Over the last two years, permanent hiring has been at an all-time high. Demand for permanent tech talent has outstripped supply. Unfortunately, this has led to big tech companies over-hiring which have now resulted in record layoffs in January and hiring freezes coming into place.
This has made the traditional hiring process stressful and time-consuming, not only for the candidates but also for the internal recruiters at large enterprises. With the rise of remote work and the need for a more flexible approach to talent acquisition, quiet hiring has emerged as a popular alternative in the face of an uncertain economy.
Last week, Gartner listed the 9 Future of Work Trends for 2023. No surprise that number one was “Quiet Hiring”. They go further by explaining;
HR leaders will turn this practice on its head with “quiet hiring” in order to acquire new skills and capabilities without adding new full-time employees.
Quiet hiring is a discreet and low-key approach to recruitment that involves identifying and attracting top talent without adding a full-time headcount. It is a way to fill talent gaps quickly, and it can help to attract top talent who do not want to take on a full-time permanent role.
Three ways to start quiet hiring include:
- Implement an internal mobility strategy, either manually but there is the technology that can help streamline this process
- Identify individuals and teams that could be upskilled into a new team. We see customer service teams being reskilled in Cybersecurity and Data Analysis. Something that was successfully deployed by BT recently.
- Partner with a talent platform that can help recruit gig workers for defined tasks. A gig worker can be a side hustler, contractor, freelancer or hidden worker (see previous blog). Permanent roles can be broken down into a number of deliverables and relevant gig workers can be matched in real time.
Here are some of the benefits of quiet hiring:
- Hire Top Talent, Quickly: By using internal mobility and open talent platforms, companies can attract top talent who may not be actively seeking a new job either externally or internally. This can be especially beneficial for companies in highly competitive industries, as top candidates may already be employed and not actively looking for new opportunities but are open to a side hustle. When done correctly talent can be hired in less than 3 days. Sometimes in less than an hour.
- Reduced Competition: Quiet hiring can reduce competition for top talent, as other companies just freeze hiring and do not look at internal and open talent pools. This can increase the chances of attracting high-quality talent who are a good fit for the company but not available in the usual permanent talent pool.
- Improved Hiring Experience: Quiet hiring can provide a better candidate experience, as candidates are often matched through a personalised platform. This means to reach out can be highly personalised with opportunities that they want to hear about e.g a Customer Support Analyst who has been retraining in Data Science will appreciate being matched to an internal data project
- Retention: Internal mobility and up skilling done properly can have a major impact on staff retention.
Quiet Hiring is not new, during the 2008 economic crisis, many large enterprises turned to contractors to fill talent gaps. In 2023, there is a talent ecosystem and technology that just did not exist last time. By tapping into internal mobility, open talent and re-skilling platforms large enterprises can stay innovative, efficient and effective.
Gigged.AI can deploy an open talent marketplace immediately that helps large companies define and hire on-demand talents such as side hustlers, contractors, freelancers or hidden workers. We can also deploy a fully white-label internal talent marketplace in less than 24 hours. This results in a fully integrated quiet hiring platform! Connect with our CEO, Rich Wilson on Linked In who is a former executive at Allegis Group and Gartner.