While the world of work is changing at a phenomenal pace, there are still many challenges to overcome for companies, employees, freelancers, and HR professionals alike. These challenges include:
For hiring companies:
- Sourcing in-demand talent is time-consuming
- Attrition levels are at an all-time high
- Regulation issues and a lack of vetting make the gig economy risky
For freelancers:
- Finding high-quality work is a lottery
- Proving identity and quality is time-consuming
- Chasing payments is tiring and wastes time
For new entrants to freelancing:
- It can be difficult to know how to get started
- Finding mentorship and networking can be difficult as a beginner
- Understanding how to effectively side-gig can take time
For HR professionals:
- Vetting freelancers for identity and quality purposes can be difficult
- Constantly having to provide documentation for onboarding to different clients is time-consuming and tedious
- Moving between platforms causes issues with references and verification
The challenges mentioned above are increasing due to sheer demand. The number of freelancers is increasing rapidly to cope with this demand. An estimate from a recent Statista report that there will be 90.1 million freelancers in the US by 2028 — an increase of over 50% in 10 years. That number will hit 1.2 billion globally.
Large enterprises are already getting on board with the benefits of flexible workers. Even pre-pandemic, 54% of Google’s workforce were freelancers. NASA has been sourcing freelance talent through its Centre of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) for the past ten years, outsourcing projects including asteroid data mapping and cyber security architecture builds.
The increase in freelancers has also led to a sharp rise in talent platforms on the market, with the number growing from 90 in 2009 to 330 in 2021. The Harvard Business School report, ‘Building The On-Demand Workforce’ states that:
“Covid-19 is hastening the transition to on-demand workforce models. As supply and demand gaps for skills have widened, talent issues have put pressure on companies to be smarter about how they utilize their workforce and more creative in how they source the skills they need.”
At Gigged.AI, we have spent 24 months developing a combinational approach to AI and multiple machine learning models to solve the challenges that exist. Our vision is to build the most powerful on-demand work platform.
We have developed our own proprietary AI for our skills-matching algorithm. We use this in combination with bespoke data-training of existing AI chatbots, to create a one-of-a-kind platform that will benefit both clients and freelancers.
These benefits include:
- Better applicant identification at a lower cost
- Elimination of human bias on characteristics such as age, race, and gender
- Removal of the need for manual resume screening
- Automated candidate shortlisting and identification of candidates that have not applied but have skills required
- Analysis of multiple sources of data such as candidates’ personality traits, skills, and salary preferences using our matching algorithm, to automatically assess candidates against the job requirements
- Simple and easy statement of work (SOW) creation using a proprietary AI that creates work packages that are then transformed into an SOW for a consultant to complete
As we move to the next stage of our roadmap we know that blockchain technology is the next step in our evolution. Leonardo DaVinci is credited with creating the first resume in 1482 when he wrote a letter outlining his strengths to the Duke of Milan to gain his patronage. DaVinci made sure the letter focused on the skills he had that were most closely aligned with the Duke’s needs — and the basic form of the resume hasn’t changed much since then.
With an estimated 1.2 billion freelancers globally, and against the background of the ongoing rise in talent platforms, there is a huge opportunity for blockchain that ensures freelancers can easily work across multiple platforms and clients without added complexity.
Web 3.0 creates a huge opportunity for the Resume 3.0.
Gartner stated recently that:
Early adopters are already using blockchain-inspired approaches in certain HR areas. These use cases offer HR leaders a glimpse of what’s to come.
We are excited to announce today that we have partnered with Polygon Studios to power our Web3 roadmap in our goal to build the most powerful talent platform. With Polygon Studios we will ensure that blockchain and AI works seamlessly together. This will begin this year with a utility NFT which reduces administration for freelancers and ensures they can work on projects easily.
As we move into 2023 we will move towards a decentralised talent ecosystem, with the goal to ensure our freelancers are at the heart of our growth.
The key benefits will include:
- Rapid onboarding at a low cost
- Improve quality by verification of certifications and references on-chain
- Improve decision making through talent DAO’s
Gigged.AI would like to thank Brian Trunzo and the Polygon DAO for supporting this exciting project.
About Polygon Studios
Polygon Studios aims to be the home of the most popular blockchain projects in the world. The Polygon Studios team is focused on supporting developers building decentralized apps on Polygon by providing Web2 and Web3 teams with a suite of services such as developer support, partnership, strategy, go-to-market, and technical integrations. Polygon Studios supports projects from OpenSea to Prada, from Adidas to Draft Kings and Decentral Games to Ubisoft.