Should a worker get behind the wheel as a Lyft driver? Or might a job helping people move through a different app such as Tiptapp be preferable?
A startup called AppJobs.com aims to help online workers navigate the gig economy/human cloud landscape by letting them rate human cloud platforms, share tips, find opportunities and more. It reached 700,000 new members this month and is adding 10,000 to 15,000 each week.
“Our mission is to be the gig workers’ best friend; that’s what we strive for,” says Alok Alström, CEO and co-founder.
The company, based in Stockholm, focuses on helping online platform workers in Europe and the US.
Beginnings. Alström started AppJobs.com 2½ years ago. He had been serving as general manager of Uber in Sweden when he noticed that online workers didn’t have a place in which to build a community. They needed a place to interact, discuss topics such as the pros of different platforms, insurance tips, or to just blow off steam.
“Uber drivers, just like people working with anything else in the world, have a need to interact with each other, to build a community,” he says.
The result is AppJobs.com.
And last month, the company got the spotlight at Staffing Industry Analysts’ Collaboration in the Gig Economy conference when it was a top winner in a competition styled after the “Shark Tank” television show.
AppJobs.com was among five finalists selected from a field of 20 to present at the conference. It tied for the top spot in the competition with Keeper Tax, a company that aims to assist human cloud workers in the US with taxes.
Some might liken AppJobs.com to a Booking.com for online platform work. But company founder Alström believes that boiling down AppJobs.com’ definition that way might help those who haven’t heard of the company to understand its mission, it’s a reduction and doesn’t tell the whole story.
Alström says that’s one of the challenges. The online platform jobs industry is only about 10 years old; it’s so new that definitions and dynamics are still being drawn up.
Gig Economy. Some refer to only electronically mediated online work as the gig economy. However, Staffing Industry Analysts takes a broader view; its definition includes all contingent jobs as the gig economy. However, SIA doesn’t include online leasing websites such as Airbnb or Vrbo in its definition while others do.
Looking ahead, the company feels the industry’s evolution is poised to continue.
“We are actually starting to consume work, on demand, same as with food or entertainment,” says Tobias Porserud, president of the AppJobs.com Institute at AppJobs.com. Porserud was co-founder and CEO of a recruitment company before joining AppJobs.com.
Same as picking a movie on Netflix or a date on Tinder, workers will be able to pick a job. AppJobs.com aims to reduce the friction of connecting with work so workers can decide when and where they want to work.
While people in the past may have been stuck with one job for their lives, they can easily try different jobs using online platforms.
“We’ve gone from one job decided by your parents to now you get more and more opportunities,” Porserud says. “And it’s getting easier and easier with technology to try out different things.”
AppJobs.com aims to not just be a gig worker’s best friend but also to support them while they are doing these jobs.
Alström notes that while many jobs are going away, new ones are always being created. And there’s a need to be human friendly despite the onslaught of technology.
Contest
In addition to AppJobs.com and Keeper Tax, other finalists presenting before the judges were Khonvo, represented by founder and CEO Andrew Rising, which aims to provide automation to assist recruiters; F| Staff, represented by CEO Justin Clarke, which provides an online platform for truck driver staffing; and Parker Dewey, represented by founder and CEO Jeffrey Moss, which aims to connect students to companies using micro internships.
Judges at the event were Thomas Jajeh, CEO and founder of twago; Jody Miller, co-founder and CEO of Business Talent Group; Gary Swart, general partner of Polaris Partners; and Fabio Rosati, executive chairman at Snag.
