Underlying principles of Job Squad: Why we’re doing this

Preface: This article was written during Week 7 of Ignite Accelerator.

If you could create a business around the themes and values which you feel best represent you as a person, what would that look like?

For me, the primary anchor points would be ‘tech’ and ‘hospitality’ — having worked in both industries since I was 18, I’ve pretty much lived and breathed them.

My perfect job would be coding something awesome whilst sitting in Hard Rock Café (or something similar).

Another theme I would want to tie in is around creating an awesome team. If you’ve ever worked on a restaurant floor yourself, you’ll know that when you work with a team you really gel with, the atmosphere is electric and the adrenaline is running. It’s a unique experience which comes with time once you find a team of people that work well together.

I’m also an advocate of transparency. Especially when it comes to pay. The way Buffer have promoted transparency is something I’d also love to include.

All of these key themes together have lead me to founding Job Squad. A marketplace for hospitality staff to find temporary work in venues. You could liken it to a traditional temp agency but with a modern, more ethical and tech savvy approach.

Firstly, I’m going to ensure it is transparent — letting workers know how much they earn, how much the venue pays us and where the rest of the money goes.

Secondly, I’m also going to ensure we are able to cut costs for venues — with the added value of technology, we won’t need as many people to process the admin/paperwork side of things.

Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, I believe in finding teams that work well together and keeping them together. With adding some clever tech behind the platform, Job Squad will be able to recommend staff to venues based on their past performance both individually and as part of a team. Having put the hours in on the floor myself I know the great benefits of keeping and developing strong teams of people in the industry.

So, it’s early days and there is lots more to lay out but these are the founding principles behind Job Squad. Hospitality. Technology. Transparency. Efficiency. Teams.