The holidays are a time of year when many companies experience a rush of demand from clients and customers, but don’t have the capacity to add permanent positions.
This season (from November through January) is the ideal time for companies to find the talent they need by hiring more freelancers.
Why Hire Freelancer, and Why Now
As workforce trends rapidly shift, more companies find themselves in need of talent.
In some cases it’s because they don’t have enough traditional employees (full or part-time) to meet the demands of their customers; in other situations, it’s because their employees don’t have some of the specialized skills they need to pivot quickly to keep up with a rapidly evolving industry. In fact, 63% of employers in a 2019 Gartner survey said that talent shortages were a major concern for the organization.
There are a lot of ways companies can use freelance talent to supplement their workforce needs during the holidays, from temporary help to take on big projects to more permanent or long-term projects. Here are just a few of the benefits of hiring freelancers during the holidays.
Broader Talent Pool
Trying to hire a short-term workforce can be difficult, particularly if you are located in an area where there are not a lot of qualified candidates.
When you hire freelancers, you can hire from anywhere in the U.S. or even around the world. This gives you a much broader reach to find the proper skillsets and experience without settling for someone who is “good enough” but not exactly what you were hoping to get. Finding the exact right person for the job is not limited by geography or other restrictions you might encounter with a local talent search.
More Workforce Flexibility
The holidays are a time when many companies see dramatic fluctuations in their volume—especially in the retail space.
Hiring permanent positions to handle short-term fluctuations is difficult to accomplish (especially if you need to hire a lot of people very quickly). Hiring people as permanent employees can also put you in a bind when the holiday season is over and you have to lay off a significant portion of your workforce. Freelance professionals work specifically on a contract basis, so they are available when you need them for high-demand seasons.
Add Skills Quickly to Address Gaps in Your Team
Trying to hire the right talent and get them completely up to speed within your company between now and when you need things to be up and running to take advantage of the holiday season would be impossible. If you are pivoting to online sales for the first time or hoping to expand your restaurant carryout options for the first time, for example, you might not have the skills within your team to make these things happen.
Freelancers, on the other hand, are ready and available to take on work right away. You can hire one or more freelancers to address gaps in your current team’s skillset and get an immediate return on your investment. At Fiverr, we have freelance professionals who work in thousands of different industries offering everything from general to highly specialized skills.
Some freelancer skills you might want to take advantage of during the holiday season include:
- Holiday marketing strategies
- E-commerce website design
- Dropshipping services
- Social media ads
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Amazon product descriptions
- Graphic design
- Photography or photo editing for online retail sites
- Holiday-themed social media AR filters
- Holiday card design
- PR and media outreach
- Influencer marketing
- Translation services
- HR consulting services
- Video creation and editing
Tackle That Big Project Before the End of the Year
As the end of the year approaches, you might have a big project that has been on the back burner for a while now. No matter the reason for the delay, hiring a freelancer can help you get that project moving before the end of the year comes and you lose the budget you already have allocated for it.
Get the Holiday Workforce You Need with Freelancers
At Fiverr, we can help you find qualified freelance talent for thousands of projects and tasks in hundreds of different industries and specialty areas. Start planning now and be prepared for whatever this holiday season brings.
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