What usually starts as a search for someone with the specialist skills necessary to meet current demand, inevitably evolves into the hunt for the purple squirrel, once factors such as culture-fit and long-term career aspirations are considered.
Having spent several weeks screening candidates and several more waiting for the successful applicant to arrive, the prospect of waiting another few months for a full-time employee to get up to speed seems counterproductive in fulfilling a short-term need. Yet, time and time again, employers seeking an extra pair of hands in the short-term find themselves looking only to candidates seeking permanent roles to solve their problems.
Whether to tackle specialist project work or meet seasonal peaks, temporary talent can provide an efficient solution for growing businesses.
Secure specialists for high value projects
When the need for expertise arises, sourcing and securing someone on a temporary basis who has the specialist skills to undertake a critical part of a niche project can often prove cost-effective for employers. While providing training to existing employees who want to bolster their knowledge in this particular area can be useful in the long-term, you’ll only see a return if the need for refined expertise in this discipline arises once more.
The same can be said about hiring permanent candidates. Unless you decide to make this specialist work the primary focus of your business, increasing overheads on a permanent basis can be unnecessary.
Scale up and down according to demand
In a volatile economy, agility and flexibility are essential in maintaining a competitive edge. You may have hired full-time employees to meet spikes in demand, but when volume of work starts to quieten down to a steady pace, you’re could be left with a number of excess employees on payroll who aren’t being productive enough.
By relying on temporary talent for particularly busy periods and specific projects, your workforce can fluctuate depending on the ebb and flow of market demand and enable you to take on permanent workers only when you are sure of a sustained requirement. When the need arises, your temporary staffing partner will have a number of skilled candidates waiting to start their next contract.
With a sizeable project on the horizon, you’ll need all the resources you can get to ensure every element is delivered to a high standard on a tight timescale. Temporary candidates are used to joining organisations for a short-period of time; the skills and experience they bring to the role can allow for immediate impact.
As opposed to those who are in it for the long-haul, a temporary candidate is usually available to start straight away and they’re familiar with the need to assimilate significant training quickly to get to grips with the task at hand. What’s more, working with a dedicated agency can further improve speed-to-hire as they should always be working to nurture a network of prospective temporary candidates on behalf of prospective clients.
About the author
Kate Allen is the MD of Allen Associates, one of Oxfordshire’s leading independent recruitment agencies, that specialises in Marketing, Finance, PA/Admin and HR roles. In the summer of 2018, Allen Associates launched their first London office, specialising in Marketing, HR and PA/Admin roles.
