By Zara Ramtohul-Akbur
As one of The 98% this blog post is of course coming to you from the day job/side hustle/ job-that-noone talks-about. I’ve had my fair share of weird side hustles but it feels like this one might stick…
Wanting to go into the creative industry is hard enough, without having to find a job to sustain you and keep you motivated when things are tough. Trying to network, find opportunities and spend, let’s not think about how many hours, doing applications - all to get rejected for lack of experience or some such is exhausting. This stress, pressure and exhaustion coupled with trying to sustain yourself financially is difficult. Perhaps made harder by spending so much time grafting that, to a non-creative, your CV doesn’t look nearly as impressive as it does to creatives.
I’m a theatre director and actress and god, it’s bloody hard. I haven’t got a golden ticket to help with the graft but I might have for the day job side of things. Wanting to change jobs, my sister told me about this app with loads of jobs and a 90 second max application time. Oh, and no CV. Confused and mainly to appease her, I checked it out.
She wasn’t lying.
As the jobs are mainly in front-facing roles (hospitality, retail and events), the app encourages video applications instead and no CV - just a bit of confidence in front of the camera to show you can work well with others. As a creative…that’s kind of my thing. And, to cut a very long story short, working with the app has become my day job. GiGL supports candidates by giving value to life experiences and personality which for me and my lack of formal experience, was perfect. Application is via video and gives you an opportunity to let your creative personality speak for you. Imagine if you could show your Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent when applying for a job - you’d have employers begging you to work for them. Unlike a self-tape, it’s only 3 30 second videos with no WeTransfer, DropBox or iMovie involved. It’s all straight through the app. The app has a range of jobs available in hospitality, retail, events and events and the positions are flexi, part and full-time.
What’s better and what really stands out to me is the 7 day timer. The heartbreak of learning lines, rehearsing, self-taping, attending an in-person and then being ghosted until the cast list is released is another level of cruel. It’s disrespectful and shouldn’t fly - but it does. But…not with GiGL. The tech team has made sure there is a 7-day timer - yay or nay you will always hear back after 7 days. Yes we’ve had people hired in 24 hours but that’s not the point, a 7-day timer means your application time is respected and I that is so important. If you’re in need of flexi, part-time or full-time work GiGL’s got you. Downloading takes a minute, two if you’ve got dodgy wifi. A profile takes forty-five seconds max, providing you know your name, age, phone number and postcode. Choosing a job can take a while as there’s so many but the top one will always reply the soonest.
For getting a side hustle, it’s faster, reliable and, I would say, more respectful.
Ready to give it a try? Head to the app store now or follow this QR code!
Zara is a director and actress enjoying life as she juggles multiple different facets of her life. She’s trying not to burn out, focussing on the marathon and certainly not the sprint.
She directed Nkhanise Phiri’s Bitchcraft which won the audience’s favourite award at The Melanin Box Festival and has directed multiple projects that explore racial identity and experiences, the female experience all with a bit of magic too and sometimes a cheeky song, because why not? Her day job is working for GiGL and, honestly, she’s really enjoying it.