Which Role Should You Hire Next To Grow Your Business?

With limited budgets and endless projects competing for attention, many businesses face a tough question: Which role should we hire next? For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the challenge is even more complex because employees often wear multiple hats. Over time, they’re pulled into so many different directions that growth slows.

Yes, you need more help. But the real issue isn’t how many people to add; it’s how to make the most strategic hire, the one that frees your team to focus on the work that adds the most value. Otherwise, bringing on another person can be like sending more cars onto a freeway that’s already jammed. The traffic only gets worse.

Before you add another team member, it helps to spot where the traffic is truly stuck. And then clear the lane by hiring for outcomes, not job titles.

Common bottlenecks that slow SMB growth

Every SMB has choke points. These are the places where work piles up and momentum slows. If you have more than one, consider starting with the one that’s costing you the most. That cost may be in lost sales, wasted hours, or higher expenses.

Here’s where bottlenecks may show up:

• Sales. Leads sit untouched for days, and opportunities slip away.
• Marketing. Social media campaigns happen only when someone “finds the time.”
• Operations. Managers spend hours fixing issues instead of improving processes.
• Technology. AI projects stall because no one has the skills to move them forward.

Bottlenecks can hurt a business in different ways. In one Upwork study, 77% of employees said AI tools increased their workload instead of reducing it, because teams lacked the time or expertise to implement them effectively. And a McKinsey survey found that middle managers spend nearly half of their time on low-value tasks, leaving little room for strategy or talent growth.

Another way to identify bottlenecks is through what McKinsey researchers identified as the three invisible causes of lost productivity:

• Skill gap. Do teams have the expertise needed to get the work done?

Example: A small manufacturer wants to launch an eCommerce channel but has no one who knows how to set up and manage an online store.

• Will gap. Are employees engaged and motivated by the tasks in front of them?
  Example: A business doesn’t have a full HR team in-house, so a project manager takes on HR onboarding, leaving them stretched thin and burned out.
  
• Time gap. Are employees stuck in low-value work or too many meetings?
  Example: An operations lead spends hours reconciling invoices manually instead of improving supplier relationships.

The cost of bottlenecks appears not only in dollars but also in lost time and momentum. That’s why leading businesses don’t begin with a job title when hiring. They begin with the outcome they want. Instead of asking, “Who should we hire?” they ask, “What result do we need most?”

The 3 steps to hiring for outcomes

Once you’ve identified the bottleneck that’s slowing growth, the next step is figuring out how to hire in a way that clears it. Here’s a simple three-step process:

1. Define the outcome

Instead of “We need an AI engineer,” try “We need to pilot an AI-driven recommendation engine in 90 days.” Framing it this way keeps the focus on results, not titles.

2. Identify the skill required

You may not need a full AI team. You may only need someone with expertise in machine learning frameworks who can build a proof of concept.

3. Decide when and how long you need the help

If this is a one-time pilot, a freelance AI specialist can build the proof of concept and get started quickly. If the pilot shows promise, you may bring in a freelance AI product manager for a few months to oversee testing and integration. And if the solution becomes core to your business, you may eventually need a full-time machine learning engineer or data scientist to scale and maintain it.

Why more businesses are hiring freelancers for outcomes

Even as broader job markets cool, SMBs are ramping up their use of freelancers — especially for in-demand skills. An Upwork Monthly Hiring Report shows AI and machine learning freelancer demand rose 40% and video and animation skills demand grew 27% the same month.

This signals that SMBs are proactively turning to freelance experts to move faster, create dynamic content, and adopt new technologies that keep them competitive.

Engaging freelancers could also increase your workforce flexibility and reduce hiring risk. If one freelancer isn’t the right fit, you can bring in another. If the work dries up sooner than expected, you can end the contract. There’s no pressure to justify payroll by filling a full-time employee’s day with work outside of their job description.

And the outcome-first approach extends beyond SMBs. In an In-Demand Skills Report surveying small to large businesses, nearly half (49%) of full-time employees now rely on freelancers to cover critical gaps. Executives see the value too: 48% of CEOs plan to increase freelance hiring in the next year.

But while more leaders are turning to freelancers for outcomes, a challenge remains: how to find the right ones quickly. That’s where Business Plus comes in.

How Business Plus helps you clear bottlenecks faster

Knowing you need freelancers is one thing; finding the right ones is another. Many SMBs don’t have time to sift through dozens of profiles, and some aren’t sure how to vet proposals when the skills are new to the business.

More and more are sidestepping these challenges with Business Plus — a plan with no subscription fees or up-front costs.

As a member, you get:

• Access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork, so you can focus only on the best
• Hand-curated shortlists within two business days from dedicated Talent Specialists
• Collaboration tools and consolidated billing to streamline team projects
• 24/7 premium support to resolve issues quickly and keep momentum going

With Business Plus, you can move from bottleneck to solution within days. That’s whether you need one freelancer to write blog posts or an entire team to launch a new digital initiative.

Keeping the business moving forward

Going back to the freeway analogy: Progress slows when cars pile up. The fastest way to get traffic moving again is to clear what’s blocking the flow. Outcome-based hiring works the same way. You restore momentum — and free up growth — by identifying the bottleneck and bringing in the right skill at the right time.

So before you decide on your next hire, don’t start with a job title. Start with the outcome. And if that outcome points to a freelance specialist, Business Plus helps you get there faster with access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork and curated shortlists delivered in just two days. Learn more about Business Plus.