CONTRACTING LABOUR WITH AVATARS

In today's society, rarely is someone expecting to be working at an organization for the better part of their life. The generations that have come after mine (I fall into the tail end of the Boomer generation) are comfortable with moving around, switching jobs for advancement and contracting. With each generation the idea of getting the "gold watch" at retirement becomes a more distant memory.

Considering our workforce has become more transient makes it more difficult for employers to "keep" staff, but also it opens up a great opportunity to always having a "moving bench" of people, not employees, but contractors who are highly specialized, experienced and move ahead projects wherein otherwise it would take a long time to rev up to the required RPM.

Yesterday I wrote about the changing environment surrounding procurement. Today, I will reflect on what the contract/ temporary labour world may look like in a few years.

In my previous blog, I noted two truisms, those being a) we are an impatient society and b) we prefer self-serve options. 

In the hiring realm there have been a cacophony of websites that have sprung up allowing posting of jobs, full-time, part-time and contract positions. For more specialized requirements, corporations usually have approved suppliers who get the requisition for the roles usually through a myriad of electronic means. The latter at least vets the candidates and provides what they believe is the best match for the request at hand. Regardless though, both of these approaches are rather two dimensional and don't truly map to the current trends. More or less, it's same old/same old.

So what if a business were to fashion a different approach, which addressed the trends of impatience and self-service, ensured appropriate controls and cross-checks, but was also different, leading edge and dare I say "cool"?

Envision this. You need a contractor, say with specific expertise in some are of IT. Firstly, you are working with a company that has the following type of dynamic portal set up:

• You can access a key checklist of requirements for this role that is needed (note that this portal should be available for anyone in your organization that would have a need for a contractor -- decentralized)
• From there you will be provided with listing of potential candidates, with their availability shown (immediate, within two weeks and so on)
• All of these individuals would have attached to their profile a video, wherein they give a less than 5 minute tour of who they are and what their experience is etc.

And now here's the cool part. As the potential employer, you can interview them virtually, as an avatar in a chat room. This way not only can you gauge their general ability to respond to your questions, but also, you can judge their creativity, their cultural fit and so on by the avatar that they create for the interview. And you, dear employer, are in the cool-zone for the new generation.

How does this help the company that provides contractors? Well, let's face it the margins in this area are being squeezed and squeezed until the question becomes whether corporations expect you to be a not-for-profit. Enabling an approach which provides more of the self-serve and immediate gratification may be worth considering! Perhaps instead of the dreaded markups this is offered on both a fixed and variable subscription platform -- a standard rate that is charged to everyone, and the latter would be based on the number of requests. Costs reduce for all parties.

I will admit that I don't know all the technical ins and outs, but I know that there is a wealth of technology out there that hasn't even been tapped. I think part of the problem is that a lot of companies, are still led by folk who don't take the time to imagine the possibilities, and dare I say not that creative.

This would be an amazing 3 dimensional approach, which would create an unequalled 360 degree stakeholder experience. I don't believe that what I'm suggesting here is phantasmagorical.  I think it is within our reach and all it takes is one company with the vision, that can change the entire industry!