Dynamic sharing economy workers - where to find them?

February 2, 2014 9:22 AM

I work in the public sector and love the idea of integrating into our service mix ideas about collaborative consumption, collaborative communities and the sharing economy. We're hiring and would love to target our ad as effectively as possible. Where can I go to make this opportunity known to folks with both a commitment to and talent for community building through dynamic, well-planned events and inspiring long-term projects?

I love sites like http://www.shareable.net, http://meshing.it, and http://www.newdream.org/programs/collaborative-communities/.

But none of them have a jobs board. Two queries posted via social media (Twitter and the Shareable FB page) were a bust.

The best site I've come across is Idealist.org, which charges government agencies $80 for a 60 day ad.

Beyond this, I'm not even sure what kind of job title to use. Event Planner and Program Coordinator hardly do justice to the vision. Community Organizer is in the ballpark, but not exactly right as we'd like to build community in general through a wide variety of means, focused on a wide range of topics -- civic democracy, the arts, literature, science, education, community gardens, oral history projects, co-working spaces, media labs, etc. "Community Architect"?? "Placemaker-in-Chief"??

Grateful for any ideas from the great MeFite Hive Mind ...

posted by woodman to Work & Money (4 answers total)

Best answer: Planetizen is one place you'd want to post the job. I saw you're in NH. Too bad it's not MA, because I'd also recommend HireCulture. If any aspect of this job crosses over, consider it. Idealist is a really good idea - because of the fee, it's free of cruft, so the jobs there are real and often good, therefore people read it.

Community Relationship Developer comes to mind as a potential title. Be bold with your title. The private sector's similar jobs have sexy titles like "Brand Evangelist." It is eye-catching - to the kinds of people you want - to see you thinking imaginatively about the title as well as the tasks.

The kinds of people you're after are active in the digital space. Put a link to the job page out on Twitter, Tweeting freshly about it every few days with hashtags that are related to your needs, and include the words "job opportunity." Use Facebook as well. Send a link to your listing to everyone in your contacts with a few lines about what kind of person you're looking for. Think about enticing lures - a photo of your 'problem' with a tagline like "can you fill this room with creative people?/ Do you know how to solve this?" or something like that (hard to ideate without knowing the field but you get the idea).

Also, MeFi Jobs please! I for one would love to look at this listing!

Finally, don't overlook the usual places you'd advertise - just be sure you're clear on how this job is different from the standard. A lot of people in cultural fields are leading a "double" professional life - an institutional one, where they do some traditional functional role, and an activist/personally driven one where they are developing community projects and events. This could give someone who knows both grassroots organizing and your field the chance to do all of what they love in one place. It's how I've seen museums making progress in this area - inviting people to not separate personal and professional passions, but bring them to bear on new positions that use both.
posted by Miko at 11:47 AM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Also, drop a line to the organizations whose sites you like (and I'd add Project for Public Spaces) and ask them to share with their networks. They just might.
posted by Miko at 11:49 AM on February 2, 2014

I think you can look within the normal library channels (recent graduates especially) and find a lot of people with that interest/background. I just came from a library conference where there were tonnes of sessions on that exact thing as well. I'm setting up a collaborative workspace/makerspace/local small business association in my public library and my background is MLS/Activism.

I am assuming you are a public library, please forgive me if you are not. One thing I have found in my 20 years in the library field is that it is easier for a librarian to create concrete action within the beaucracy of civil service than an activist to work within the very real confines of a public library that simply aren't there in activist organisations or collectives. For some people those confines are stifling, for others it is a challenge. You want someone with the later attitude because someone that finds politics/procedures/policies will quickly get burned out. For instance, I have been working almost a year on my proposal and it just recently got accepted due to politics and timing rather than my hard work; I'm okay with that but other people may not have been willing to bang their head against the wall for so long.
posted by saucysault at 1:19 PM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the great responses & ideas, Miko & Saucy!

There is a NH State Council on the Arts, which does have a job board.

I have a bit of work to do on the job title and job description front. But my sincere hope is that there are folks out there dying to find a job like this, thinking that it just doesn't exist, and that they will be alert to any opportunity that gives even a whiff of what we're talking about here.

I will definitely reach out directly to all the orgs mentioned & use MeFi Jobs along with all the usual channels in my own field.

Saucy was correct -- I am in the public library sector. That said, we're a small library in a town of just 8,000 & we have a great deal of autonomy. So bureaucracy will be much less of an obstacle. Not that I have carte blanche, but I think simple inertia will be & a lack of established models will be the bigger stumbling blocks.

Many thanks again -- some really good leads there.
posted by woodman at 2:07 PM on February 3, 2014