“Gig economy” is a huge buzzword in the hiring market right now. But what does it really mean for employers: Is it good? Is it bad? Let’s dig in.
According to the ultra-analytical Investopedia, the technical definition of a gig economy is where “temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace, and companies tend toward hiring independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees.”
We know, kind of a bummer. But it doesn’t have to be!
Since you’re not hiring for a traditional 9-to-5 role, you should be appealing to the people who find that idea outdated anyway. Gig workers have a certain amount of independence that comes with their jobs: the rule of thumb is that if their work is good, they’re in good standing with the company. Remind your candidate that they have the freedom to find the work pattern that works best for them, and the interest in your comapny will increase!
Quite frankly, with this sort of job economy, your potential candidate has quite a few places to choose from. When all the positions cover roughly the same possibilities, how is a candidate supposed to choose what you’re offering instead of a competitor? By utilizing the existing employer brand. It’ll show your candidate the differences between working with your company versus company X, and hopefully sway them in those last crucial moments. (Shameless plug: working with awesome people like Kinetix can get your employer branding up to snuff in a matter of weeks. #KinetixQuality, y’all!)
The pros of a gig economy means that you have the ability to cast your net far and wide to get the results you want. But if your application process is too lengthy, or convoluted, or just plain boring, you may be losing gig economy workers who are used to applying in a more wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of way. Make it easy to grab the attention of a large part of the candidate pool by keeping applications short, sweet, and to the point.
Once that prime candidate’s gig is “up,” so to speak, they’ll be on the job market in a short amount of time. Keep up with the candidates who have skills you know can be parlayed into many different fields, and you’ll be able to find stability in a gig-ridden world. I can hear the recruiters groaning, but it’s true–it’s all about the funnel!
Times are a’changing, but your recruiting placements don’t need to follow suit. There are always surefire ways to handle every recruiting trend, no matter how short-term they may be.