What is Trade Jobs?
Trade Jobs is a platform for trade-to-trade construction recruitment. The platform has been designed by the trade for the trade. It aims to make managing labour and workload quicker, easier and more affordable.
The platform helps to smooth over the peaks and troughs of labour management. It provides the trade with a list of available Tradespeople if work is busy and there is a need for additional help. Alternatively, if work is quiet or a gap has opened up in the work diary – it also provides somewhere to advertise availability and the opportunity to fill the work gap quickly without spending hours making calls to find work; let the work come to you!
Where did the Trade Jobs idea come from?
The Challenge
Founder of Trade Jobs, Clive Wheeler ran a carpentry sub-contract firm for over 30 years. Clive learnt exactly how changeable the construction industry can be during this time. He consistently found that projects are postponed last minute, material availability can change overnight and the weather can stop construction altogether! This volatility of the industry can make it very difficult to manage your labour requirements. It can leave you with surplus labour one week and not enough labour the next, and all through no fault of your own.
The Opportunity
Clive saw an opportunity to help change the construction industry, making life easier for both Contractors and Tradespeople. His vision was to design a platform for trade-to-trade only and to make the working relationship between Contractors and Tradespeople more fluid. He wanted the platform to provide somewhere for both Contractors and Tradespeople to easily find additional labour or additional work – depending on their requirements at the time. For example, a Contractor is approaching a project completion deadline and requires an extra Carpenter for just a week or two to help meet the deadline.
The vision was for the Contractor to be able to access a list of available Carpenters who may have found themselves without work over the same period of time; due to a project postponement. As a result, the Contractor gets the extra help they need to finish the project on time; and the Carpenter keeps themselves in work until their next project starts.
It became clear, as the idea developed, that the industry not only needed a platform for short term solutions for labour management, but also for longer term, permanent positions for the trade. Clive felt that there were plenty of websites for advertising professional jobs in construction, but not for trade jobs on site. If you’re a Contractor looking to take a bricklayer on, where do you post your job? If you’re a Bricklayer looking for a new job, where do you look? The alternative is to spend precious time making calls to contacts, trawling through websites online or posting something on Facebook.
The latest development in technology and especially apps had great potential for the industry. Clive wanted an App to deliver ease and speed of use and the option of instant notifications; all at both the Contractor’s and Tradespeople’s fingertips.
How does the Trade Jobs platform work?
The Trade Jobs platform currently has two parts; the app and the online portal which both work together. The team kept the Tradespeople in mind throughout the development of the user experience design of the app. Tradespeople spend most of their time on site and therefore use their phones more than a computer or laptop. Contractors are generally, more likely be in an office on a computer or laptop, therefore an online portal was devised.
The App – Tradespeople
On opening the app, Tradespeople have three options: ‘Show Me Trade Jobs’, ‘Post My Availability’ and ‘Show Me Tradesmen’.
By clicking ‘Show Me Trade Jobs’, Tradespeople can view a list of live jobs by completing just two simple steps. First, enter their Trade, confirm the distance they’re willing to travel for work and then their postcode. Finally, enter some simple details including their name, email address, phone number and CSCS card from the drop down list – then all jobs matching their criteria will appear. The list of jobs is live so keep checking – soon as someone adds another construction job, it will appear.
On the ‘Post My Availability’ option, if a Tradesperson completes the two simple steps as outlined above; entering their Trade, travel distance, postcode and then some simple personal details, they can enter dates they’re available to advertise to Contractors or other Tradespeople looking for some extra help. It is possible for Tradespeople to add multiple dates under ‘My Jobs’ and ‘Availability’.
By clicking the ‘Show Me Tradesmen’ button, Tradespeople are taken to the website portal where they can log in using the same credentials as on the app; in order to view a list of available Tradespeople. The list of available Tradespeople can be filtered by trade, date and distance – and the profile of each Tradesperson can be viewed.
The Website Portal – Contractors
Registering on the website portal is simple with only some basic company information and contact details required. The Trade Jobs website portal has been designed to have a similar feel to the Trade Jobs app, with three options on the homepage; ‘Post A Job’, ‘Show Available Tradespeople’ and ‘View Posted Jobs’.
When posting a job, again, there is only basic information required. The main pieces of information being the trade needed, start date and the job postcode. All Tradespeople with a matching trade and who’s working area covers the postcode of the project will be notified.
By clicking ‘Show Available Tradespeople’ and entering the site postcode, Contractors can view a list of readily available Tradespeople, which can be filtered by trade and start date. Contractors can then contact any suitable Tradespeople directly using the information shown.
We Need Your Jobs
As with all new apps, it is going to take time to build user numbers and the team are constantly striving to get new users and jobs on the app. The more users and jobs that are on the app, the more useful the app will be to the construction industry. The Trade Jobs platform is completely free to all users so get posting your jobs and your availability!
Feedback
It is the aim of the Clive and the team to develop an app which truly benefits the industry. The Trade Jobs’ app and portal will be constantly adapted and developed further to improve user experience. We welcome your feedback on what works well and what features to improve. Get in touch via our website.
