At TheEmployable we truly believe that everyone should be valued, “employed” or not. We all have skills, knowledge and experience that are worthwhile and valuable and which if used to their full potential can help us all make a difference in our lives. Our skills are probably our biggest assets. And in these, shall we say, less than prosperous times, our skills can be even more valuable. Which is why perhaps, there has been a significant rise in the number of Skill Swapping and Sharing sites over the last couple of years.

 If you are not too familiar with the concept of Skill Swapping, it is a form of trading where instead of money changing hands, skills are exchanged instead – a bit like bartering. And if you are considering starting a business, and have a pretty limited budget, skill swapping sites can be very worthwhile looking at. It’s just a matter of thinking creatively. Think about what skills or services can you offer in exchange for skills or services that can hep you get your business off the ground.
So, if you are intrigued, interested, or simply keen to know more, then why not check out the Skill Swapping and Sharing sites we have outlined below.

Timebanking

Through this national charity, participants  ‘deposit’ their time in the bank by giving practical help and support to others and are then able to ‘withdraw’ their time when they need something done themselves. If there are no “timebanks” near where you are, there is also a guide to how to set up your own .

Skillbound
This online portal lets you post the skills you have and the skills you want to learn. You receive an alert when a member wants you to teach them and you can browse the members database to see who could teach you.

Skillsbox
With Skillsbox, you can create a profile highlighting your skills and you earn credits when your “skills” get hired by another member. You can then trade in these credits whenever you choose.

The People Who Share

This site is more than just an online portal for sharing. It is essentially a movement of like-minded individuals who want to help build a world where people share skills, time, knowledge, resources and responsibility.

Skillpages

The premise behind SkillPages is that you create a profile and get instantly notified when an opportunity matching your skill and location becomes available. Likewise if you are looking for someone with a specific skill, you simply post the skill you are looking for; it gets shared to Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. Then your need gets matched against the SkillPages database.

We would love of course to hear your thoughts on this. Please use the comments section to let us know your views, your experiences of these sites or even if there are other sites out there that we should be aware of.

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