Employers often turn to project-based contractors to help ease pressure on their core teams when workloads suddenly spike, especially when faced with short-term projects, year-end sprints or urgent business expansion. However, there are many situations where highly skilled contract professionals can provide invaluable support to a business, from shoring up customer support teams to assisting with financial reporting to helping launch product marketing campaigns.
Uncertain economic conditions and challenges in hiring permanent talent in a competitive labor market also contribute to many employers deciding to amplify their use of contract professionals.
If your business is among those seeking to hire more contract talent this year, you will want to have an effective strategy to find, hire and onboard project-based contractors quickly and set them up for success. These three tips can help.
1. Connect with top recruiting experts
Specialised recruiters can help expedite your contract hiring. A talent solutions firm like Robert Half knows the job candidate marketplace in your industry and city. Often, our recruiters are people who worked in positions similar to those they now place, and that experience can help them quickly identify strong candidates for your available roles.
It also can be challenging to evaluate a large number of people in a short amount of time when you and your team are already stretched thin. An employment agency can make this process much easier and help you locate and bring on board several project-based contractors at once. Whether you need on-site or remote workers, our recruiting professionals can provide help — and fast.
A Robert Half jobs expert is available to discuss contract hiring trends, specifically:
- Which jobs and occupations are hot right now in the contract space
- How managers can ease burnout with their current staff by leveraging contract professionals
- Why project-based contractor is an attractive career choice for workers
Want more insight on what is happening in the current labor market? Read Salary Guide 2024 from Robert Half.
2. Be ready to make an offer
Just as you would do when hiring a job candidate for a permanent position at your firm, you will want to assess potential project-based contractors based on the skills and experience required for the job, performance expectations, and work style. A recruiter can help you with all of the above and more when you need to hire contract workers.
Importantly, a recruiter can help you prepare to move quickly when you identify contract professionals likely to meet your needs. They can work with you to craft your job offer for the contract role and confirm that the compensation you are offering meets the market standard.
Before you meet with a specialised recruiter to discuss your contract hiring needs, you may want to research the expected pay ranges for the roles you need to staff so you can have an informed discussion. Robert Half’s Salary Guide 2024 can be a useful resource for this process.
3. Set clear expectations with project-based contractors
Even with a contract professional, you need to have a strong sense of the specific duties and responsibilities of the job you’re staffing. If you’re working with a talent solutions firm, inform the recruiter of the time frame and key expectations, and make sure that information is communicated to job candidates during the interview process.
It’s a worthwhile exercise to write a detailed job description before you bring a contract professional on board — and go over it with them on their first day. Then, be sure that you stick with it. In other words, avoid the temptation to give the contract workers whatever random assignment needs doing.
A key advantage of this approach: In the event the contract position becomes something more after another critical project is done and dusted, you’ll be able to accurately determine how well the person fulfilled the job. Project-based contractors often make great candidates for permanent placement.
Hence, contract professionals can be particularly helpful when businesses experience heightened workload demands, or they have staffing gaps they need to bridge. However, many employers also rely on contract talent to provide specialised skills they may not have in-house but only need for the short term.
Here are other situations when hiring contract professionals can be helpful to your business:
• Hectic holidays — Many employees use their vacation time during the summer and holidays. When several team members are out of the office at the same time and for an extended period, stress levels can rise for the remaining employees tasked with keeping projects moving forward. Contract professionals can provide welcome support.
• Classrooms and meetings — Educational institutions and local governments have an ongoing need for contract workers to provide reliable IT infrastructure and tech support for online instruction and remote public meetings. The shift toward virtual learning programs has also increased the need for designers, developers and video production professionals to help develop this content.
• Increase flexibility — As economic growth weakens, many organizations are becoming more cautious about hiring permanent staff and are moving towards more flexible talent policies. As a result, companies are outsourcing support roles, such as finance and IT, on a long-term basis in order to increase flexibility.
Whether you’re burdened by talent shortages, or you just need help with a special project, a little preparation can go a long way toward securing the right contract talent for your specific needs. Apply the strategies outlined above to find the best project-based contractors to provide extra support right when you need it — and take the load off you and the rest of your team.
