Employers handpick freelancers from online marketplaces

Images of wanted ads in newspapers, such as job listings for front desk executives, telephone operators, and office assistants, are now a distant memory. Perhaps too many movies have shown this, or it is just nostalgia for a lost time. But reality today is changing, and fast. Newspaper listings have given way to online job portals, which are now giving way to something more radical—online marketplaces.

What are online marketplaces?

Online marketplaces are an Internet phenomenon that started, arguably, at the fag end of the last century. In the decade and a half since, it has taken wings. While the concept of such marketplaces, when pitched first, might have led to quizzical looks, today it is easily relatable. Businesses (employers) with diverse needs can find and hire talent (freelancers) that is qualified and suitable for the purpose of specific projects and assignments. In other words, online marketplaces are platforms where any skilled person with a computer based anywhere in the world can find a job on his own terms and any employer can handpick the best freelance workers from across geographies for projects without bearing the burden of recruitment, training, and payroll management.

It sounds too good to be true and, in several ways, it is a win-win for all. But since the topic of online marketplaces itself is vast, we’re focusing only on the employer perspective in this article to explore “Why do businesses turn to online marketplaces?”

Benefits of online marketplaces

Online workplaces provide hiring solutions that are vastly different from traditional recruitment solutions in a number of ways:

1. Speed – Spend no time in finding the right candidate. Carefully curated freelancer CVs, employer feedback ratings, and detailed reviews speed up decision-making exponentially.
2. Quality – Online talent is better than in-house talent. For businesses wanting to push innovation, finding and nurturing talent in-house is a knotted problem. Exposure to a truly global pool of talent can help you solve this problem.
3. Choice – Talent is available for all requirements. Be it data analysis, market research, or consulting, there is an expert in the cloud who is a perfect fit for your needs.
4. Cost – Data shows that contractors cost less than full-time employees. Apart from saving the overheads in full-time employment of personnel, a global pool of freelancers often translates into cost benefits in the form of reduced hourly rates.
5. Ease –There is minimal administrative burden. With a spread of specialization, hourly trackers, and secure online payment gateways, the hassles of picking, tracking, and paying for remote digital talent are minimized.
6. Flexibility – Staff on demand, set expectations as per your needs. Staff for a strictly one-time project, a pilot project to test feasibility, or a series of assignments. Do whatever suits you.

This blog will continue to delve into the world of digital workplaces in future posts. Meanwhile, drop in a comment to let us know of other ways marketplaces can bring added value to employers.