Today’s Talent Economy: Transforming Your Hiring Strategy

In the wake of a global pandemic that has caused as much as 85% of workers to work from home, the evolution of the modern talent economy has become more apparent than ever. While it may seem that the current crisis is the sole motivation for the shift toward a remote workforce, the change has gradually occurred for some time.

The rapid pace of technology, the availability of online education, and the need for specialized skill sets have made it impossible for businesses to rely solely on the talent within their organization. Over the last few years, many companies have realized they need to broaden their access to diverse talent or risk falling behind their competitors.

How will you update your hiring strategy for this new remote-first mindset? To make sure your company is prepared, you’ll need access to a global network of talent. You’ll need an efficient hiring process for making the new talent economy work for you. And you’ll need to revamp your idea of how your business meets its needs.

The following is an illustration of a few of the trends reshaping the modern talent economy. For each trend, we’ve added easy-to-follow tips to guide you as you adapt your hiring strategies.

Talent economy trend 1: The rise of independent professionals

More and more highly skilled workers are making the jump from full-time employment to an independent business model. Independent professionals are in business for themselves. Your company enlists them to do a specific job, but they don’t work for you.

Whether you need help with a particular project or task, your company can contract independent talent depending on its needs. You have the freedom to draft a contract any way you want.

Independent professionals don’t require training, as they specialize in a certain ability, such as writing, marketing, or programming. According to an Upwork study conducted among 1,500 hiring managers, 81% agreed that it’s crucial their staff learn new skills, but 75% thought hiring independent talent may be more cost effective than training existing workers or using traditional staffing agencies.

How to adapt your hiring strategy

• Take an inventory of your workforce’s current abilities. Then, create a job posting for the type of talent you’ll need. Be specific. If you’re looking for someone to write business-to-business (B2B) blog posts, you won’t benefit from an entertainment writer.
  

• Use a talent marketplace service. Talent marketplaces provide a space where you can meet and hire independent talent. A talent cloud can make engaging independent professionals much easier by condensing your search to only the most eligible workers from a wide array of job seekers. Upwork has an enormous talent pool to fill all your business needs and can make finding the right hire simple.
  

• Have a consistent way to handle the paperwork. If you’re hiring for a job with an approaching deadline, you’ll want to make sure you can bring workers in as quickly as possible. Scrambling to get new workers the right forms can slow down the process. Upwork Enterprise can deal with your paperwork for you. It’ll keep track of things like payroll and contracts.

Talent economy trend 2: Globalization

With innovations in cloud-based data storage, internet speed, and video conferencing, it’s never been easier to collaborate with workers worldwide.  Your company is no longer relegated to filling skills gaps with workers in its city, state, or even country. Now, teams can operate in real time no matter where they are.

With a global talent pool at your disposal, it becomes easier to find people who can perform specific tasks. Your business benefits from gaining new perspectives of people outside its general area.

However, it’s important to be mindful of different working hours or communication styles. You’ll need to make sure that you can maintain a quality connection with a worker outside your area.

How to adapt your hiring strategy

• Make an easy-to-understand list of everything you expect and communicate it clearly to your potential hire. Include how and when your team keeps in contact and what updates need to be shared. If you need a worker to operate during definite hours, include that too. Not everyone shares the same time zone. This becomes especially important when dealing with workers in other countries.
  

• Schedule a video interview. A video interview allows you to see how talent responds to questions in real time. You’ll also be able to confirm that they have the required hardware to handle future remote meetings.
  

• Hold group interviews. If a project requires unique knowledge, the team that is already working on it will ask the right questions to ensure a new worker will be the right fit. Group interviews also allow you to see if a new worker’s demeanor will gel with the team.

Talent economy trend 3: Greater availability of education

A four-year degree is no longer enough to ensure success in an evolving talent economy. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have given workers a way to learn up-to-date skills that are much more affordable than a traditional college education. That’s not to say that there aren’t benefits to gaining a general degree, but technology is moving so fast that workers should consistently retool their skill sets.

Companies invest huge amounts of capital into training to familiarize their staff with new technology and business structures. Hiring outside independent talent from a service like Upwork puts the responsibility squarely on the worker to make sure they possess current knowledge of their craft.

Workers who take it upon themselves to consistently learn will have the initiative to effectively tackle the projects that your business needs to be done. Make sure your company benefits from an improving education model that allows the masses to gain expertise in a growing number of fields.

How to adapt your hiring strategy

• Update your company’s current job postings to be more skill- and experience-based than education-based. Be wary about making a four-year degree a requirement, or you may miss out on workers with up-to-date skills who have educated themselves. You can still include a college degree in your preferred qualifications and give your potential worker a chance to explain why they have the equivalent knowledge.

• Ask questions in the interview process like, “What are the three most important skills for this job?” Having a potential hire explain what it takes to complete a task will give you a picture of their expertise. You may even ask something like, “Where do you go to learn a new skill?” A worker who can find the information they need saves a company money and will find unique ways to solve problems.

• Give a potential worker a sample project to showcase their skills. Make sure the project is comparable to the type of work they’ll be doing within your company. Their performance on the test project will give you an accurate depiction of their abilities. Be sure to compensate them for their time, whether or not you move forward in hiring.
  

Navigate the talent economy with Upwork

As the talent economy broadens, hiring becomes more than just finding qualified applicants. Businesses now possess the ability to comb the globe to hunt for the right “fit” for their organization.

While the sheer scope of hiring in today’s talent economy can feel like finding a needle in a haystack, the prospect of finding hyper-skilled, one-in-a-million workers can be thrilling.

It’s essential for hiring professionals to understand the trends contributing to the growth of the talent market—so they’re not left in the dark as processes become more efficient. With an understanding of what kind of talent is out there, your company maximizes its workforce’s potential.

With Upwork, your company has access to the widest possible pool of independent professionals. Our intensive vetting process will save you time by introducing you to only the most-qualified workers for your company.