When Gen George went overseas on a working holiday she did not expect to come home with a business concept that would see her named as one of Australia’s top female entrepreneurs.
That business is One Shift, a job network giving businesses big and small instant access to people who can fill a vacancy. “We’ve seen businesses fill positions within 27 minutes of posting their job,” says the 23-year-old CEO. “In the hospitality industry especially, that’s gold.”
George experienced the challenges that come with looking for casual short-term work firsthand while overseas on a working holiday in 2011. Once back in her hometown Sydney she realised there was nothing that catered for job seekers in similar situations and was inspired to create something new to fill the gap
At first, George used a blog to post job vacancies and had to manually match the right person to the position. She realised that she was on to something when she reached 300 users, “I had no social life,” she laughs.
After six months of building up One Shift in her spare time, George took a leap of faith and quit her job in the property industry. “After that it was all guns blazing,” she says. Within the first twelve months, One Shift had 300,000 active job seekers and was supporting 35,000 businesses around Australia.
George attributes the huge and fast success of One Shift to the unique way that it operates and says that it is “relatable” to both businesses and job seekers. “From a business point of view it is an easy and cheap way to find someone in a short amount of time – sometimes business need people immediately, they might not have time to wait for job seekers to apply.”
On the other side of the coin, One Shift also helps job seekers who are frustrated with the slow process of traditional recruitment. “It allows job seekers to present themselves in a different way,” she explains. “We give people a platform to really sell their skill set. It’s not just about job history – it’s about who you are and what you can do.”
One shift has proved to be a game changer for many of its users, and they genuinely inspire George. “As corny as it sounds the stories keep me motivated,” she enthuses.
“People have actually been able to change their whole life style because of One Shift. It gives job seekers a medium to find work that suits their lifestyle.”
Of course establishing a successful business does not come without challenges. George says that for her, the biggest stretch has been keeping up with One Shift’s rapid growth. “We’ve been learning on the job, and sometimes we’ve had to wing it,” she explains.
Acknowledging the massive learning curve involved in starting a new business, George says that she learnt a lot from her mistakes. “We’ve been fortunate to only have the usual catastrophes that can be overcome quite quickly. But you don’t end up where you are without going through those experiences in the beginning,” she explains.
George says that she has been lucky to have a great team around to support her in building a thriving business. “Some people have been with me from the beginning and have helped me establish the business. The challenge then is to build on that team.”
And although she puts long hours into running One Shift, George isn’t concerned about lack of work life balance. “People always go on about the work life balance thing, but I think having a life is finding something you are passionate about doing,” she says emphatically. “And this is my passion.”