Two of the region’s coworking hubs are teaming up on an initiative intended to help people find tech jobs.
It started at American Underground in Durham. Tim Scales, executive director, saw three new members join “specifically because they expressed that they were job seeking.”
It seemed like a strange proposition — paying for desk space when you don’t have, well, a steady paycheck. But when three people do something at the AU, it gets Scales’ wheels turning. So he reached out to Lauren Romer, his counterpart at Raleigh Founded. What if they both offered discounted membership programs, intended to get would-be techies hired at innovative companies?
“It felt a little weird at first to charge for this,” Scales said.
So they decided to up the value proposition, including services like professional headshot creation and monthly jobseeker skills workshops. The goal is to build a network as jobseekers look for their next role in startups or technology.
“Our hope is, it’s largely cost-neutral to those individuals,” he said.
At American Underground, it’s $50 a month, a 75 percent discount. And after a LinkedIn post Thursday, another three people signed on, making Scales think they had something.
By launching in conjunction with Raleigh Founded, the initiative covers a broader scope in the Triangle. While job creation has slowed in the tech industry, AU companies are hiring, he said. And it helps to be on the inside.
A quick sweep of the AU job board shows openings at Relay, Aledade, Processmaker, LogDNA, Pattern Health and Raptor Maps.