A new Maltese SMS service is attracting thousands of mobile users. TimesMoney, an SMS-based instant job-finding service, is being taken up rapidly by Maltese companies seeking short-term, last minute or one-off jobs.

Ten minutes was it all took Simon Falzon to find three eager young qualified cooks to replace his original chef who had just injured his arm. Simon, the owner of Simon’s Pub in Qawra, called TimesMoney.com.mt who immediately sent out a request via SMS to a filtered selection of their database of job-seekers. Within 10 minutes, all Simon had to worry about was which one to interview. In fact, he ended up using all the services of all of them.

The concept behind TimesMoney.com.mt is straightforward. It is a “space” or community of young people, or “job-seekers” as they are referred to, seeking short-term, last minute or one-off jobs to do in their “free” time. TimesMoney is a single contact point where employers can find young people and students to do the jobs that do not require them to employ someone on a fulltime or part-time basis – a concept that makes a lot of economic sense for small and micro organisations.

It is not only the leisure and tourism sector that require one off jobs. In fact, during the TimesMoney.com.mt pilot launch, jobs as diverse as audiovisual operators, waiters, guides, housekeepers, market researchers, dishwashers, assistants with management consultancy firms, chefs and assistants with law firms, have all been successfully filled. One law firm urgently needed someone to help out with filing and within five minutes of calling, TimesMoney managed to fill the position. “They proved to be extremely helpful and managed to send me a simple profile of the 50 or so young people who had applied for the position, the best of which I decided to meet for an interview,” said the lawyer.

TimesMoney’s system works through an SMS structure meaning that as soon as employers call in their job request, an SMS is sent to those subscribers who fit the requirements and the available position is usually filled in less than an hour. The fact that people receive requests on their mobile ensures that they do not miss out on any opportunity, replies are received instantly and requests can be met extremely quickly.

Employers can jump on the bandwagon by

as calling 9917-1717 or e-mailing [email protected] and putting their request directly to TimesMoney. More information is available at www.TimesMoney.com.mt