. I knew my first partner the longest from back in the day at my first job out of college. But, I didn’t know what to look for in a partner and we really didn’t have those deeper talks about our personal lives or our partnership. Yeah, surface. We both had babies. We were both interested in job sharing. But we didn’t know to go much deeper than that.  I had stars in my eyes for my newborn, I just was in love with Iris, and I didn’t feel the opportunity would be on the table without us both being new moms. My second partner worked in a completely different role as a national sales manager and was more of an acquaintance. She had extensive experience but had just switched to a senior sales position. My third partner was a dear longtime friend who returned from a career break for her second child into my position. I barely knew my last partner, our experience levels really differed but she was a willing and quick study, and she had the “we” mentality necessary for job sharing from the very start. That willing and flexible attitude really served Stacy in being a perfect job share partner for me. Now all of them worked at the same company, but that was mostly because during the Great Recession, my company shifted the policy so both partners didn’t receive health benefits. That’s a mistake. And it was one that made it difficult to recruit a partner from the competition. If only my company had known that amplifying their job shares was a huge competitive advantage, it might have been a different story. That said, your partner does not need to be from the same company at all.

If you’re multi-tasking, come back to me. This episode is the training you do not want to miss. I’m going to share what your partner needs to and doesn’t need to be and a 5-step process for finding them.

There are six things your partner does not need to be: Number one,  your partner does not need to be Someone you’ve worked with or even someone you know  Second, as I’ve shared, your partner does not need to be someone who works at your company or that your boss knows.  Third, your partner does not need to be your friend or even an acquaintance  Fourth, they don’t need to be In the same field or share the same job title as you. As long as their skills are transferable to the role you will be sharing together, you are set.  Fifth, your partner doesn’t need to be a carbon copy of you, in personality or expertise. In fact, it’s better if they are not.  And sixth, your partner does not need to be job sharing for the same reasons you are. It really doesn’t matter why they are job sharing, only that you each know and respect one another’s reasons for wanting to job share. I think it’s just important to put this out there, as it’s really easy to think you should be looking for a person who’s where you are in life and job sharing for the reasons you want to job share.

Just having respect and an understanding of why they are interested in the job share. I think that’s important. The reason I really want to stress this and I think it’s very important to put this information out there is that it is really natural and easy to think that you should be looking for a person who’s where you are in life and who’s job sharing for the reasons that you want to job share. So it’s very common for somebody who’s a brand new mom to look for another brand new mom. That’s what I did, I didn’t know better. I didn’t know that I could open up my partner pool to even more people. That I didn’t need to look at someone right around me, at the same job, at the same company, of the same gender and parental status.

Job sharing with someone whose background whether gender, age, ethnic, religious, or gender identity is different from yours, can actually lead to better results and help companies with inclusion and belonging. Despite the recent backlash against the term DEIB diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, company leaders know that gender-diverse and ethnically-diverse companies outperform their peers financially. They may not as readily use the term as they did a short time ago, but they care and they are constantly looking at how to recruit and retain diverse talent. Keep that in mind when picking a partner too, because it is a great selling point for a job share. 

Now that you know who your job share partner doesn’t need to be, here is what they do need to be: A person you’re compatible with whose strengths fill in your gaps, and vice-versa. Someone who’s a fit for job sharing, like you are with similar values to yours. Your background can be very different as long as your values are aligned. You must be involved in the process and get to know your partner before working together. I am so adamant about this. You will want to discuss your goals and expectations. Be vulnerable with them, even if you don’t know them or know them well. Doing this will help you start your job share on solid footing. 

Now that you know who they need to be and who they don’t when you are thinking about how to find your job share partner and that process, I want you to make me this promise; I want you to throw a very wide net. Only once you’ve done this do I want you to narrow down your candidates. We call them Ideal Partner Candidates at Work Muse. To do this, you’re going to have to get bold, and put your worries about what others might think of you to the side so that you can put the idea of job sharing out there. Most people won’t even know what it is and they’ll confuse it with working part-time or think it’s for admin roles. If you get stuck explaining job sharing, feel free to use Work Muse’s definition: Job sharing is a partnership between two individuals to share the responsibilities of one full-time position. In layman’s terms, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Two people share one single role. You’re going to start your search with your network.

Here are five steps to help you find your job share partner. Are you ready? I wish somebody had come to me when I was looking for my job share partners and said, “Here are exactly the five steps you need to use to find your job share partner.” It would have been so much easier.   

Step one: Make a list of candidates you can see yourself job sharing with, starting with friends and coworkers to your connections through networking. Enlist your friends and colleagues who know you, what you’re capable of,  and the kind of person you are, to help you find a few candidates. Now, your friends don’t need to know much about job sharing or get in the weeds trying to explain it, they just need to know what kind of individuals you’re looking for so they can make a simple introduction. You’ll do the rest. And you make sure that they know that. You’re going to do the legwork. The heavy lifting. All you need is an intro.

Step two: Narrow the list after researching your candidates. You can easily do this. It’s never been easier on LinkedIn or Facebook. Honestly, I think LinkedIn is the perfect place, whether you know them personally, they are an acquaintance, or someone you don’t know at all, but a connection through a friend or colleague. Or even a cold connection who might be in the role or at a company you’re interested in working at. I’d make several lists with your top five to ten networking connections for each category from those you know personally to those you don’t know at all. So just to clarify that: make different lists with five to ten connections in each list from the people that you know the closest—like people from your direct network, people who are former colleagues, people that you are friends with, all the way down to people that you might not even know at all.

Step three: Order your narrowed list of Ideal Partner Candidates who you will meet with to discuss job sharing. You are going to meet with your Ideal Partner Candidates, in person or on Zoom. Start with you from those you know personally to those you don’t know, but who might be your ideal job share partner.

Step four: Meet with at least your top three to five Ideal Partner Candidates to talk about the possibility of job sharing and doing it with you. You can do this in person which is my preference or by Zoom. Remember, you don’t have to live in the same city to job share if it’s a remote position. In fact, time zone differences can actually be a great benefit to your team’s productivity and a good selling point to your employer. So when you meet, you will want to talk about your personal and professional goals, and your reasons for job sharing, and find out more about them. And drumroll…Step five: Select your job share partner.

That’s it! It really is easier than you think. It’s a lot like spotting a Volkswagon bug. I say this all the time, it’s just like spotting a VW bug. Once you start looking, you’ll see Ideal Partner Candidates everywhere. These Ideal Partner Candidates are people who would jump at the opportunity to job share and to do it with you because you are awesome. And they are all around you. Doing this upfront work to find the right person, will give you so much confidence as you move forward with the idea of job sharing and putting together a plan to present to an employer together. There is really nothing like the momentum you get once you’ve found the person. There’s so much excitement in that right there. I remember sitting down, you know, in each of my job shares, and celebrating when we were really working through our plan. When we got approval, oh my goodness! Then it was time to go get a special dinner out and a glass of wine and cheers one another on. It’s really special. It will just light up your life, I’m telling you—finding that partner, creating that plan together, going for it, and getting it.  

There’s an African proverb I love. You’ll probably hear me say it many many times. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” And you will go so far together when you team up and join forces with a talented partner you can learn from, and gain strength from on days when you are just not your best or when circumstances outside of your control, be it the economy, or organizational changes, or company buyouts—those things happen. That partner will just make your job so much more fun. And at the exact moment that you can’t take it one more moment longer that week because it’s been a week. You get to hand it over to your partner and they come in ready to take it on. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

By meeting with several Ideal Partner Candidates, you’ve already set yourself up for long-term job share success. Should something change in your circumstances once job sharing, like your partner moving due to a spouse’s job relocation, you’ve already vetted some solid candidates for your next job share partner. Do you know how powerful that feels? When you have the know-how and have put in the work to own when you work, how you work, and who you will work with. When you are in charge of your career and your ability to progress it. When you’ve got a built-in cheerleader and champion in your partner? It’s going to feel oh-so-good, friend.

So if you come to me and say, “I don’t know anyone I can job share with” I’m going to serve you up a dose of tough love and I’m going to say, “Open your eyes. They are all around you.” 

Now you know my mission is to help as many people job share as possible, and as a mother and now a sandwich-generation dual caregiver, I know how life-changing job sharing was for me. It was my way. Can you do me a favor and share this episode with a friend or two? You know who, that thoughtful, hard-working friend who’s put so much into their children, that daughter or son who’s been there for their parents. It might even be your future job share partner. Yeah, I’m winking at you. To see the show notes, make sure that you go to work muse dot com forward slash fifteen. I’m sending you so much love, and I hope you have an amazing week. Bye for now!