Man at work:

Website helps job seekers

Story written by Steve Stein

Looking to make extra money doing a side-job? Check out Jobberz.com, a free online classified advertising service started by Shawn Hanaee.

“That’s my side job,” said Hanaee, 32, who is employed full-time by Sprint/Nextel. He’s been an account executive based at the company’s corporate office in Farmington Hills for seven years and he’s been in the wireless industry for 13 years.

The Rochester Hills resident’s one-year-old website is called jobberz.com (www.jobberz.com). With over 2900 advertisers from across the United States are registered, most from Michigan. There also are numerous advertisers from California, New York, Illinois and Georgia.

Hanaee came up with the idea for the website in February 2004 when he decided to renovate his home without using a contractor. “I asked friends and family if they could recommend people who do certain home improvements,” he said. “I soon began to realize that it seems like everyone has connections to competent people who do side jobs.”

Most of the workers Hanaee hired to work on his home were employed full-time in another industry. For example, there was the carpenter who also was a car salesman and the electrician who also was an eighth-grade teacher. After the renovation was complete, Hanaee figured he spent about one-sixth the cost of hiring professionals.

When Hanaee did some home repair work last summer, it cost him just $200 to have his air conditioner fixed, and two toilets were repaired for $50 – all thanks to finding workers on jobberz.com.

It took several months for Hanaee to teach himself how to design and monitor his website before he got it up and running. He checks it daily for shady advertisers and he’s had to give a few the boot.

Jim Bartlett of Troy was one of the first advertisers to sign up with Jobberz.com, and he’s one of its biggest fan. “I was starting a computer service and repair business about a year ago, and I wanted to advertise online without spending tons of money,” Bartlett said. “Shawn’s website obviously is a good idea because it’s free, and I don’t need to pay for worldwide exposure. I only travel to do work in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula and northern Ohio.”

Bartlett said he’s been getting four or five jobs a month from his jobberz.com ad.

Hanaee said his biggest challenge is getting prospective advertisers to trust jobberz.com because so many internet businesses have come and gone. Once advertisers are on board, Hanaee feels it’s important to not intrude on their time.

“I do not send out bulletins or newsletters,” Hanaee said. “My advertisers only hear from me once a year when I wish them Happy Holidays.

Hanaee is trying to be patient even though his internet hosting cost have risen from $9.95 to $130.00 per month. He’s hoping to get enough people registered at jobberz.com to attract the attention of big Internet company like Google or Yahoo!