By Peggy De Lange, VP of International at Fiverr
Hiring people – and keeping hold of them – has arguably never been harder than now. There are some major forces at play, and they all seem to be converging at once.
On one hand, we have a very clear skills gap – one that’s only becoming more pronounced in an increasingly technical working landscape. It’s reported that 82% of all UK jobs list digital skills as a requirement, yet employers struggle to fill one-third of vacancies due to a lack of digital competency.
On the other hand, we’re facing a Great Resignation that’s not only seeing people move elsewhere enmasse, but seeing them remove themselves from the job market altogether: 54% of HR professionals say employees have left their company to start their own business or work for themselves.
These forces are causing havoc against the backdrop of the biggest disrupter of them all: a radically changing working world. If you compare today to a few short years ago, how we work is completely different, as is where we work from and even why we work for a business or person.
On the face of it all, now would appear to be a very tricky time to be building a strong team – but that’s only if you’re looking at things through the traditional lens.
By empowering businesses with a faster, more flexible means to find and work with top professionals, cloud-sourced talent is the answer to slow hiring processes and stagnant workforces. Better still, it can fuel growth against the major forces that are keeping business leaders and hiring managers up at night.
History is about to repeat itself
I firmly believe that 2022 is the dawn of a cloud solution for talent that will revolutionise how businesses build teams. And it wouldn’t be the first time the cloud has enabled a big change.
It feels like a long, long time ago now, but less than two decades ago businesses were required to set up all of their computing capabilities on-site. This was very costly, very inefficient, it required lots of space. Technology was constantly updated and in need of updates and maintenance. In short, it was the source of many headaches, and I’m sure it deterred plenty of aspiring entrepreneurs from starting up.
Then, everything changed with the huge shift from on-site to cloud computing. The cloud was easier, cheaper, and faster to set up – with a minimum ongoing maintenance overhead – and perhaps most significantly, it empowered businesses of all sizes, big or small, and industries, tech or not, to access the latest computing technology.
There are very clear parallels between the limitations of on-premises IT infrastructure and maintaining the traditional static, full-time workforce. Both are expensive, slow to get going, inflexible and in constant need of refreshing to keep up with the latest skills/technologies.
I’m sure that history, as it so often does, is about to repeat itself.
Democratising the best talent
Cloud-sourced talent has so much to offer any business.
Alongside flexibility, operational efficiency and cost, one of its key features is that it enables virtually all businesses to unlock innovations and emerging technologies that have until now been exclusive to the big players with the deep pockets.
A dynamic talent cloud solution means that if a small business wants to explore Web3, it can. Those businesses can access the best Web3 talent on a project-by-project basis, whether that project is simple and quick or complex and more long-term.
Businesses have an increasing need to expand their online reach to customers and continue innovating in their product and their marketing, and cloud-sourced talent breaks barriers down to put those needs within reach. The limitations of a static workforce shouldn’t put a ceiling on a business’s potential.
Change is necessary
Cloud-sourced talent is ready to go, and the time is now for businesses to change how they think about working with people.
Faced with a digital skills shortage, the Great Resignation and a rapidly evolving work environment, change is far more than a good idea – it’s very necessary. As is so often the case, the businesses that will succeed in the face of today’s workforce challenges will be those who will act the quickest.
Businesses live and die by the quality of the talent at their disposal. Especially today, you can’t afford to let the best talent pass you by.
