Hiring a new employee is stressful; it’s a gamble, and there is often times a lot of apprehension about making the right decision. Is this REALLY the right person for your team? Will you see the ROI on your time and money put into this new hire? Maybe it feels like the right time to expand your team by adding another skilled person, or maybe you find yourself needing to add a specialized skill set to your department. Bringing in a skilled contractor can alleviate much of this apprehension and concern because it isn’t quite as risky of a commitment as spending time and valuable resources on a permanent hiring decision. Here are some of the best reasons to consider adding a contractor to your team.
Number 5:
Need to add an effective person temporarily
Let’s face it…there are times during the course of a project when things can get out of hand. Milestones and deadlines are fast approaching and you aren’t sure your team is going to meet their goal. The full-time staff is doing a great job, but an extra set of experienced hands could make the difference between making or breaking a deadline on many mission-critical projects. Adding one or two contractors with direct experience on similar projects will save time, free up your full-time resources for daily business activities, and allow an expert to ensure successful delivery of the project. Contractors can save the DAY!!
Number 4:
Contractors are cheaper to have on staff than a permanent employee
With the cost of insurance, taxes, workman’s comp, etc…etc…constantly on the rise, the cost of having a full-time employee goes up every year. Add to that the upfront cost and time invested in training a permanent employee to be sure he/she is up to speed and able to be effective and you can see how much the investment is in the first few months of employment. What you need to ask yourself is, “would a contractor be just as effective in this role and available to make a difference from day one?” Often times the answer is a resounding “YES”, and thousands of dollars could be saved every week allowing more budget to improve the department elsewhere. It takes an experienced Staffing Partner to know the connections in your area with the right skills to really be effective immediately, but this is often times seen as a more cost-effective solution vs. hiring a full-time/permanent employee.
Number 3:
Faster Ramp-up Time
An experienced contractor will be at the top of their game in technology which allows them to be effective immediately. Instead of weeks/months of training and acclimating to your environment, a contractor will be an effective team player (or leader) from day one and begin to solve mission critical problems; making your life easier. Many of our hiring managers keep several contractors on-site working with their permanent employees several times a year in order to keep everyone’s skills sharp, expose them to the latest and greatest techniques/technologies, and to augment their staff at peak times of production when necessary.
Number 2:
The skills you need are more common in the Consulting/Contracting market
There are a wide variety of highly-specific and needed skill sets out there in the IT world that are predominately possessed by independent contractors. IT Departments and Corporations needing these skills for specialized projects often benefit from employing the services of an outside (third party) firm or independent consultant. Using a third party partner is also desired in many situations due to their inherent unbiased approach. These skills may also be rare or hard to keep on staff due to the ever-changing nature of things in IT. ERP professionals, Security audits/assessments, Infrastructure Architects, and systems implementation professionals are a few areas where there is often a much greater talent-pool in the contractor community, and an unbiased third party approach would prove very advantageous.
Number 1:
Contract-to-Hire (try before you buy)
You really do need a full-time/permanent employee, but you don’t have time to go through weeks of interviewing only to not really be 100% sure you have chosen the “right guy” for the job. The contract-to-hire option allows you to bring someone on without the initial cost of a direct hire employee and provides 3-6 months of “contract time” to let this person really prove they ARE the right person you want as a permanent addition to your team. It allows you to keep the production up by hiring a contractor and if they don’t prove to be the “right guy” for the job you can end the contract and bring in another contractor to try them out for the permanent position; all without any down-time. In fact…bringing someone to work as a contractor, with the potential to become a permanent employee, will improve the team’s production and you will feel confident in your decision to hire (or not to hire) this individual when the time is right.