SkilledUp Life is a leading two-sided talent marketplace connecting over 43,000 volunteers from around the world with early-stage technology companies. This way enthusiastic talents (volunteers) who either had no prior work experience or those who wish to transition their career can now gain experience while helping technology startups thrive. SkilledUp Life also simultaneously provides early-stage technology startup founders with the necessary resources to start driving their companies towards success.

Let us take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions about SkilledUp Life from both parties; those interested in volunteering and those building and/or looking to build teams through SkilledUp Life.

Frequently Asked Questions By Founders

As a technology startup, what can I expect while being subscribed to SkilledUp Life?

You have the opportunity to build multi-regional, multi-lingual and/or specific but highly-skilled teams composed of volunteer talents – you are only limited by the internal carrying capacity of your startup. You will receive on-going support as well as access to our CustomerHub (A virtual hub where we share insights with founders on how to best manage the skills of volunteers in our community, while harnessing value).

How can I have my opportunities listed on the SkilledUp Life Website?

You will have to subscribe to one of our company plans. There two plans – the starter plan and the advanced plan. On subscribing to any of the plans, you receive role posting access and can then begin to publish and manage your opportunities and applicants.

How can I keep up to date with talent insights?

SkilledUp Life has created the customerhub for this sole purpose. As a company pioneering volunteering in the technology space, we are learning a lot. This insight we equally share with our subscribed customers, so they can have the latest insights on how to better manage and extract value from the system.

Frequently Asked Questions By Volunteers

What are the qualifications needed to be a volunteer?

SkilledUp Life accepts volunteers of all ages as long as they are at least 18 years old. While it is required to have some sort of familiarity with the skills you are applying for, it does not necessarily have to be any professional experience. As long as you are passionate about improving yourself, available to commit 1-3 hours daily mondays through fridays, possess an internet enables device, and are ready to leverage your skills for the organization’s development, it should be more than sufficient.

What am I to gain by volunteering at SkilledUp Life?

Aside from gaining a wonderful opportunity to upskill yourself whilst working in a professional environment, we expect that you should be able to build a personal portfolio (given the projects you will undertake), build a personal network base (given that you will be on a team with individuals from other places), significantly improve your skills, and also get your hands on the invaluable end of term recommendation letter provided by SkilledUp Life (provided you abide by the volunteer agreement signed at the start of your volunteer term). We generally want you to see SkilledUp Life as your life-long companion on your learning journey.

What are the available volunteer opportunities?

SkilledUp Life offers a number of opportunities including but not limited to roles in the areas of product development, sales and marketing, project management, event management, research, customer support, administration, legal, finances and Human Resources. We would rather want you to see SkilledUp Life as the platform where you can find an array of roles the kind tenable on startup teams.

I cannot apply to a role, why does that happen?

You might have trouble applying to a job if your profile isn’t at least 70% complete. Make sure you fill out your volunteer profile with a high quality image of yourself, an introduction of yourself and your aspirations, your experience, your education, your portfolio of projects (if available), awards and certificates (if available), highlight of your skills, your location, social links and your contact information. Your education, skills and experiences can be added in the resume section of your profile.

Can I volunteer to multiple technology startups at once?

SkilledUp Life discourages the practice of simultaneously volunteering for multiple startup companies (we frown at this practise). This is because SkilledUp Life wishes to ensure the quality of work done by volunteers, as well as ensuring volunteer render optimum commitment to a particular startup at a time. However, we encourage several volunteer terms with same or other technology startups – in essence, you can undertake as any volunteer terms as you wish.

What is the general duration of a volunteer term?

Generally, the volunteer term will span 60 days or 3 months per volunteer. However, volunteers at SkilledUp Life are allowed to renew their volunteer term, or even switch volunteer roles according to their preference once they have completed their previous term.

What tool will I be exposed to when I volunteer SkilledUp Life through SkilledUp Life?

This would depend on your role and what is expected of you during your term. The startup company will provide tools to be used. While expecting you as a volunteer to adhere strictly to company data privacy rules. These tool will span workspace and other collaboration tools such as Slack, Google Workspace, trello, chat clients, etc.

What is the application process to be a volunteer at SkilledUp Life?

SkilledUp Life’s volunteer application process is simpler than you  think. First, you will need to create a volunteer account – Simply visit www.skilledup.life/volunteer to do this. Then you will need to login and complete all sections of your volunteer profile. Once this is done, you can then visit the opportunities board and identify an opportunity that is a fit for you – you can then simply click on the APPLY button. This is all you have to do to apply. Note, you only create your profile once, after this you can apply to opportunities without having to do this again. However, ensure to keep your profile up to date.

Final notes

We hope this series of questions shed some light on your doubts, and made you well informed about what SkilledUp Life is all about! With that being said, feel free to comment on any questions we haven’t answered through this article.

See you, until next time!

To start your journey either as a startup or volunteer, please visit www.skilledup.life

Article written by Ekagri Panawalage