As companies tighten their belts due to Covid-19, contract jobs have been on the rise. As a recruiter, how can you keep this subset of executives – and their specific skills and qualifications – open to positions you have on file? CareerBuilder has some tailor-made solutions.
In Singapore, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of resident employees on fixed-term contracts, from 7.2% in June 2018 to 7.6% in June 2019. In fact, nearly a quarter of professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) in Singapore are hired on fixed-term contracts, a survey commissioned by The Straits Times has found.
The growing trend favours contract work over full-term employment. This is probably a result of companies scaling back on full-time hiring due to the impact of Covid-19, and more people – executives and companies both – embracing contract work as a viable alternative to a new hire.
Contracted employees tend to value their freedom from full-time commitment, a higher base salary, and the chance to apply the highly technical and specific skillsets they have. They are often called in to complete a project or help with a certain task, and leave after it’s done. (For example, digital transformation project managers as well as experts in DevOps are in high demand in the current climate that embraces digital transformation.)
HR Challenge: How to keep contract workers applying and active in your database
Unlike those searching for full-time positions, contract workers will apply and apply again on job portals and boards as they look for their next contracts. Hence, there is a need to keep them coming back by providing them a good search platform from which to see your postings.
This poses a unique challenge for a company or hiring agency looking for contract staff: How do I keep contract workers informed of positions they may be interested in, and how do I make sure they come back when they’re looking for their next position?
Hiring Solutions: Talent Solution and Broadbean
As contract workers are constantly on the lookout for their next job, they tend to network and socialise extensively, both on the job and off. To reach out to them, it is essential to be as visible and as relevant as possible. You need to keep yourself and your company fresh in their minds by building a reputation with each contract jobseeker for well-targeted, well-tailored job postings.
It’s not possible for human hands alone to keep up with all the job alerts, SNS posts and job board updates that would entail. Hence, we recommend three Hiring Solutions – Talent Solution, TextKernel and Broadbean – that can work together in tandem, or even individually, to keep contract workers coming back to your portal.
Talent Solution
Talent Solution is a mobile-optimised recruitment solution where we essentially build a recruitment platform tailored to your company. With a simple click of the “Join” button, the candidate gains access to your announcements, competitive advantages and available job postings.
Talent Solution also periodically sends customised Job Alert emails to candidates, which contain recommended positions based on their CVs and past companies. These are especially useful for the contract employee, who is always on the lookout for his or her next position. Our data shows that these automated emails enjoy a very high success rate, with 3x the usual open rate and 10x the usual click rate compared to generic Job Alerts.
Additionally, these emails help build a professional image of your company – you’ll be showing those in the job market that you are open to new talent and willing to reach out for it, never a bad thing.
TextKernel
Companies looking to hire contract staff often want them for specific projects or positions. TextKernel’s optimised, highly-customisable search function is perfect for funneling down candidates you want. TextKernel uses AI-powered technology to source and match candidates and jobs with ever greater speed and accuracy.
Want someone for a two-year contract, with Ruby on Rails Developer experience, who can work in a team and is open to the night shift? Simply add those criteria into your search and let TextKernel screen candidates for you. You can even divide criteria according to whether they’re “necessary” or just “nice to have” so that TextKernel knows who to prioritise.
TextKernel optimises your search for someone with the right skills and the right timeframe of work so that you can spend more time screening desirable candidates and less time simply glancing through CVs for a coveted keyword.
Broadbean
In terms of visibility, Broadbean gets you out there like nothing else can. Broadbean is the global, market-leading job posting system that enables you to instantly distribute adverts to thousands of job boards and social media. It’s integrated with thousands of job boards, CV databases, and social/ professional networks enabling you to find the most relevant talent for your vacancies quickly and efficiently.
Contract workers tend to be a highly engaged subset, constantly on the lookout for industry news, skills upgrades or their next position. In particular, they engage with other contract workers in their field, networking and searching for new opportunities. Therefore, it’s important to catch their eye “off the grid” on social networks, professional sites and other databases. By increasing your reach with Broadbean, you’ll ensure that you – and your job postings – are more likely to get the right hits with them.
Interested in HR Solutions? Email [email protected] for a demo, or contact your CareerBuilder rep to learn more.
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