RECRUITING GIG WORKERS
The emergence of technology made recruitment easier for the person looking for a job and for the companies looking to hire for the vacancy. A survey by Harvard Business School in 2018 reports that 40% of respondents said they expected freelance workers to grow in proportion to the organization’s workforce over the coming five years. Year after year, an increasing number of skilled workers choose the freelance lifestyle over full time work so they can be their own boss, create their own schedule, and focus on what they love to do. With that said, it is proactive for a company to strategise its way of handling and eyeing potential employees that would help boost the business. Why hire full time, when you can hire part time, outsource operations, and keep costs down whilst maintaining high output?
Where to find gig workers?
Companies used to post adverts in newspapers but these days, we cannot simply deny the benefits of digital communication technology that reduces the cost of advertising and increases the reach of readers. Gig workers are internet-savvy people, the majority of their jobs come from word of mouth, then passed on through the internet, or come from websites directly. A freelancer without their own website, and social media accounts will not be a successful worker. Now, with these skilled professionals surfing the web 24/7, how can your business reach out to these people and benefit from their flexible working, lower costs, experience and skills?
Attract
Freelancers are open to a range of job opportunities and in one click of a button inside the internet they can be contacted and interviewed. As an employer, the HR of a company should be able to see into the freelancer’s perspective on the ‘Why I choose gig working?’ question. Surely, gig workers opt for the community in the gig economy because of a personal reason but it can be said that one of those motivators is flexibility. Freelancers will have a Linked In page and often their CV (Resume) is live on their account, to help them find work quickly. They are advertising their skills all the time to their network of companies and people.
Choose
Like a typical job recruitment situation, HR are left with the decision on choosing employees. Many digital start-ups have taken to creating digital platforms to bring together gig workers and employers. In addition to that, HR must be willfully keen to assess talents and skills for these potential employees who would be the frontliners of your company.
Onboarding
When you meet, physically or virtually, the right people for your team then it is important for the gig workers (your employees) to know policies, processes, systems, job descriptions, schedules, and receive the best training that will help them to be the best staff and for you to be the best employer. Having your onboarding process clear, concise and immediately available to people will speed up the onboarding process, and will be appreciated by the new, incoming staff.
To sum all up, it is vital to ensure that communication is transparent between the freelancer and the employer. Thus, when reaching out to an alternative worker, recruiters should highlight how the company has personalized the job specifically for that worker, their skills and their experience.
