A temporary employee or contract worker can offer quick solutions to different functions. They can share their expertise with your organization, having accumulated experience from different roles and companies.
However, to maximize your efforts, you must identify the ideal temporary employee from a list of candidates. Here are 8 tips that will help you secure top talent for temporary roles.
8 Tips for Hiring the Ideal Contract Worker
Sourcing temporary workers requires a thorough understanding of their capabilities. You may only need them for a short while, but this also means you’ll have limited time vetting them. Testing employees is not a strategic move either, as it will only affect your productivity and consume valuable time. This makes soft skills a very powerful metric to evaluate.
Here are 8 tips for you to identify the right qualities in a temporary staff member:
1. Evaluate Technical Skill Sets Thoroughly
Before assessing soft skills, you need to evaluate an applicant’s technical expertise. Compared to soft skills, you can easily identify one’s hard skills through their resume, previous roles, history, industry, and personal references.
Since you’re hiring for a temporary position, time is of the essence. If you can provide additional training or if the candidate has the potential to learn the position, consider ticking off only the most important components of the job description. Especially if there are fewer candidates to choose from, soft skills become a vital factor in finding the right talent.
Related Article: How to Successfully Onboard Temporary Employees?
2. Prioritize Relevant Job Experience
Skills may not always be the best measurement when finding temporary employees. An individual with limited experience is always better compared to an individual who is well-seasoned in a different role. Job titles, resumes, and accolades can be very attractive, but these candidates won’t possess the right skills to perform the task.
This is why it’s ideal to hunt for candidates who know the basics of the job they’re applying for. Look for candidates with enough knowledge in the right field. Even if their previous jobs were only remotely related to your open positions, they’ll still prove valuable. If you find someone very knowledgeable, then you’re on the right track.
3. Identify Candidates with Genuine Enthusiasm
Who performs better than a passionate temporary worker? While their time with your organization is limited, workers who are generally happy at what they’re doing will be miles different from workers who are unsatisfied. According to a study by Lorman, happy workers drive growth within an organization.¹ In fact, they can even outperform their competitors by 20% and generate 21% more profit.
As a company, you’ll have every chance to drive engagement. However, at the onset, try to look for enthusiastic temporary workers. Not only will this ensure they’ll provide quality performance, but it will also impact your existing workforce. Just seeing someone smile can make a lot of difference in the workplace environment.
Of course, not everyone can show passion for what they do. Data entry, general assistance, schedule management, or taking phone calls may not always seem like appealing jobs. However, you can still find passion in other things. Is the candidate passionate about people, quality, performance, building relationships, or self-development? These drivers can significantly improve an individual’s overall performance and ensure that they’ll give you what you need for the role.
4. Check for Flexibility and Adaptability
Being adaptable is a critical skill temporary employees must possess.
While providing training programs is an option, you normally wouldn’t want to spend too much time developing temporary staff. Once you’ve discussed the basics of the task, contract employees should be able to adjust quickly enough to work independently. If necessary, you can partner them with an internal staff member to help them with their first few weeks.
Adaptability is also crucial as they shift to new tasks. Contract workers may find this difficult. However, if they have a flexible mindset, the right skills, and relevant experience, they’ll be able to adjust to new situations easily.
5. Assess Resilience Under High-Pressure Situations
Hiring temporary workers often means hiring during peak season – something you wouldn’t mention on job boards. Even if it’s mentioned, it’s not explicitly discussed. However, what does peak season really mean?
Peak season often involves high levels of stress among the workforce due to the high demand. It could also mean a high volume of complaints due to the friction caused by fewer employees. Managers and top executives are often in high gear, pushing for sales, productivity, and efficiency. Everything and everyone within the organization transforms into a fast-moving cog, transitioning from the slow months.
When you hire temporary workers, especially during busy periods, look for candidates who are optimistic and pragmatic. These individuals are more likely to stay resilient and perform better under challenging circumstances.
6. Evaluate Communication Skills for Team Integration
Given that temporary staff have limited time to integrate within the organization, they should be able to connect quickly with their colleagues. This is not about asking a coworker how to perform their tasks. It’s about ensuring they’re on the same page with the whole team and contribute to the organization’s overall goals.
When you hire temporary employees, make sure to look for individuals who ask the right questions. A candidate may have the right skills and experience from previous roles, but they’ll always lack the knowledge of how your business operates. Every business has its own protocols and processes. Don’t assume applicants will perform well in your company because they come from a more prominent organization.
Having excellent social skills will be a vital quality to look for in hiring temporary employees. It’s what sets them apart as skilled workers from the rest of the applicants.
Related Article: 13 Essential Traits to Look for When Hiring Top Tech Talent
7. Confirm Reliability with Reference Checks
A temporary employee needs to be reliable during their stay with your company. During the hiring process, you can already tell if a candidate will be punctual to work if they show up minutes before the interview. This shows professionalism and consideration for the person they’ll meet. It also demonstrates they care about their work.
If you want to know more about this, you can even contact and ask their previous employers. Inquire about the candidate’s ability to submit their tasks on time. Are they early during company meetings? Do they procrastinate on their responsibilities? These are a few things to consider as you assess an applicant’s reliability.
8. Measure Productivity to Ensure Efficiency
One of the most important things you need to evaluate is productivity. They should be able to perform their tasks well, deal with distractions effectively, and commit relatively few errors. Since they are hired to cover the position until the permanent employee returns, they need to be able to perform.
One way you assess this is through their previous responsibilities. Did they have additional tasks outside their job titles? Did they demonstrate initiative in their previous roles? You can also connect with their previous employers and ask about their productivity and proactivity.
Learn about their work ethics and whether they actively offered assistance to their previous teammates. Unlike permanent employees who have complete benefits that include paid time off, temporary employees need to perform well and fast. You may not have the luxury of time to train them, so finding productive temporary staffing is vital for your success.
Related Article: Putting People First: Why Prioritizing the Employee Experience is Key to Long-Term Business Success
FILL TEMPORARY ROLES WITH ACS PROFESSIONAL STAFFING
Temporary employment can be tricky to navigate. There are many things you need to consider, like payroll, documentation, onboarding, and legal requirements. You also need to assess whether a candidate will fit well within your company.
ACS Professional Staffing vets and qualifies only the best individuals in the market. Whether you need temporary workers or permanent employees, we can partner with you to find what you’re looking for.
Learn more about our services and how we can help!
Reference
- King, Britanny. 36 Statistics on the Importance of Employee Engagement. Lorman. 30 Aug 2021, https://www.lorman.com/blog/post/36-statistics-on-the-importance-of-employee-engagement
