Josh, thanks great jobs.
Regards!
Lansana.

Hello Josh,

Congratulations for the good work done.
We are ready to receive all job advertisements.

With regards!

Dr. Joseph Makaya
University of Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso

Dear Josh,

your website is a valuable resource for all those looking for a job in WASH.

I like your suggestion to post every week the recent jobs in a new thread. That will keep the Forum Users updated and will not get too burdensome.

Thanks for sharing this on the Forum.

Best regards,

Annkathrin (on behalf of the SuSanA Secretariat)

Dear Elizabeth,

Thanks again for your response.

I say "Craigslist" model in terms of the use of the person's name in the website name. That was one of the first websites that did that and it proved very successful. Although the scope is quite different for my website of course. But, for me, it's about keeping a little of the personal side to it. It's also just fun to meet people in the water community and they are like, "Oh, you're that Josh..."

How about this... I post once a week all the WASH jobs in a new thread for that week? That way it's not too much and all the WASH jobs are there. It's fairly easy to do as that is how I set up my listserv each week, so it's just taking the WASH jobs and copying and pasting that section into a thread (with the title "WASH Jobs: 2 August 2016", for example). So, it's only 4-5 times a month maximum, but all 50-100 jobs would be there (for the month).

In terms of the "sticky thread" maybe we still keep the one that is there, since it's quite established, but I edit the text some to both present the website and encourage people to send me job openings to post.

Kind regards,
Josh

It is a good suggestion from Elizabeth

Dear Josh,

Thanks for your post here. Really interesting what you wrote about how your website developed (labor of love!) and how you're focussing/pitching it.

What did you mean by: "With the name, it's also kind of following the Craigslist model."?

I also wanted to pick up on your suggestion of:

Maybe what we can do now that the "launch" phase is over for the website is to erase the current thread and put a new "sticky thread" there that has more longevity that both encourages people to look for and post jobs. I'm trying to think of a way to post jobs from my site in the forum that wouldn't get too burdensome for both me and for the forum user, as it would end up being like 15-20 times a week (WASH-related jobs). Any thoughts on that? Or maybe we just do the above suggestion? It would be great find an arrangement that benefits both websites.

I have no clear opinion on this and would love to hear from others, too. - Would you say the current sticky thread is OK like this or would you prefer a new sticky thread?

If you found an automated way to have posts from your website also posted here, I would welcome that. Perhaps they could all go into the same thread, rather than having a new thread for each one. And at the end of the post it could provide a prominent link to your site as your site has far better search and filter capabilities for jobs.

Alternatively, you could perhaps pick out one or two per week or per month that you post here manually, just as a reminder for your site (which I think deserves being promoted).


Kind regards,
Elisabeth

Hi Elisabeth,

First, thank you for the kind words about the site. The whole endeavor has been a labor of love going on 5+ years now, so it's always nice to get good feedback. We've had a total of 3 contributions totaling not very much, so definitely too little to cover costs, but that's okay. I will introduce other things on the website in a few months that will help us recuperate costs (ads, a featured job section, etc.). It will always be free to post and to look for jobs though. That is very important to me.

The name won't change at this point. It's what it's been known as for 5 years now and it's out there already as this, the URL is there. It makes it more personal too, which I'm trying to keep with after getting away from the listserv that was the precursor to the website. It's so far been a huge success since the launch. The only way I see it changing is much farther down the road if I start to include other things besides jobs on the website. But, we'll see what happens. It's been growing slowly, organically, for all this time now and I'm in no hurry to veer away from what has been successful thus far. With the name, it's also kind of following the Craigslist model.

On sanitation... Well, I don't mention sanitation explicitly anywhere. It's always WASH, but I see your point. My current focus on the jobs is that it's about jobs that touch water, because if I only put specific water jobs on there, it would reduce the amount of jobs on the site significantly. I did a test group before the launch of the website and the respondents said that they liked the current model. They wouldn't want me to go much further afield than I currently have it, but don't go too narrow either. So, that is why there are "environment", "climate change adaptation", "disaster risk reduction", etc. jobs on there as well. If it touches water (or mentions it in the job description), I tend to add it. Although not environment jobs that are specific to forests, energy, etc. Takes a bit of time to get the nuance right, but it seems like a good balance. So, this is the same for sanitation, but since I know the WASH and water resources communities are siloed, I made them separately searchable. Maybe at a later date I could try to parse out the other "sectors", but it takes a lot of work and some aren't so clean cut. A lot of it is a time thing. Since launching the website, it takes 10-12 hours/week, which is a lot, especially when I have a full slate of other work!

So, that's a good couple of questions that you have. I wouldn't want to dissuade people from posting jobs on your site by only having them go to mine. I think it's good that you have that section of your forum there. Maybe what we can do now that the "launch" phase is over for the website is to erase the current thread and put a new "sticky thread" there that has more longevity that both encourages people to look for and post jobs. I'm trying to think of a way to post jobs from my site in the forum that wouldn't get too burdensome for both me and for the forum user, as it would end up being like 15-20 times a week (WASH-related jobs). Any thoughts on that? Or maybe we just do the above suggestion? It would be great find an arrangement that benefits both websites.

Thanks for getting in touch!

All the best,
Josh

Thats great Mr. Josh. You are really helping the needy persons.Its a wonderful service at the doorsteps.

Abdul Qadir
WASH Specialist

Hi Josh,

Your website indeed looks very nice (amazing that you built it all up in a volunteer capacity!).

I am wondering how would you see the interaction between your website and this forum's sub-category for jobs? Would you recommend to people to post their jobs here and also on your website, or only on your website, or use this forum to point people to your website regularly with their key/major jobs?

I have made this thread into a "sticky thread" which means it gets more attention and stays at the top of this sub-category.

I like how you've set up a voluntary donation button and I hope that you get just the right amount of income from it - not too much and not too little. I guess people who find a job through your website should feel obliged to donate a few dollars afterwards. And if you got "too much" you could donate it to your favourite NGO in WASH.

Just one thought, the title "Josh's Water jobs" doesn't seem ideal to me. Firstly, the "Josh's" is hard to pronounce (and one thinks "who is Josh?" - is it important to focus on your name?) and secondly, sanitation topics don't always fit with the "water" theme. Perhaps rather "Water and WASH jobs"? But I guess most people subsume sanitation under water, even though that's not ideal.

I wish you best of luck with your website! I might start searching there for my future dream job myself soon!

Elisabeth

Thank you, this is a very helpful resource!

Nice one, Josh

Great work Josh!

I subscribed to it a couple of weeks ago. Very user-friendly. I like how at first glance you are able to know the position type and experience level required and that you can share the position via twitter and Facebook.

All the best and kind regards,

Doreen