Help Finder - Guide
Introduction
The Farm Help Finder is your free online tool to get in touch with Aussie Farmers to find the work or help you are looking for, closest to you.
Here is our guide to give you what you need to make the best use of our Help Finder.
Click on the topics below to expand and collapse those sections.
Updated 5/2/2021
This section covers everything about how you use the help finder map, including: moving the map, Icons, logging in, and more.
Moving The Map
The Farm Help Finder Map can be moved simply by clicking and dragging on the map using a computer, or by dragging the map with your finger on your smart phone.
You can also zoom in and zoom out, by scrolling the mouse wheel on computer, or by dragging two fingers apart and back together on your smart phone.
Icons
Heatmaps and markers are displayed on the map where you or others have posted their work or work availability, in the form of:
Looking for help -
Looking for Work -
The Heatmap changes into a solid coloured dot marker when you zoom in on them. You can click on these markers to view limited information of that post, so long as you are logged in.
The other icons are:
Search Result -
You can also click on search result markers to bring up that specific search result.
My Post Marker-
Your posts will all be shown with this marker on the map.
Changing Map Views
You can change between Heatmap view and Search result view when you have Search Results by simply selecting the view from the top right corner of the map.
The View Selector is only shown when you have Search Results.
Leaving The Map
You can leave the map and return to the home page by simply clicking on our logo on the map.
Logging In/Signing Up
Logging in and signing up can both be done by simply pressing the log in button on the map. The Log In button is not displayed unless you aren't logged in.
You can also log in through the menu at the top of the website. Smart Phone users can access this menu on any page of farmers forum except the Help Finder.
This section covers everything about how to post and manage your existing posts.
Creating Your New Post
To make a post, you should first log in. Then by pressing the "New" button on the top left of the help finder, you will open the New Post menu.
A Post takes your: Name, Address, Contact Details, whether you are looking for work or help, and also a Title for your post.
Additionally, you can add a picture, up to 3 categories to place your post under, and Additional information about your Job or the Work you are looking for.
Finding Your Post
When you have a post, you can see it on the map, underneath your "My Post Marker".
You can see your post and how it appears to others, by simply zooming in on it until the heatmap turns into a solid dot marker, and then simply clicking on it.
Note: You cannot send yourself an offer, and so when you view your own post, the send offer button will be grayed out.
Editing Your Post
You can edit your post or delete it at any time through the "My Posts" menu, accessible under the "New" button.
Your "Looking For Work" post is displayed on the left. It is editable by clicking the edit button on the top right hand side of your work post.
Since you can have multiple "Looking For Help" posts, they will be displayed on a table on the right, accessible by clicking on the individual post. The post can then be Edited by clicking the edit button.
You can change everything about a post except whether you are looking for work/help, including the posts tags. Simply clicking Apply will save the newly edited post.
Note on Addresses
Currently the help finder does not have an "Auto Complete" address lookup, instead when you press enter, or click off the address bar, it searches for your Address and Coordinates based on the information you have entered.
Not all addresses are searchable, so if your post marker appears somewhere other then your address listed, we recommend editing the post to either include more information of the address, or instead use the address of a nearby landmark or town/village/city.
We are looking into a solution to this as well as direct coordinate input in the future.
This section covers everything about Looking through posts on the map, searching and accessing your search results.
Looking for posts on the map
As long as you are logged in, you can look at other users posts directly from the help finder map.
Simply Zoom in until the Heatmaps turn into solid dots, then click on them to bring up the post's tags and title, as well as a link to bring up the full post.
Searching
If it is your first time using the Search tool, you will be required to input some information before proceeding.
The search tool takes your: Address, maximum search distance, whether you are looking for work or help, and also up to three categories to search for (default category is "Any"). it will then use that information to search for other users posts according to your criteria, before displaying these posts on the map as green search result markers.
Search Results
You can access your search results directly from the map by clicking on the search result markers, or by going directly to the search results menu, which will be accessible when you have search results.
Note on Searching
You will be unable to use the search function properly unless there are at least 1 of both Work and Help posts.
This section covers sending, viewing and accepting Offers.
Sending Offers
You can send offers a couple different ways:
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By viewing a post from the map,
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Or by viewing a Search Result.
Offers are a customisable message sent directly to the owner of a post you are interested in, expressing your interest to work for or employ the poster.
Offers consist of A Name, Contact details, Any additional information you might want to add, a picture (optional), and the approximate distance between you and the recipient (currently only available if sent from search results).
Once you are happy with your offer, you can send it by pressing the send button.
When you receive an offer, you will also receive an email notification.
Accepting Offers
You can view your offers in the "My Offers" menu, which appears on the help finder when you have at least one offer.
Accepting an offer is as simple as clicking the accept button, which will then remove the offer and create an "Active Work", Accessible in the newly opened "My Work" menu.
This section covers how to use an Active Work session.
Accessing Active Work
Your Active Work can be accessed through the My Work menu which becomes available after accepting an offer, or when your offer has been accepted.
Using Active Work
An active work session contains many elements, including: The Names and contact information of both prospective worker and employer, the title and additional information of the employer, approximate distance, a chat box and a date/time picker.
Using the Chat box, you can discuss the terms of employment, or you could also use the contact methods provided.
When terms have been discussed, the employer can set the start date, end date (optional - for multiple days of work), start time and approximate end time.
Once the employer has locked those details in, the worker can click accept, then the Active Work's status will turn from "Pending" to "Active", and the active work session will be saved to our databases for future reference. The Chat bar will also remain active until after work has been confirmed to have been completed.
