Getting Creative in a Tight Job Market – Utilizing Freelancers and Contractors

Picture it: all the good job seekers, the ones you’d love to hire if you could anyway, have three offers on the table. Maybe you hire them, maybe you don’t, but at the moment you can’t count on getting anyone you want, any time. Not in this job market.

Unemployment is at an all-time low, and there is a skills shortage for most of the hard-to-fill roles. You’re going to have to get creative to land talent in a market where the job seekers are more in demand than the jobs. How are you going to do that?

We can’t talk about getting creative with worker roles without at least mentioning the gig economy. It’s a complex beast covering everything from product launches and trade shows to ride shares and home shares. But it’s also a bit overblown. No one is really sure how many people it affects. And many people are only doing it until they can find something more worthwhile. Besides, creative, tech and project-driven talent have worked in freelance capacities forever.

We see the gig economy having the greatest impact in project-driven work. And when associated with areas in which we specialize, we prefer to encourage companies to bring on freelance or consultant talent and encourage job seekers to take advantage of the unique opportunities that project-based work offers.

With that said, we’re going to tackle creative ways to bring on talent in two parts. The first is through consultants or freelancers. The second is through internships and returnships.

Bringing On Freelance or Consultant Talent

Why would companies do this?

Bringing on freelancers or consultants provide companies with an opportunity to test drive someone. Can the person do the job? Do they fit with the culture? Do they have the soft skills?

Companies typically make decisions based on six hours of interviews, and they’re just not sure if they’re making a good hire or not.

For senior-level roles, it’s hard to even find the skill sets you seek. Companies already limit the pool by narrowly focusing on niche skills, and that’s on top of the 98 percent of the people in this role already employed.

However, a ton of people do project-based work, especially in tech and creative.

Final Thoughts

Hiring top talent is hard. Everyone is fishing in the same places. Think outside of the box.

Here’s the challenge: whether you are looking to partner with a firm to add talent  or not, growing your organization is not easy.

And whatever you choose to do, do so thoughtfully. Craft a plan, and ask yourself the hard questions at every phase of your search. We’re here to help if you need us.

Hirewell is Your Partner in Creatively Finding Talent in an Environment Where it is Hard to Find Talent

Matt Massucci