There are several reasons why a professional may need to reduce working hours while maintaining their careers. A few examples include:
- Working mothers who want to take care of their newborn for a couple years without putting their careers on hold.
- Individuals who want to re-enter the workforce after taking a few years off, but at reduced hours.
- Working professionals who need to take care of an ailing family member or themselves.
- Working professionals who would like to continue their education while keeping their careers.
Job Sharing may be one way to enable these individuals to achieve their desired work-life balance. In a job-sharing work model, two job mates with common and complementary skills share a full-time position, each on a part time basis.
When you job share with another person, you become a pair that must work as a team to succeed. Not everyone is good at working together—some don’t even like it! And that is okay, but it is important to determine if job sharing is the right fit. A little self-reflection can go a long way to help in this case.
Before you engage in any such work arrangement with another professional, ask yourself the following questions, and answer them honestly:
- Am I flexible and adaptable?
- Do I believe in continuous improvement?
- Do I have a collaborative work style?
- Do I have a willing attitude?
- Am I self-motivating?
- When something doesn’t go as planned, do I take ownership?
- Do I communicate well?
- Am I organized?
If you answered yes to those questions, you’re well on your way to a successful job-sharing arrangement! Be sure to login and use Job Pairing’s “Is Job Sharing Right For Me?” under Templates & Tools to assess your potential.