How Do I Accept Jobs?

Once you set up the SubSidekick app, you will be able to receive job alerts to your smartphone (iPhone or Android) through push notifications. When you receive a notification you have two options:

1. Tap the accept link to immediately to try and accept the job (on iOS, you need to tap and hold on the notification to reveal the accept link).
2. Tap the notification to view the job within the app. Once in the app, you can review the full job details and tap the Accept button if you desired.

You can also accept jobs from the List or Calendar tabs of the app. Find your desired job and then simply tap the check mark labeled Accept to try and accept the job. If your substitute service does not support accepting jobs within the SubSidekick app, you will see a View label next to the job instead.

What Is The Fastest Way To Accept Jobs?

To accept the most jobs possible, it is helpful to understand how our system works. Below are a couple of reasons why some jobs go so quickly, as well as a list of ways to improve your chances at receiving those jobs. 

Why do jobs go so quickly? 

A couple of reasons of why jobs can be gone within seconds: 

1) You are most likely in a highly competitive district, meaning there are also a large amount of substitute teachers that are also checking for jobs at the same time as you. 

2) Our servers are only able to check for an available job every sixty seconds (we are limited by substitute services, as is every app). When the server is in between searches and a job comes up, someone else may see it first. Then when it is time for our servers to refresh, the job may already be gone or another substitute teacher may already be in the process of accepting the job. Therefore, when you try to accept the job, it may not be available anymore. It is helpful to understand that this is the nature of the substitute services and you'll face some competition. However, our alerts still give you the best opportunity to stay competitive and accept jobs as quickly as permitted by the substitute services.

What can I do about it?  

1) Download our SubSidekick App: To receive and accept jobs as quickly as possible, we recommend using our SubSidekick App with push notifications enabled. Once you receive a push notification job alert, you can accept it in one tap with the Accept button on an Android alert or you can press and hold on an Apple iOS alert to reveal the Accept button. This is the fastest method to accept jobs. In addition, using the app gives you an easy-to-use Available Jobs list, which is a live view of jobs as they come in and out of your sub-service's website. The app can be found in the Apple App Store and Android Google Play Store:

2) Manage Your Text-Settings:  If you prefer to receive text messages instead of our app, that is a great option as well. You'll just want to make sure you set your text-setting to Accept the Job Right Away in the Sounds & Delivery tab of your SubSidekick settings. If you do this, when you tap the link provided in text messages, SubSidekick will attempt to accept the job right away rather than prompt you first. This is good if you are confident you want the job. If you like to view more details first, then this isn't the best option. Again, there are possibly multiple other users trying to accept the job the same time as you are, so even in doing this, the job is still going to go to the user who happens to click the link first (which could simply be 1 second sooner than you).

3) Be Available At Peak Times: Many times the easiest jobs to accept will occur in the middle of the night or early morning when teachers decide at the last minute that they need to be absent. In competitive districts, it helps to check the systems (Aesop and SubSidekick if possible) late in the evening and early in the morning to give you a chance to accept jobs before others see their alerts. 

4) Contact Your Schools: In highly competitive districts, there are dozens of substitute teachers actively searching for open jobs at any given time. Because of this, even attempting to ‘accept’ the job immediately does not guarantee you will receive the job, which you've seen. A long-term strategy to help with this is to get on a ‘preferred-substitute-list’ for a school, which will result in personal calls to you directly from the school.

Can Sub Sidekick Automatically Accept Jobs For Me?

Unfortunately the substitute-services do not allow us to accept jobs automatically for you. This is most likely because they want every user to review the jobs first. However, above are some tips that may help you in viewing jobs and accepting them the quickest ways possible.