Air Events Global wants to connect event professionals to freelance jobs

Any job seeker looking for their next move knows the first place to look if they want to get a comprehensive scope of their options are online career platforms.

However, with hundreds of jobs being posted each day across Seek and Indeed’s various categories, finding the perfect – let alone secure – role to apply for is difficult to say the least, especially if you’re searching within the vast array of casual or freelancer positions.

Air Events Global is an online job marketplace looking to bridge the gap for freelancers looking for casual work in the events industry, by offering a space where event specialists are able to monetise their skills.

Businesses and everyday users wanting to host events are able to post job briefs, detailing the list of roles they’re looking for, which can stretch from booking a virtual assistant to digitally pre-plan an event, to professional wait staff to cater an event.

For the startup’s founder, Victoria Garlick, developing the platform meant a way for her to merge both sides of the event industry together, and fill the void that each were experiencing.

As an Event Management lecturer at the International College of Management in Sydney, Garlick said she saw that a number of her students were struggling to obtain casual work in the industry both while studying and once graduated.

“They also were frustrated having to have a locked schedule with a part time position and really wanted control of their own schedule,” said Garlick.

“On the other hand, clients were telling me how often they needed an extra set of hands for the pre-planning of an event or at an event, and couldn’t rely on volunteers as they were not turning up or when they did, were not contributing or taking ownership over their role.”

Similar to what other niche job market platforms such as MEETIG8, which connects risk advisors to large businesses, mean to the compliance industry, Air Events Global wants to achieve in the events space by offering a “self-serve” option for businesses.

Traditionally, businesses either hire an in-house marketing or event employee to complete any event work, or contract someone from an employment agency; both of which are costly processes.

Moving past these traditional methods and towards the digital landscape, Garlick explained that an online shared economy model is able to “empower” users, in that businesses are granted complete control over who they hire and how much they spend, while freelancers are strengthened with enough options to pick and choose a role that suits them.

“We are aiming to change the way people think about employment and services and give event freelancers liquid access to available work, giving them the unique opportunity to find work to fit in with their timetable and maintain a flexible lifestyle,” she said.

Elaborating on how the platform offers flexibility, Garlick explained that Air Events Global will intake a lot of specialised users working across the scope of the events industry, meaning businesses are able to hire workers who meet their exact needs, rather than employing a general marketing or event practitioner.

“It covers all event services, from booking casual event staff to work pre, execution and post events, booking a makeup artist to do professional makeup for a bridal party, to booking a Virtual Assistant to work on the pre-planning of an event,” said Garlick.

Planning to launch this week, Air Events Global is sticking true to its name by opening to a global market and allowing freelancers and clients to connect both internationally and locally. To post a job, clients first create a profile for themselves before developing a brief of the event they’re hosting and the budget.

Posting to the platform is free, with the startup taking a fifteen percent commission of the payment to each event freelancer. To find employees for an event, the platform works akin to other job market sites, allowing businesses to find freelancer profiles and vice versa.

For an event freelancer to currently join the platform, however, their resume and credentials are first screened by Air Events Global in order to maintain a high quality of candidates. In addition to filtering employees, Garlick said to ensure both employees are businesses are protected, the startup also acts as a middleman for payments.

“Once the client finds the most suitable event freelancer, they accept the event freelancer and transfer the funds into the Air Events Global secure payment system and after the work is successfully completed, the funds are released to the event freelancer,” she said.

For larger events, businesses are able to create a “group event brief” for their listing, which will outline a number of roles they’re looking to fill. At the end of an event, Garlick said the client and freelancer will be able to rate each other’s profile and leave a short review.

“Although the event freelancer profiles are screened initially, the aim is for the platform to be built through the online reviews and testimonials,” she said.

Having bootstrapped the development of the platform, Garlick said the startup is currently seeking investment opportunities, which will help spur its growth.

“We are looking to build critical mass within the community and focus on the absolute basics of how we can continue to impress our customers. Our focus at this stage is to grow our userbase and offer a wide array of event services globally,” said Garlick.

Source: Splendid.