Does your technology team only consist of full time IT professionals? Here’s why you should consider contract workers in today’s market and exactly how to go about hiring contractors.
The State of the Market
Contract workers are a growing part of American business. According to the Associated Press, around 17 million people work for companies as temps, contract workers, consultants, freelancers, seasonal workers and interns. The popularity for contract and temporary work initially swelled during the last recession when individuals tapped into contract and temporary work as a side gig for financial security. As the economy has leveled out, an increasing amount of individuals have stuck with contract or temporary work as their entire financial status due to the flexible work hours and the ability to set and better control their financial income.
In the tech sector, unemployment is currently less than 2%, meaning the number of American technology professionals seeking employment is extremely low. For technical managers, finding IT talent is more competitive than ever in this market and the individuals calling the shots are the highly sought after technical professionals. What are they looking for in a job? Flexibility, higher pay and rewarding work. Basically, everything that comes with working as a contract worker on organization’s top technical projects.
That means employers should consider hiring contract workers. In doing so, they will have access to the candidate with the right skills for the task without overpaying. As needs and projects change, both the candidate and the employer can adjust accordingly.
However, it’s not always easy to find and hire qualified contract workers. Speed is critical when it comes to finding the right candidate. The “shelf life” of an engineer is about two weeks, meaning qualified engineers aren’t waiting around for offers. Employers who have funds and are ready to make a decision claim them quickly.
Therefore, employers need a partner who knows where to find the best candidates and how to woo them. Technical recruitment firms like Triple Crown build relationships with the market’s most sought-after professionals and we know engineers’ pain points, goals and communication methods. Our goal is to use this knowledge and our ever-growing network for 40 plus technical communities to deliver the right candidate for your company and the open position.
How To Hire Contract Workers
Triple Crown can connect you to the best hardware, software and big data developers on the market, that’s our job. After that, the success of placing a candidate falls on managers to:
- Interview quickly
This means within a week. Don’t bother with several phone interviews and then an in-person interview. Cultural fit is less important in short-term, contract work. Therefore, a phone call to verify the candidate’s skills and availability to get the job done will do.
- Make a competitive offer
Be ready to pay market rates. Whatever you were accustomed to paying your engineers five to 10 years ago, it has changed and is going to continue to change. Rates have changed, in some cases, by 5-6% since 2016. According to the ComputerWorld’s IT Salary Survey 2017, Information Security Specialists earn $100,000, up from $88,887 in 2012.
- Decide quickly
Think of it this way, the average shelf life of top engineers is like milk – only five to seven days! In just one day on the market an engineer may have two or three interviews. In between contracts, candidates will be on the market for a week or two, but not much longer. Managers must make decisions and an offer quickly as to not lose out on a good candidate and waste more time looking.
Are you ready to find a top software or hardware professional for your company? Act quickly.