A Disclaimer: While it might seem self-serving for a marketing agency to promote outsourcing, I have led teams of worldwide in-house and outsourced talent and am describing my honest advice from experience.
With the help of analysts, let’s take out our crystal balls for a second. Here are three reasons why your company with need to adapt its hiring strategy to survive:
REASON ONE- Employee Engagement: Study after study shows employees are disengaged. We know this, yet… we keep hiring and expecting something different. While innovative HR programs and talented recruiters try to pick up the slack, these efforts are expensive, resource-heavy, and, with exceptions, haven’t yet improved engagement outlooks. Currently, skilled workers prefer contract work, with 34% of the U.S. workforce freelancing, whether as their main or supplemental income. Chances are, if you have an in-house team, many of your employees have a side “hustle.” By 2020, 40 percent of the U.S. workforce is expected to be independent contractors and I predict this number will continue to grow.
REASON TWO- The Talent Crunch. Regardless of the economic season, marketers typically have a universal challenge – time and resources.
Gartner recently claimed:
“The balance of power between the enterprise and talent has shifted to the latter. The reactive talent management of the recent past cannot work in an era of global visibility and opportunity for top talent.”
This warning comes at even higher costs, when our function requires knowledge and talent across an endless field – writing, design, coding, social media… I’m sure we could make some rather long lists! Combine this talent need with education around highly specific or complicated technology service or product offering, and you’re got a serious talent crunch. With Millennials set to compromise 50% of the global workforce by 2020, your ability to attract this group coincides with their preference for contract work or a “sequence of assignments, not a lifetime commitment to an employer” (Gartner 2016). Hiring freelancers and agencies, will allow a marketing team to pool highly experienced resources in highly-specific skills at lower costs and only when needed.
REASON THREE: Digital Transformation. Bear with me, I know the vague term of digital transformation is a dive towards the snooze button, but it’s coming. And it certainly won’t be a snooze. For most companies, the ability to use data and technology to drive process and product and adjust in real time will be a make or break event. Analysts repeatedly praise the need to “Build a portfolio of sources for versatilist talent” to meet transformation demands (Gartner 2016). Building ecosystems of nimble partners seems to be one constant recommendation to survive in the coming age.
The Path to Productivity:
Our recommendation for this hiring conundrum? Selectively pick the in-house talent who can accomplish the following checklist, while outsourcing the majority of your talent.
Depending on the size of your organization, you will need to scale your in-house team to manage your outside agencies and freelancers, while outsourced projects drive that tactical pieces of your strategic goals.
In general, your in-house marketing talent should be able to:
- Help you succeed in your business’s political climate,
- Have a strategic mindset focused on the big picture,
- Have experience organizing multifaceted, fast moving projects and talent,
- And fit the mold of your unique business culture & executive preference.
Certainly, some all-star go-getters still have a preference for a 9 to 5, and by all means, grab these all-stars for your team!
With your remaining budget, we believe the greatest talent ROI derives from outsourcing to individual freelancers on a project-by-project basis for content, design, social, email, and other unique needs. You can also work with an agency who brings these diverse talents to your organization under an organized project management process. If you’re a start-up or small budget marketing team, you might want to consider going 100% virtual or partnering with an agency.* Without a savvy recruiter, there’s just not enough time or money to validate additional resource-heavy in-house investments with narrow skill bases. Hiring on a contract basis, allows you to diversify your talent pool and scale up or down resources on-demand.
There is one strong caveat to hiring. Whether you’re hiring in-house or outsourcing, results deviate drastically dependent on the person or team you hire. Get recommendations. Do your research. Interview. And start with small, test projects. Whether you’re hiring virtually or in-person, hiring due diligence costs time but pays dividends. While this may seem obvious, we all get in a pinch and hire quickly, when investing in hiring top talent can be the most productive thing you do all year!
I’ve personally been extremely lucky enough to have worked with some truly amazing, highly driven partners, in-house as well as outsourced marketing talent. I strongly believe some of my colleagues will be famously successful one day… and I’m not the only one to say so.
If you need recommendations, feel free to reach out: [email protected].
Happy business building!
Jess
Be sure to subscribe to get notified when Part II is published – we explore different types of agencies focused on providing multifaceted talent pools. In our opinion, it’s typically unhelpful to hire large agencies who replicate the same corporate structures you are trying to diversify – so watch out for these!