Once you have decided what type of work is for you (if you didn’t already know), you can accumulate real life experiences that require only a short-term commitment. This way, you can narrow down exactly what appeals to you. Now you are strengthening your background knowledge and expanding your experience. Not only that, but completing shifts at different organizations puts you in a position to network and make a ton of contacts. You have gained access to the people who may someday be able to introduce you to someone who has a job to offer. Or maybe in the future that company where you already have your foot in the door may have a job opening that would suit you.

Experience makes you stand out among the rest. With the unimpressive economic situation, packing more credentials into your resume increases your chances of getting one of the rare jobs out there. Convinced yet?

The Shift Mob recruits only the most creative of projects that non-profits or locals companies need done, but are currently facing budget constraints and fewer employees. To make sure each shift uses Shifters’ talents for more than filing papers and fetching coffee, we screen each posted project. We designed ShiftMob to be all about cataloguing all the great opportunities out their for those who have the skill set to take advantage of them.  Both the needs of Shifters who want experience, and the companies looking for extra hands are met We didn’t want ShiftMob.org to be place to search for seasonal internships, but rather a place for people like us who want to work for a short period (one, two, or three days) to make contacts and gain experience to find those opportunities. Rather than internships that last months and months and tend to become repetitive, these shorter shifts are meant to be fun, creative, and mutually beneficial.

We spent hours and hours refining the process of applying for, winning, and completing a shift. Whether we were working out kinks on the website, writing blogs, researching potential organizations, and creating content, The Shift Mob consumed much of our time and focus. Now we have provided for other talented and dedicated people a site delivering the kind of work we always wanted to do. So get out there and join the The Shift Mob!

And it’s not just the media, it’s coming from everywhere.  Even the graduation speaker at my school this year felt it was necessary to talk about the economy, as though graduates need to be reminded that now that they’ve finally finished school they’re entering one of the most difficult job markets in decades.

I will be graduating this coming spring, and I’m biting my nails and praying for the economy to completely turn around in the next year.  But let’s be honest, I can’t really count on it getting better.  The only thing I can do is work hard to make myself stand out as the best person for the job. I was never super-involved in high school or college, but the current economy has me thinking that maybe I should start looking for ways to look good to potential employers.

I’ve been interning like crazy trying to find out everything I can about the workforce right now.  I’ve worked at a radio station, for a non-profit and now for a buzz-marketing firm.  I’m also trying to familiarize myself with what employers are looking for right now.  What are the skills, computer programs, commitments they’re looking for?  What kind of experience do they want to see?  I plan to spend the next year working as hard as I can to make myself look good.

That’s a big part of why we started the Shift Mob.  For instance, what if you could say that you participated in five different projects, without having to commit to a semester long internship?  You could tell potential employers that you blogged for one company, designed flyers for another, researched competitors for another and helped out a non-profit all in the span of a couple of weeks.  I want people to have fun with their shift and learn new things about themselves and what they like to do.  But I also hope that the Shift Mob will help give people that little extra something when it comes time for job  interviews.