Too much business is a good problem for any company to have – but it is a problem. How does the work get done when your team is already at maximum capacity? Hiring permanent talent can be difficult in any market environment, but the process is positively brutal during a period of labor scarcity as dramatic as our current one. Identifying and vetting candidates then onboarding a new employee takes an increasingly inordinate amount of time – and that translates to lost business opportunities for your company. But as a hiring manager, you have options.
The most compelling among them: hire a contractor. Staffing up with permanent employees is a slog, but a contract employee can sometimes be brought on board in as little as a day – especially when that hiring is put in the hands of a talent cloud. By filling long-term roles with short-term solutions, you’ve addressed the most time-sensitive issue: your company has filled an immediate need that was causing pain and/or leading to lost revenue.
Shifting the burden of the extra workload caused by labor scarcity on existing staff is neither ethical nor wise. An employee who is expected to pick up the slack when the organization is understaffed may become resentful. They’re also on a path to being some other company’s employee. Particularly in today’s job market, a good employee doesn’t have to put up with burnout or the indifference of an employer. And let’s face it: The last thing you need in this environment is more attrition.
The added benefit of a talent cloud is the ability to engage highly-skilled contractors who may have provided work for your company (or others like it) in the past. Even when hiring a full-timer, there can be a lag between their first day and the moment when they’re operating at peak performance in your organization. Imagine learning of a hiring need, filling it quickly with a contractor who knows your business backwards and forward, then turning your attention to finding the best long-term solution. No blip in production levels. Total peace of mind.
Perhaps you’re matched with a contractor who hasn’t worked for your company before. Because a talent cloud pools the best contractors and helps build their skill sets with appropriate projects, you may land not only an ideal temporary fix but someone who morphs into a gem of a long-term associate. There’s nothing that says a human resources department is required to contract-to-hire – but there’s nothing that says they can’t either.
Think of a talent cloud as a technologically-advanced staffing firm with both the power to provide a solution to your company’s short-term hiring needs and the potential to deliver the perfect long-term solution for your team. The digital hiring revolution has arrived.
Interested in learning more about PeopleCaddie’s talent cloud? Click here to watch a short video on how it can help you overcome labor scarcity.