COURTESY OF SHIFTLY TEAM
A snapshot of Shiftly AI’s jobfinding system. The platform aims to connect students with restaurant jobs that match up with their demanding schedules.
Between tedious applications, scheduling conflicts and rigid commitments, finding a job to accommodate the average college student can seem impossible — but there may be a solution.
In December 2024, Boston University senior Ryo Nambara and alum Sara Annis created Shiftly, a platform that connects BU students seeking extra income with local restaurants in need of short-term assistance.
Shiftly posts job opportunities that offer two to six hour shifts, allowing students to work between their busy schedules, Nambara said.
“A lot of students are planning their study schedule around their work,” Nambara said. “I want them to focus on studying and then build jobs around it.”
As a college student, balancing a weekly work schedule with classes can be a challenge, said junior Tommy Cole, Shiftly’s director of outreach.
“The students are employees of Shiftly … they’re free to work when they want and earn what they need,” he said. “It’s up to them.”
The platform, which is set to launch at the end of the month, will be piloted with a select group of users before being made available to all BU students, Nambara said.
Cole found that although Shiftly was initially designed for BU students, it would also benefit local restaurant owners seeking assistance during their busiest hours.
“A lot of [businesses] said during their busiest hours it’d be nice to have an extra set of hands working, but they don’t want to hire someone else full time,” Cole said.
With Shiftly, students can “fill in those roles restaurants are looking for,” Cole added.
When users enter the site, they’re prompted to upload identification along with any additional credentials they hold, such as ServSafe certification.
However, users do not need to fill out lengthy applications to secure a shift. Shiftly streamlines the process by partnering with available restaurants to post the job’s requirements directly onto the site, Cole said.
“The restaurant gives us their contact … and then we ask them what kind of workers they’re looking for,” said Ashtosh Bhandari, a BU senior and software developer for Shiftly. “Based upon that, we put out their requirements.”
Initially, restaurants expressed concerns with the platform’s ability to train and screen its workers, Cole said.
To address these concerns, users must now read an outline of Shiftly’s guidelines and complete an online training course designed by the restaurant, ensuring they are trained prior to their shift.
“Each restaurant is going to upload videos of the job you’re going to be doing and the details of what you need to know,” Cole said. “When you walk in, even if you don’t have experience, you’ll be like, ‘Okay, my job is going to be serving customers water.’”
While other part-time job search platforms such as TaskRabbit and Rover follow a similar business model, Shiftly sets itself apart in that it was created for students by students, Cole said.
“We’re launching amongst thousands of young people and our peers who face the same problems that we do with jobs,” Cole said. “We’re growing it from an ecosystem of students.”
To boost platform engagement and enhance user experience, Shiftly plans to gamify the app by offering rewards for completing a certain number of shifts, Nambara said.
“Through that, focusing on students and restaurants, we’re trying to make a community around campus as well,” Nambara said.
Shiftly will initially only be available to BU students, but Cole said the team plans to expand the platform to other college campuses.
“Shiftly could be a go-to platform to help empower young people to work when it works for them and take control of their work life … [A]nd also to help restaurants maximize their efficiency,” Cole said. “Together that creates one community.”