Overview

Contractual Staffing has increasingly become popular because of its benefits for workers and employers. Contractual personnel methods allow employers flexibility. Contractual Staffing also includes independent contracts, part-time work, seasonal work, etc. This model has several advantages for employers and employees who want to enjoy more flexibility and free time.

When Should Businesses Use Contract Staffing?

After numerous years of offering services successfully, many organizations wish to expand their businesses just as they should. In order to do this, they need to hire a talented workforce as well. Now the permanent staff hiring in this situation is not a smart choice because when operations are being scaled up, it is not possible to tell which type of staff will be needed in the long run. Hence, contract staffing proves to be a perfect solution in this case. In addition, when an organization wishes to cut down costs, contract staffing is one of the best solutions. When an organization commits to permanent placements, there is an entirely new array of legal and financial commitments. Therefore, when companies want someone to look after their everyday requirements then the benefits of contract staffing will do the needful. When the project is completed, there is no obligation for companies to keep paying the professional in case a new project is not expected soon. Moreover, when companies wish to shorten the hiring procedure while saving time, they can use contract staffing. This also means that companies have the freedom and flexibility to hire someone for managing their project or workload, but there is no need to hire someone permanently for doing the same. In this case, companies can find skilled professionals in a relatively small period of time since there is no need for hiring long-term best fit anymore.

Why Prefer Contract Staffing?

No-Risk - In many cases, hiring someone new can often pose a risk to organizations. There are times when companies have never hired for a particular role before, or sometimes the business might need assistance but is caught in a difficult financial situation. Any bad hires can cause organizations a significant percentage of the employee’s earnings. The ultimate objective of almost any organization is to find a suitable fit and sometimes the candidate is not suitable for the role. By hiring a candidate on a temporary or a contract basis before committing to a permanent hire, the risk and exposure are limited. As a matter of fact, contract staffing offers a much better insight into the success of the role and/or the employee. Sometimes, it gives you the team to build an organization in case there is a new reporting structure or a team. Imagine if you are creating an entirely new business unit and trying to make a decision on whether or not a job function should be divided into two roles or not. Going for a temporary contractor will allow you to get a better insight into the professional role bandwidth. With contract staffing, you will be able to get honest feedback or fear of hurting others with your position. In addition, it also protects an organization’s full-time employees from taking on too much stress.

Resilience - Often, staffing challenges can arise because of various reasons including business growth, mergers and acquisitions, demand cycles, implementing new technology, and other reasons. In these cases, preferring to go with contract staffing helps in meeting all the challenges. can integrate temporary workers who can infuse important knowledge and offer additional support while also allowing existing employees to concentrate on important initiatives.

Using Skilled Experience - When you hire skilled IT professionals on a contract basis, you will have access to reliable project-based experience. Even though the typical hiring model gives preference to years of experience, it leaves out the benefit that the contractors possess. Contract staffing is a model that focuses on bringing people on board for the expertise they can offer. It brings in people who have the ability to do more with software solutions while acquiring more insight into different areas of focus as compared to full-time employees. They do not have to be taught comprehensive company processes, the inside and outside of a business, and so on, they spend most of their time handling the problems at hand. A relatively shorter job stint and more focus on projects than the overall organization enable the contractual workforce to use niche experience without getting a long-term salary. Hence, contract staffing is an excellent method for project-based initiatives. In case you have a problem at hand that can take over one or two years to complete then someone hired on a contractual basis can bring specialized expertise and get the project done right.

Immediate Results - In case an organization is looking to hire a professional for completing a project or a short-term job function then getting in touch with a contract staffing agency makes it simple to assign the job responsibilities and also manage the scope of the professional role. An organization can also narrow down the professional role so that it solves the professional scope suitably. Irrespective of whether the need comes from last-minute projects or an increased workload amidst a busy season, new contracts, and employees being absent, contract staffing plays an important role in bridging the gap. No such thing as team-building processes, company onboarding, unrelated training, or culture fit is needed while working with a contract staffing company. Rather, the recruiters can help to qualify the candidates on the basis of their skills and also conduct a background check so that the hiring process becomes virtual. The contractors need no supervision or training which also helps the company’s managers and trainers to focus on other important things. This helps in saving time and effort while protecting other candidates. On the other hand, the professionals hired into a contract role can jump right into the professional position and build their skillset without worrying about what must be done in the long run. They can immediately get to solve the purpose that brings them there, building their skill set, using knowledge, and making an immediate impact in an organization.

Trial Run - Many times, some candidates have suitable skills and experience but a personality difference with other team members of an organization ends up affecting the overall productivity and brings down the entire team effort. On the other hand, the company culture and advancement opportunities may not align with the contractor’s expectations each time. The contract position enables a candidate and company to test each other prior to a full-time employment offer. When the right time comes to make the same offer, the company and contractor will know exactly what to expect and position things for success.

Flexibility - Making the decision to hire employees on a contractual basis empowers an organization with the ability to react suitably towards the market changes and business needs as and when they happen. Just as mentioned before, contract workers can help to bridge gaps by offering flexible coverage for many needs. You can when you need them and always choose to not continue when you do not. This helps the candidates as well because it offers them significant adaptability. A common misconception associated with staffing is that it offers no job security at the end of employees. However, with the help of contracting it becomes possible to choose the work environment and the projects they want to participate in. The candidates can also assume roles on the basis of the skills they wish to gain, the expertise they hold on to and in case they want everything they want out of a role. In case this is not the case then the candidates can always change the job. Contractors can take the benefit of this freedom by acquiring marketable skills as the industry grows and achieves job security by always staying ahead of the new trends and technologies that expand the portfolio.

Efficient Management - While working with the contract staffing agencies, the general management of employees is no longer a concern. Businesses will be working with only one recruiter while spelling out their requirements and leaving the discovery and qualifications of candidates entirely up to them. It falls on the contract staffing agency to check the background, interview the candidate, match the qualifications, and do reference checks. Sometimes even after signing a contract and bringing someone on the board, many agencies test the professionals for some time.

Clearly define what you want.

Now that you have a team and a plan in place, sit down with your team and decide what do you truly want in your candidates. It should not just be a rough sketch of key skills and requirements, but a more detailed description of the roles and responsibilities that each position demands. This will help you source for the right candidates. You can take the help of your existing top-performing employees to chalk out an elaborate set of skills and requirements that you need in your ideal candidate. Define your priorities and your most fit candidate requirements. An elaborate job description can help you achieve your goal faster

Expand your sourcing network.

Your current sourcing and recruitment strategies won’t be fruitful for a successful mass hiring drive. A key aspect of mass recruitment strategies is to open your sourcing network to reach out to a greater number of ideal candidates than earlier. You may have to use multiple channels to reach out to a wider candidate base.

Use technology efficiently

Technology can greatly help you with the initial sourcing and screening process by scanning through the candidate profiles and categorising them as per their relevant skills. This will help you sort the good-fit candidates from a list of ideal candidates, which can further help you plan your interview process accordingly. Technology will increase the speed and efficiency of your screening process.

Structure your interview process.

The next essential aspect of a successful mass hiring drive is a structured interview process. Research has proved that a structured interview process is the best technique to evaluate a candidate rather than a non-structured assessing process. Plus, a structure is extremely crucial when you are hiring a number of candidates within a short period. A structured interview will lessen your chances of hiring wrong candidates, bring in more objectivity to your hiring drive, and save time as well as money.

Ensure follow-up calls.

Follow-ups become especially vital during the mass hiring drive. You are engaging with a lot of candidates through different outreach channels. In this melee, you may think of skipping on the follow-up process. But remember, your company brand is at stake, and keeping a large number of candidates in the lurch about the status of their interview will create a negative impression about your company among the candidates, which can severely affect your recruitment process.

Plan your onboarding process.

Your onboarding and training process is where you can provide a memorable candidate experience to encourage your newly hired employees to join your company. Onboarding is one of the most vital aspects of a mass hiring drive. When you are recruiting lots of candidates for identical job positions, then you can opt for mass onboarding. It is more beneficial to initiate the onboarding process for a big group of candidates weekly then onboarding a small number of candidates every day. This is not just efficient and structured, but it will also help you provide an excellent candidate experience. Plus, it will help you plan your interview process.

Seek referrals from new hires.

Once you have provided a great candidate experience during the hiring and onboarding process, seek referrals from your newly hired employees. People like to connect with compatible individuals and refer people if they are happy and satisfied with a particular experience. It has been observed that employees most likely refer candidates during the first six months of their job. So, you can tap into this human behaviour and seek referrals to build your talent pool of most eligible candidates for your next hiring drive. Referrals will not just provide you with an active candidate database, but they will also give you access to the most eligible and desirable candidates for your job positions

Constantly review your hiring process.

No hiring process is fool proof. Every hiring process has some loopholes, which need to be fixed or changed from time to time to make the process more efficient. This is especially true with mass hiring drives. When you are recruiting candidates in mass, many things can go wrong, ranging from an ineffective screening process with more interview rounds to missed follow-up calls. A constant review will help you identify the leaks in your hiring drive and will help you plug them with immediate solutions rather than let the entire process go out of hand.