New Career Opportunities In The Sharing And Gig Economy

How does the Sharing Economy affect you? Another piece of jargon might be your immediate reaction. Yet, it matters to us as consumers, how we live our lives and earn a living.

I went to a business networking event at a local university this week and enjoyed a stimulating session about three models of the Sharing Economy:

• Products and Services - Uber, Ebay, AirBnB are all examples of platform-based companies that miss out the middle-men and connect customer and supplier, taking their slice of income. Expected to generate ￡120 billion by 2020.
• Redistribution Markets - car clubs, dog sharing, neighbour sharing and the wonderful Real Junk Food Project are examples. Students at this university have started a Buy, Sell and Swap scheme for course books, materials etc.
• Timebanking - giving your time and expertise to others, banking the time and buying back their expertise when you need it. For example, social media support for a small printing business.

Other forms of the Sharing Economy include crowdfunding, makerspaces and collaborative consumption. It might be stretching it a bit far, but I'd include mutually beneficial exchanges in the learning space. For example, I've taken on two work placement students from a local university for 6 weeks. They are providing me with technical expertise and access to facilities in an area I don't possess. In return, they get coached and mentored, exposed to professional life and practical work experience as part of their degrees. 

Much of this is about working in a different way. It's going on around us in myriad forms. The implications are already being seen as more people become freelancers, contractors and portfolio workers. The related Gig Economy is now on the agenda of the presidential hopefuls in the US (because of the changing status of the 'employee'), so it's gaining serious attention. LinkedIn has just got in on the act. Different employment statuses, flexible-working patterns and career directions.

What are the opportunities and threats for you if you are a business owner, an employee looking for a career change or a student/recent graduate starting out in your working life?

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David (@David_Shindler) is an independent coach, blogger and speaker, associate with several consultancies, founder of The Employability Hub (free resources for students and graduates), author of Learning to Leap: a guide to being more employable, Digital Bad Hair Days and co-author with Mark Babbitt of 21 Century Internships. His commitment and energy is in promoting lifelong personal and professional development and in tackling youth unemployment. He works with young people and professionals in education and business.

To read more of his work - visit the Learning to Leap blog and download the app to receive his weekly blogs on your mobile (iTunes and Google Play).

And check out his other published articles on LinkedIn:

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