Responding to the Trends

There are a number of trends in the employment and staffing worlds that impact both employers and prospective employees. Many companies are now outsourcing an increasing amount of work to freelancers and part-time workers. Likewise, many professionals now choose freelancing as a preferred lifestyle choice, not simply as a desperate alternative to a full-time position.

These trends impact the recruiting industry in several ways. The process of selecting a freelancer for a task or project is qualitatively different from seeking out a full-time employee. Many of the criteria for hiring someone to serve as an internal staff member aren’t applicable when using a freelancer. In fact, most of the popular websites for providing freelance talent don’t provide any real background information or credentials of the freelancers themselves. The most an employer can hope for is how well a freelancer has performed for clients on the website through something such as a star system.

As companies consider the advantages of these resources, such as no benefits and fewer continuing obligations, they find more positions that they are willing to trust to this form of part-time work. If a freelancer disappoints, it is vastly different and less expensive than making a bad hire.

Two very Different Tasks

Selecting a freelancer for a company is much more of a contracting process than a hiring assignment. Most of the EEO and related hiring issues, in addition to many of today’s sensitivities and HR guidelines are irrelevant to engaging or terminating a freelancer relationship. The recruiter simply has more freedom, from asking for specific referrals to not having to ensure a non-discriminatory review and selection process.

Of course, the other side of this coin is that a recruiter brings far less in the way of value-added services to the equation when selecting a freelancer rather than a full time employee. Recruiters are paid to have networks, find diamonds in the applicant pool, and to navigate all the intricacies of the hiring process. Absent that additional effort, the compensation that is involved will be significantly lower.