Your company is expanding. Business is good, and you need more people on staff to help with the demand. That’s great news! So, you’re looking to hire new employees—and during the Great Resignation, no less.

But are full-time hires the way to go?

According to the Wall Street Journal, people are quitting full-time jobs. While contract work was once seen as a “layover” for executives angling toward retirement or a first step for those looking to re-enter the workforce after time away, the tides have changed. Consulting and contract work are becoming the more attractive option—for both new hires and employers—in today’s job market.

One in five (20%) of contractors cite schedule flexibility as a reason for choosing temporary/contract work—and that need for flexibility is one of the elements that caused such a seismic shift in employment over the past few years.

For new hires, the perks are obvious: flexible hours, more control, and more money. But for companies both large and small, hiring contractors provides its own set of perks. Here are five things to consider when hiring contractors.

Hiring employees as contract-to-hire is great for companies that are set on full-time hires, and it allows the company and employee to get a feel for each other before the role becomes permanent. Both the candidate and the company can see if the position is a right fit in terms of skillset, environment, flexibility structure, performance, and so on.

One big advantage to hiring contractors that few talk about: They’re known to be subject-matter experts. They’ve quickly spread their wings and worked with various employers and projects—so they not only know the field, but they know how produce quality work within your budget and on time. They have worked for many industries as they build out those cutting-edge technologies, therefore can bring a multitude of experiences and fresh points of view into clients’ digital transformation plans.

Highly technical contractors are looking for the flexibility that contract work allows, so you’ll be able to take advantage of a vast talent pool and stay competitive. Additionally, these contract workers often need minimal training to be productive, and because they are solely there to deliver their expertise to the company’s transformation goals, you’re able to avoid any need for them to attend admin or HR-related meetings.

As an employer, you’re always looking for innovative ways to cut costs, and hiring a contractor is cost-effective. You won’t have to think about costly overhead such as offering health benefits, unemployment compensation, social security taxes, or medicare taxes. Plus contractors are able to onboard quickly and kick start their projects with minimal management – that means faster product/service delivery and no time or money wasted on month long hiring processes. Basically, for the employer, it’s low risk and high reward.

A big time-suck for a lot of companies is the onboarding process for new employees. They have to be trained, brought up to date with projects, and then some. At Curate Partners, we take care of the onboarding, so your contract employees can hit the ground running.

The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that the average time to fill (the time it takes to make a hire after a position opens) is at 42 days across all industries, yet the best candidate is off the market in 10 days. You can cut your hiring time by more than half if you set your sights on contractors instead—and hire a company like Curate to handle the heavy lifting.

Choosing to go down the contractor route opens up the candidate pool to ALL workers, even non-US citizens who are here on a work visa or who need sponsorship. We can make that happen. Otherwise, employment and citizenship status can drag out the hiring process for an employer and be costly.

Objection: I want someone that won’t leave this role and is looking to develop in their career.
Reply: Contracting is a great way to develop a career, and those who seek out contractor roles know that. You can also consider offering contract-to-hire if you feel that your contractor is a good long-term fit. You can’t prevent someone from leaving a role, but you can provide an environment that compels workers to stay—offering a supportive work environment, fair compensation, and the ability for job growth are all great ways to retain your employees.

Objection: What if at the end of their contract they don’t like us, but we like them—training, time, and energy will be wasted.
Reply: You always risk that someone won’t be the right fit for your company whether they are a full-time employee or contractor.

We get it: There’s a level of uncertainty in hiring a contractor. But with the right staffing partner, that uncertainty all but disappears. When you open up opportunities to contract-to-hire and contract employees, you allow your talent pool to increase and the likelihood of finding a candidate becomes much higher—especially with niche jobs or skillsets. You go from filling a vacancy to filling a need.

Around three million temporary and contract employees work for staffing companies in the U.S. during an average week, and during the course of a year, staffing companies hire 16 million temporary and contract employees. Those numbers are hard to ignore—and they add a lot more prospects to your talent pool.

Looking to hire a contractor, but not sure where to start? Reach out.