How to integrate freelance talent into your team
Want a simple but thoughtful go-to resource for integrating agile talent into your organization? Bookmark this overview and download our full comprehensive checklist below.
Companies worldwide are operating more efficiently, optimizing their teams' strengths, and innovating faster by hiring freelancers.
“In some cases, we see upwards of 30%-50% of an organization composed of contingent workers, and organizations increasingly relying on third parties to deliver some of their most essential services.” – MIT Sloan Management Review
If you’re ready to start driving greater results and innovation with freelance talent in your organization, this article is for you. Here’s what you need to know to swiftly and promptly integrate freelance talent into your organization – before, during, and after the hiring process.
Pre-hiring
Keep these things in mind BEFORE hiring talent to ensure you and your team are aligned and thoroughly identify what you need.
☐ Assess readiness – Before you hire freelancers, it is important to understand your current ability to manage freelance talent or identify any gaps that exist. Take our Talent Readiness Survey to identify if your organization is well-positioned to manage an agile talent workforce.
☐ Define role – Clearly define the responsibilities and expectations of the role you want to fill with your team. What expertise is needed? Where do your current team members need support? Create a scope of work to identify exactly what professional skills you need.
☐ Identify needed soft skills and strengths – Discuss with your team what soft skills and strengths are needed for the role you wish to hire. What additional strengths/soft skills complement and provide value for the overall team? Soft skills are just as important as ‘hard skills’ to seek in a hire.
☐ Behavioral/experience-based interviewing – Identity what experience and behaviors are important for the role you want to fill. Tailor interview questions so that talent can speak to their experience while also giving you room to learn about them as people. “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” Aim to get to know candidates as whole people – what will they bring to your team?
On-Boarding
Once you have found the right talent fit, this checklist will help you with a smooth onboarding transition.
☐ Clearly define the scope of work – Share a project plan with the freelancer to help ensure that everyone is on the same page from the start. The scope of work clearly articulates what is expected of them and keeps all parties on track and accountable.
☐ Team & stakeholder introductions – Make your new freelance hire feel like part of the team! Identify the relevant team members and key stakeholders they should get acquainted with and make introductions.
☐ Provide training and resources – Provide the freelancer with all the necessary training and resources they need to do their job well. This may include access to company systems and databases, training on company processes and procedures, and access to overall standards and guidelines.
☐ Establish clear lines of communication – Clearly define the methods used for communication as well as best practices to ensure that the freelancer can access support when they need it. This may include regular check-ins, weekly or daily status updates, and a dedicated point of contact within the company. Also identify the forms of communication used, I.e., Slack, email, Microsoft Teams, Trello, etc., and expected etiquette (respond to emails within 24 hours, no slacks after 6 pm, etc.)
On-Going
Whether you hire a freelancer on a project-to-project basis or longer-term, this checklist will help you maintain a strong working relationship throughout the duration of your time together.
☐ Provide regular feedback – Provide both positive and constructive feedback regularly. This will help to build a strong working relationship with the freelancer and give them a continuous opportunity to improve their work. Feedback goes both ways – it is also an opportunity for you to learn how you might improve and work better together.
☐ Review scope of work – Depending on the length of the project/contract, review the scope of work with the freelancer to see if any changes need to be made; adjust accordingly. What is working well? Are there any amendments are retractions that need to be made? Are all parties clear on expectations?
☐ Work with a partner to support diverse onboarding needs – An agile talent strategy doesn’t always look the same from company to company or even over time within an organization. You may need to hire a freelancer for a short- or longer-term project. Thus, each situation warrants various levels of attention, management, and compliance. When you work with a partner like Soundings, integrating freelancers into your organization is seamless and hassle-free so you can focus on what’s most important.
How Soundings can help
At Soundings, we manage strong working relationships between our network of freelance talent and the clients that need their services – for all lengths of engagements, including on-demand staffing, staffing augmentation, and contract-to-hire.
Our offerings
We take time to get to know our customers, to address their unique needs and match them with relevant talent (from our network of 2,300+ professionals) based on expertise and soft skills.
Once a match is made, we take care of compliance, support the onboarding process and provide continued support for both clients and talent.
We manage a continuous feedback cycle between both parties to maintain a strong working relationship by surveying both talent and customers at three different touchpoints – at the start of a project, at the mid-way point, and at the end of the project.
As our clients' needs scale, we adapt alongside them to provide them with the talent they need, when they need it.
If you’re ready to incorporate freelance talent into your organization but are unsure where to start, meet with one of our talent specialists for a consultation. We’d love to help get you started!
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