The way people work today is changing. Consider the rising popularity of remote work, shared and co-working spaces, mobile offices and much more. Most people are consciously breaking away from the monotony of their secure, permanent jobs and exploring different temporary opportunities. While advantages abound for candidates, what does this mean for a recruiter? More challenging hiring landscapes, tricky workflows, and a constant need to be in sync with what candidates today want.
Let's talk about Uber. One of the biggest ride-sharing apps in the world is a great example of a sustainable temp workforce. Statistics say that Uber has over 3 million drivers working as independent contractors, with 0.75 million alone in the US, and 2.25 million in the rest of the world. Uber is available across 65 countries and over 600 cities worldwide. The company was valued at $72 billion in 2018.
Why do temps prefer temp jobs
To start with, temporary employment opens up numerous possibilities for employees to explore and do what they love, without being tied down to a set and inflexible schedule. Seasonal employment ensures that there's flexibility in your work life, creates an opportunity to learn multiple skill sets, and most importantly, it breaks workers out of monotonous work ruts.
Surprisingly, most temporary workers are now being hired as full-time. A recent Career Builder study observed that 51% of employers plan to hire temporary workers in 2018, and that 64% of them plan to transition some temporary workers into permanent roles. Several employment opportunities are opening up across technology, e-commerce, retail, banking, and finance, ensuring that temp employment transforms into a sustainable, long-term strategy. Not just this, even staffing agencies themselves have a lot of temporary workers. A study by the American Staffing Association found that more than 3 million temporary employees work for America’s staffing companies.
Here's a few reasons why temp jobs are gaining popularity:
Work at your dream company: Often temp jobs are a quick shortcut to gain experience at your dream company, as many companies are more open to hiring temp workers for a shorter time, with lower overhead costs and more flexibility.
Build your resume: Changes in work culture have demonstrated that experience matters more than a degree. Having multiple skill sets on your resume is always a bonus.
Grow your network: The most interesting part about being in a temp job is the conversations you can have with people from across different industries. This is an advantage you'll definitely want to take advantage of.
Being a temp staffing agency today
In every new era of modern work culture, recruiters double guess their strategies. In today's market, the big question is should recruiters bet on temp staffing? There are certain assumptions that fuel that debate, such as "temp staffing agencies only fill lower-level positions," and "temporary jobs are mostly short-term."
But more and more, those assumptions don't match reality. Take a company like WeWork for example. They have redefined the way people work by creating workspaces for just about anybody - temp or fulltime. In 2018 alone, We Work, expanded to 400 new locations, in 34 new cities with a total of 4000k members globally. They also reported that a good chunk of these workspaces is being rented out to contingent workers, including consultants, creative professions, designers, developers, to name a few.
Recruiters need a solution that's tailor-made
At Zoho Recruit, our vision has always been to understand the nuances of different recruitment processes and build a solution that is tailor-made to hire contingent workers. We have been encouraged by the eclectic mix of industries and companies who have switched to our applicant tracking system to recruit for their companies and clients.
In our first blog, we spoke about how history has taught us never to fight change. But, here's survival lesson number two: What is also important is to build on something you already have. To evolve. To survive. To transform. And that is what makes all the difference.
But, do you have a solution that helps in bringing in the right temporary workers for you?
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