For a couple of years now, I’ve been thinking about the next generation of freelancers. Freelancing, in general, isn’t something taught in school. Career advice in general (there are exceptions) seems to be stuck in the dark stages at most schools. With unemployment on the rise, shouldn’t we be inspiring teenagers to look beyond office and shops jobs that lack job security?

In the current economy, freelancing can actually be a far more secure form of work. As Marrianne Cantwell says in Be a Free Range Human, “what’s your notice period? One month? Three months? That’s exactly how much security you have.”

Teenagers need to be inspired to do something themselves, so it seems apt that vinspired is behind a project to help young people find paid, short term jobs. Thanks to founder Samantha Sparrow (who some of you might know as co-founder and editor of The High Tea Cast, as well as Knowledge and Innovation manager at vinspired) Task Squad was launched today. Task Squad is a service “which introduces young people, eager to undertake paid work, to organisations who are looking to fulfil short-term staffing needs.”

One of the Task Squad tasks

On Task Squad, you’ll be able to find jobs that last from a couple of hours to days or even regular occasional work. Jobs range from helping out at events to working with start-ups. As a further bonus, For every hour of paid work a young person undertakes through the Task Squad site vInspired receive £2 from the task-posting organisation. Beyond supporting Task Squad, the money earned goes towards offering easy-to-access opportunities and support for young people to get involved with good causes in their communities.

Once you’ve completed a couple of jobs, you’ll start to earn a reputation on Task Squad, which helps when applying for other roles.

So, if you’re 18-25, you can join Task Squad and grab short-term, paid jobs. Pretty fantastic for students too, eh?

Are you 18-25? Would you use a service like Task Squad?