Category: Hiring an IT Contractor

Are you short of IT resources? See our blogs on hiring IT contractors to see if bringing in a gig economy worker could be the solution for your team.

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How to Attract and Retain Top-Quality Atlassian Contractors

atlassian contractor working at desk

As the world’s leading provider of team collaboration and project management software, Atlassian’s tools like Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket (among others) have become integral to the workflows of countless organisations worldwide. Atlassian Server and Data Centre products are inherently built to scale alongside an organisation and, due to their intricacies, have paved the way for a niche but highly rewarding and fulfilling job market.

Their prevalence and importance within modern tech stacks mean that experienced Atlassian specialists have become highly sought-after to help organisations successfully navigate digital transformation challenges and achieve growth milestones. However, the rather secular talent pool of qualified Atlassian contractors also makes recruiting and retaining the best talent an ongoing challenge for companies. 

When a business’s workflows depend on optimising Atlassian’s project tracking, documentation, and DevOps offerings, it often necessitates hiring subject matter experts who can add value and make an impact immediately. One of the quickest and most effective solutions to this is to engage qualified and vetted Atlassian contractors and freelancers through a specialist recruitment agency. 

This guide explores the key steps to take when commissioning Atlassian and Jira experts through portals like ClearHub, the agency with a proven track record of placing top-tier talent into contract and permanent roles.

Defining Must-Have Atlassian Skills and Expertise

Atlassian encompasses a wide range of applications catering to software developers, IT teams, and business users alike. When posting an Atlassian contractor vacancy – courtesy of a user-friendly portal such as ClearHub – start by outlining your core requirements around the following criteria:

  • Specific Atlassian tools required, such as Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Confluence, Bitbucket etc.
  • Minimum years of hands-on experience administering/developing with the above tools or similar
  • Understanding of add-ons or extensions e.g. Scriptrunner, Structure, Gliffy
  • Exposure to instances in cloud vs. self-hosted environments
  • Familiarity with integrating Atlassian tools with CI/CD pipelines and workflows
  • Knowledge of migrating data or instances between Atlassian versions or cloud platforms

Whether you need a specific DevOps engineer to monitor performance or a dedicated Atlassian administrator to oversee custom integrations, including permissions and workflows, seeking help from specialised Atlassian contractors makes cloud migrations scalable and seamless.

Verifying Atlassian Expertise During Screening

A person’s competence with Atlassian products should involve a mixture of hard technical and soft skills. During the preliminary stages of a contractor background screening, it’s prudent to assess and validate candidates based on:

  • Tool administration competencies via technical testing
  • Communication skills through interviews and assessments
  • Cultural alignment with your business through situational questioning
  • Portfolio of past Atlassian projects completed
  • Testimonials and referrals from clients or managers

This level of pre-employment validation enables the fast and productive placement of talent into the right Atlassian and Jira job vacancies online, with contractors able to make a solid, frictionless start. 

As is the case with any Atlassian job opening, technical skills alone shouldn’t be the sole indicator of a good contractor assignment. The intrinsic and personal qualities of candidates should also be assessed when hiring Atlassian contractors. Carefully examine how the candidate answers questions and what they don’t say, as well as the answers they give. Monitoring responses – or lack thereof – indicates how well a prospective contractor may embrace your company’s values and culture. Specialist contractors likely already prove capable of adapting between clients, but those newer to the field may be more naive, so bear this in mind. 

ClearHub’s background screening processes aim to take the administrative burden away from time-restricted organisations. As a result of our due diligence, we have cultivated a carefully formulated talent pool of reputable Atlassian experts waiting for their next freelance, temporary, or permanent assignment. We can make considered candidate recommendations based on your criteria and job requirements, and who we firmly believe will be a good technical and cultural fit. 

Retaining Great Talent Through Effective Scoping

Even if a candidate ticks all the capability and culture boxes, they may fail to live up to expectations if your organisation fails to give specific or clear project scoping. Vague or ambiguous project scoping often leads to breakdowns in communication and misaligned objectives and expectations.

Before assigning your Atlassian contractor their first task, outline all their responsibilities, objectives, and timeframes through a comprehensive Statement of Work including:

  • Exact Atlassian instance details – Cloud/Data Centre, tool versions etc.
  • Supporting systems connected e.g. CI tools, repositories, directories
  • Specific tasks needing completion – migrations, custom workflows etc.
  • Measurable deliverables and outcomes paired to tasks
  • Expected timescales or milestones for essential tasks
  • Communication protocols for updates and reporting

This early alignment means contractors know what to work on immediately and will minimise friction. Simultaneously, clarity around responsibilities and objectives gives purpose-driven talent reason to stay invested in the long term.

Respect your specialists’ expertise too; inefficient and disruptive micromanagement limits their results and productivity. Highlighting that you trust them will enhance retention, as will empowering them to work autonomously and seek assistance when needed.

Trust ClearHub to Attract Premium Atlassian Talent

Great Atlassian recruitment starts with great candidate networks and supplier relationships. With decades of experience placing thousands of technical contractors into a broad spectrum of roles, ClearHub leverages unrivalled access to specialist Atlassian talent across software development, infrastructure engineering, and everything in between.

Our global talent pool combines market-leading contractors and niche specialists to fill urgent vacancies through efficient and time-saving Atlassian recruitment processes, allowing you to focus your resources on important business matters. All Atlassian candidates are pre-verified against your criteria before submission, with our dedicated account management team communicating with you regularly about placements and opportunities. Our transparent and collaborative approach is why we are the trusted Atlassian recruitment agency for hundreds of businesses worldwide.

To find your next high-quality Atlassian candidate(s) who can integrate seamlessly with your business immediately, contact our expert team today to get started.

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Background Checks for Contractors: All You Need to Know

filling in a background screening form for contractor

Regardless of a role’s complexity and the critical skills gap that needs filling, bringing on board skilled technical contractors can provide immense value to a company.

Hiring high-quality contractors can provide both a reliable short-term stopgap to keep operations running while full-time replacements are sought, or even as a long-term recruitment strategy for businesses in the tech space.

The Importance of Contractor Background Screening

However, the process of hiring contractors is not without inherent elements of risk. In any contractor agreement, you are entrusting individuals outside of your organisation with significant responsibilities. They will often require access to sensitive company, personal, or intellectual property data, depending on their role. 

For instance, hiring Atlassian contractors to oversee a full-scale project management system deployment and cloud migration may compromise your company’s data and damage its reputation if a contractor is found to have an undisclosed criminal record conviction.

Thorough background screening checks are essential to verify contractors as being trustworthy, risk-free, and reliable. Confirming that an individual is who they claim to be and can be trusted to perform the required work in that contractor job vacancy will go a long way in safeguarding data and reputation. The right background checks provide peace of mind and ensure that contractors meet all legal, financial, and ethical requirements.

Depending on where the contractor’s role will be based, some country-specific background checks may be needed. Background screening processes in the UK are slightly different to those in the US, for example, but the premise is the same. In this short guide, the contractor recruitment experts at ClearHub have outlined the key types of background checks that employers should consider before engaging contractors. 

Criminal Record Checks Protect Against Unethical Behaviour

One of the top priorities is screening for potential criminal history that could impact a contractor’s ability to work ethically and legally.

In the UK, a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check provides details of a person’s criminal record. Some employers may know these types of checks as their former moniker – Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks. However, a DBS check is the same thing as a CRB check.

Different levels of DBS checks are available to employers:

  • Basic – Details unspent criminal convictions
  • Standard – Details spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands, and warnings
  • Enhanced – Includes the same as Standard plus any additional relevant information held by the applicant’s local police constabulary.

Some companies working in highly regulated industries are obligated to request certain levels of DBS checks. The extent of check required will also typically depend on the nature of the role, for example, those working closely with children or vulnerable adults will be expected to complete an Enhanced DBS check application.

In the US, citizens may be prompted to present a ‘certificate of good conduct’ or a ‘lack of criminal record.’ US residents can obtain proof of their clean criminal history via the following options:

  • Local police check
  • FBI records check
  • Fingerprints
  • Authentication of Police or FBI certificates that indicate a lack of criminal record.

The responsible recruiters at ClearHub understand the importance of criminal record screening and will liaise with you about the required checks for the contractors you are looking to hire.

Confirming Contractors’ Identity and Right to Work

It’s a legal requirement to confirm that every worker – whether full-time or freelance – is eligible to work. Before sharing sensitive information or granting system access, employers should always confirm that their contractor is who they claim to be.

Identity checks verify the contractors’ names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers (if in the US) and other personal details by validating identity documents. This is automated now with plenty of enterprise-grade technology available that can detect forgeries and fraudulent ID documents. However, human oversight is still critical.

UK contractors must pass right-to-work screening checks, which validate their eligibility to work in the UK. This is a legal requirement as stipulated by the Home Office to ensure that they are employing workers legally and lawfully.

Financial and Regulatory Checks Mitigate Business Risks

Depending on the hiring organisation’s country of operation, some roles will only be available to individuals who can pass certain financial checks. 

Often, regulatory bodies and legislation stipulate that authorised workers – even those on a contract basis – can only work if they can demonstrate financial suitability and minimal risk. 

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires regulated firms to adhere to strict codes of practice and procurement when recruiting individuals. 

Not only would identity checks and right-to-work checks be conducted, but UK and US contractors may be subject to:

  • Credit history checks – to confirm any history of poor credit
  • Financial Service Register checks – to validate whether they are authorised to perform certain FCA-regulated duties
  • History of bankruptcy or insolvency 
  • County Court Judgements (CCJs) and Sanction Searches
  • AML (anti-money laundering) checks 

The types of businesses that ClearHub works closely with can require relevant compliance and financial checks depending on the contractor’s role. 

Main Takeaways

Multinational organisations – particularly tech companies – often engage contractors from all over the world. This can make navigating native background checks, processes, and requirements quite complex. However, working with a reputable background screening agency is usually the most effective and time-saving solution.

At ClearHub, we do not provide background screening checks ourselves. However, we have extensive experience navigating contractors’ requirements across industries and locations. 

For many years, we have matched top talent with exciting new roles across a wide range of disciplines using the Atlassian tech stack and various technical capabilities. We have filled numerous vacancies in the UK and overseas ensuring that all candidates and applicants meet the eligibility criteria and obtain the relevant screening checks before work commences. 

Working with us ensures that your organisation can solely focus on the things that matter – powering your business and operations with the right talent possessing the right skills. Learn more about how we can help fill your next contractor role by requesting a consultation with us today.

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Remote Work: How to Hire International Talent

Atlas of North America

The remote work revolution proved to be a triumph.

So much so, that when bosses emailed staff with “get back to the office” after Covid restrictions ended, swathes of home workers decided to quit instead. It’s part of what drove the so-called Great Resignation.

Remote working has a ton of benefits, but getting it right takes experience and discipline – not to mention tools. But these days, just about every company capable of going remote has at least some experience of it from lockdown. And some are taking it to the next level, by hiring outside of their country.

The benefits to hiring international talent, and taking them on as remote workers, are massive; but this definitely won’t be true for every organisation. When it comes to tech industries, and fields like the ones we work in (development and coding, through customised Atlassian tools), remote hires make the most sense.

Let’s show you why – and how – you should hire contractors outside of your country, or even a full-time remote workforce.

 

Related: Is there a skills shortage, or are you just looking in the wrong places?

Why should businesses hire away from home?

Like we said, hiring remote workers outside of your country might not work for everyone. But the advantages are just too good to ignore – and if you have the right processes in place, you’ll have a roadmap to success.

Hiring international remote workers gives you access to an infinitely larger talent pool, diverse knowledge and experiences, a global market presence – and can even save you money.

A bigger talent pool

Your local economy is probably fighting over an ever-decreasing number of skilled professionals right now. There’s a lot of demand for tech skills, and practically nobody has them at the moment. By looking for international remote workers, you can turn a pool of tens of candidates into a pool of THOUSANDS. If you’re struggling to find the right skills in your own region right now, then widen the net – go international.

The knowledge advantage

With that said, it’s always good to hire from your local talent pool, and help build a thriving economy. But if you do this exclusively, you’re in danger of building a team with tunnel vision, and “groupthink” tendencies. Building tools and services for everyone cannot happen if those doing the work only represent a tiny fraction of society.

So, burst your bubble.

If your competitors only hire locally, they’re missing out on diverse thought, experience, and creative problem-solving. They’re blinkered, and focused on solving the problems of a shrinking minority.

If you mix up your teams and hire international, diverse talent – you’ll have a significant knowledge advantage over your competition.

Cheaper

Global pay rates vary – and hiring international employees can boost your profit margin.

Take the United States, where the average dev salary is $110,140. In Argentina, the same job, with the same skill set, pays on average $39,898. That’s a saving of 64% per year on salary. Currency exchange rates can also benefit employers, if they pay in the local currency – and even if you offer significantly over the market rate for international talent, you’ll still be paying less.

Cover more global hours, and gain a global presence

Hiring international remote workers gives you a global presence, and a chance to spread into new territories. This might require some investment in infrastructure – like ensuring compliance with data residency, for example – but with local expertise, global expansion is far quicker to scale when you have an international workforce.

Plus, you can essentially have your teams working around the clock, in different time zones. An international remote worker picks up where your local staff leave off at the end of their day. It’s an amazing way to scale at speed, with a tight, lean workforce.

So far – this probably all sounds great, right?!

Well, it is. But there are, of course, complexities. It’s not always smooth sailing, especially if you’re planning on doing the talent search alone.

What can go wrong?

As with everything in business, things can go wrong. There are no guarantees that your hire will be the right fit, have the necessary skills, or perform as you expect – but we’ll show you how ClearHub gets hiring right the first time, after we cover some common pitfalls.

Compliance

Hiring a remote full-time employee from a different country could require you to register your business there. Companies can fall foul of compliance and regulatory laws if they fail to do so. Data residency can also be an issue – but migrating to the Cloud can solve this.

Communication

You need to be able to communicate mutually, and do so over the spread of time zones. This can be a challenge, especially if trust is an issue. Language proficiencies on both sides must be presented honestly in the first instance.

Commitment

This comes back to trust. Bringing a new hire up to speed always incurs some kind of cost, usually time. That investment can disappear if the new hire decides to quit shortly after joining. Commitment in remote international employees is hard to gauge, but we have a guide to working with remote teams to help you.

How to hire international remote workers – the ClearHub way

When it comes to international recruitment of Atlassian contractors, we get it right for our clients. That’s because we stick to our core values and principles, no matter which international region we’re looking to hire from.

The result? A 100% hit rate on our first candidate selection.

How do we manage that? For starters, ClearHub has the following features:

  • The biggest international network of Atlassian contractors
  • All candidates are pre-qualified, skills tested and vetted
  • Talent is tailored to each client’s needs

As for the rest, it’s no secret. In fact, we’re completely transparent about the process at ClearHub. Learn more about our full process, and how we get it right the first time:

 

 

Hire the best remote Atlassian talent, around the world

Trust the experts at ClearHub to help you hire remote international workers, with world-class Atlassian knowledge.

Cut your talent search down to days, not months. Get the skills you need for success. Reap the rewards of an international knowledge base.

Speak to us today.

UK contact: Aaron Rowsell

Global Contractor Manager

Email: arowsell@clearhub.tech 

Call: +44 2381 157 811​

US contact: David Runyon

Recruitment Consultant

Email: drunyon@clearhub.tech

Call +1 858 304 1215

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The Cost of a Bad Hire? TRIPLE their Salary!!!!

Recruitment, especially in tech, is seriously hard work. Even just for one new team member.

Listing a job, sifting through applicants, interviewing them, re-interviewing the best, negotiating an offer… It’s a lot. Imagine going through all of that, finally hiring a candidate, and waiting for their start date to arrive – only to discover that they’re totally wrong for the job, and completely at odds with your company values.

Their productivity is lower than baseline. They make wildly inappropriate comments. They won’t do anything “beneath” them. They can’t finish a task to spec or deadline. They’re supposed to lead but their team is constantly guiding them.

Members of the team around the new hire are starting to feel unmotivated and undervalued.

Some people are asking questions about how they got the job in the first place.

The whole atmosphere is changed; sour and dark, no chatter or collaboration – just workstation after workstation of headphones and bad moods.

That, dear reader, is a bad hire.

You might think that this is a rare, or even a worst-case scenario. Sadly, it’s extremely common: 85% of organisations have made bad hires at least once. It’s depressing, for sure – but did you know how expensive it is for businesses?

Whatever the salary offered – treble it, and that’s how much it will cost your company.

How a bad hire can end up costing your company 3x the posted salary

It sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? Surely this is just a “big company” problem, and not the case for SMBs? The truth is, a bad hire can infect your company deeply, not just at the point of entry. Here’s where all that money goes.

Recruitment

Good recruitment is not cheap – whether you use an agency or do it in-house. But even doing it half-heartedly is expensive; the lower-end estimate is about £2,500 per hire, and the UK cost per hire average is £3,000.

A bad hire means spending this recruitment cost all over again.

Productivity

If the new hire isn’t all they said they were on paper, then they won’t have the skills to contribute to productivity. You’re paying, but they’re not delivering.

Instead, other team members might pick up the slack, even if they have to stay on late, in an attempt to be welcoming to the new person on their team and to “just make it work”. That’s doubled up work – but far worse is that your good, solid team players are getting burned out.

Teams start to fracture

A bad hire doesn’t necessarily mean a bad person – but often there is a problem with cultural fit. We’re not suggesting that Friday beers is a culture, and that if your new hire doesn’t drink, then they’re a bad fit culturally; that’s just personal choice.

A bad cultural fit is one that doesn’t really care about what you’re trying to achieve, or is at odds with your values as a company. This can seed unhappiness in teams, and cause them to fragment into cliques and silos. Rifts can form, and overall collaboration can be stifled as a result. This doesn’t just harm productivity – it destroys morale.

Your team members don’t have to be best friends (it certainly helps, though!), but they do need to be able to work together respectfully and amicably. If not, people will start to leave. If you’re not careful, it’ll be your top performers who go first. They can often feel that they’ve had to accommodate the bad hire, and have been left to stagnate during their tenure.

Attrition

One bad hire can lead to having to make many more hires to undo the damage. If the team begins to suffer as a result of a bad hire, those not inclined to voice their concerns may become disgruntled – and quit*.

*Bear in mind that this can be a sign of deeper issues. A bad hire making work worse is usually the last kick in the teeth for some people who are already at the end of the employee lifecycle.

Client/customer loss

When quality dives, or key team members leave, clients and customers suffer. This is the final straw for any business, because it’s glaringly obvious that the bottom line is getting hurt.

Don’t let it get this far.

How can you stop a bad hire from getting in?

Well… You sort of can’t. If they interview well, but come into work like a totally different person, that’s just the way it is. You’ll never know until you see them on a day-to-day basis, and see their work (or lack thereof).

Basically, there are no guarantees.

You can change your vetting process, to include skills checks, and ask for previous examples of work. Checking in with former employers is a good starting point, but beware that sometimes a generic response from HR is all you’ll get, and it’s not likely to be a deep-dive into their values and daily output.

Also, be mindful that we’re all human. That new hire might be having a really bad time that you don’t even know about, and this could all just be temporary.

Try talking first.

How to spot a bad hire before it’s too late:

  • Skills are missing that the employee claimed to have
  • Low quality of work
  • Repeated mistakes, even after fair coaching
  • Poor timekeeping and high absenteeism
  • No ownership or responsibility when things go wrong
  • Negative and critical of the company
  • Incomplete workloads are being taken on by other team members
  • Collaboration and communication drops off
  • A noticeable “social void” appears around the new hire

How to respond to a bad hire

  • Find out if their work is suffering because they are. Can you help resolve it?
  • Are they competent, but not familiar with your way of working?
  • Are they motivated to improve?

If the answer to any or all of those questions is a no, then it’s time to terminate their contract, based on your contract agreement and legal obligations.

All that time, just to let them go… 

But for companies who need tech talent, there is a better way.

Generic recruitment can only get you so far. But a specialist recruiter, who knows the job and the people who’ll excel at it? That’s the ideal standard.

This is what we do at ClearHub – the largest global network of Atlassian, DevOps and software professionals in the world.

Created by a team of software and Atlassian experts, we take our deep knowledge of the industry to find the candidates that no generic recruiter can. We consider company culture, technical needs and your existing talent, to find people that will work to build your company.

Our specialist recruiters continue to assist you and your new recruit in their role, with a combination of dedicated project management and technical support should you run into any problems.

The best candidates come to ClearHub. You should, too.

No more bad hires. Get the best talent – with ClearHub.

Our team pairs businesses with Atlassian, Cloud, DevOps and ITSM experts. Everyone in the ClearHub network is vetted, skills-checked and ready to go from day one. We support all our clients and their chosen experts while they’re on the job, too; so you’ll never have to worry about training, upskilling, or making a bad hire ever again.

Get in touch today.

UK contact: Aaron Rowsell

Global Contractor Manager

Email: arowsell@clearhub.tech 

Call: +44 2381 157 811​

US contact: David Runyon

Recruitment Consultant

Email: drunyon@clearhub.tech

Call +1 858 304 1215

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In The Great Resignation, freelancers hold the key to growth

Back in 2018, we thought that the biggest change in employment would be the gig economy.

That was before the pandemic. Before furlough, before remote working became the norm, before homeschooling and the massive tip in balance brought on by a killer virus.

The biggest shift in employment was yet to come. And it wasn’t the remote life; it was The Great Resignation. It’s still happening – accelerating, even – and it’s got businesses worried. But they really shouldn’t be, even if it seems worrying now. The end game is better pay for the lowest paid, a stronger economy and a generally optimistic outlook on life and work.

Sounds too good to be true. And if you can’t fill skills gaps short-term, then maybe it is.

1 million job vacancies and counting

In August, UK job vacancies surpassed 1 million for the first time ever. And while the rate of turnover is highest in hospitality, food and retail, it’s pretty much across the board in most industries.

We don’t think this is the peak, either. And the fact that the freelance workforce is positively swelling means that the candidate pool is likely to be shrinking, too.

Reasons for quitting aren’t solely based on the hopeful “I can do better!” attitude. While it’s certainly a factor, it’s not able to account for the whole story. Yes, some people are leaving good, stable, well-paying jobs for better opportunities. But others are looking for more flexible working arrangements now that the world has settled back into commuting and office work.

And for some, quitting hasn’t really been a choice.

The danger that Covid represents to so many people might have made voluntary resignation the only way forward. Increased pressure and demand, in sectors already clamouring for human capital, may have driven people to burnout. Toxic and unhealthy working environments may have reached their absolute worst during lockdown, as shaky businesses scrambled to save themselves by squeezing every last calorie of energy from their workforce.

Right now, the statistics can’t tell us the sentiment; just the numbers. And while they’re high, the number of people actively thinking about quitting could be even higher (up to 73%).

It’s a worrying time for leadership and HR departments. But could it actually be a good thing?

Are there any benefits to mass resignation?

Yes, there actually are some economic benefits to The Great Resignation. Pretty good ones, too – especially for workers.

The demand for workers has driven pay up substantially in some sectors. Take the now infamous lorry driver shortage of 2021, which drove salaries to £56,000 in some areas, with golden hellos running into the thousands.

That’s an extreme example, but it’s happening everywhere there’s a demand for skills. And it’s causing low-paying sectors to rethink their offering. The power is firmly with workers right now, using the free market to sell their skills for more.

It’s almost the opposite effect that the gig economy had on salaries; paying for tasks instead of people brought about tumbling wages and devalued trades, occasionally offsetting the hits with upsells and higher order values.

Better pay isn’t just good for workers; it means a stronger economy. That’s a huge sign of progress, especially after decades of wage stagnation. It’s a welcome relief to the real-terms shrinkage of salaries against a tide of inflation and the raised cost of living.

The effects of this economic boost won’t be felt for a while, though. And that’s only if businesses can survive with the short-term lack of skills they find themselves in.

The downsides are pretty hard-hitting

You might have seen pictures of – or experienced in person – the empty shelves at supermarkets. This is what happens when there’s not enough people to do the work. Those empty shelves are an analogy for the missed deadlines, overflowing inboxes and unfinished projects plaguing countless other businesses where demand for skills is outsripping supply.

Take digital services, where a rise in demand is being scuppered by a “digital skills shortage disaster”. And many who felt short changed or hard done by in employment have taken to freelancing and contract work – for better pay, better flexibility and more meaningful experience.

In the long-term, this means economic vitality and entrepreneurship – and that the silver lining of the horrible pandemic we’re in could be a major rethink about our views on work and life. But short-term, this means skills shortages, missed deadlines and unfulfilled projects.

But if you know where to look, skills are in abundance – in just about every trade – if your business is willing to work in a new way; with contractors.

Why hire contractors?

The skills are there – and they’re often sharper than the rest of the job market. For some companies, hiring contractors is going to shape their future working practices – and could even be transformative to their business. Here are just some of the reasons that leaders are hiring freelancers right now:

  1. Get rare, in-demand skills
  2. Save money
  3. Start projects faster
  4. Less hand holding, more expertise
  5. The risks are lower if it doesn’t work out

Read more – 5 Reasons To Hire A Contractor

Adapt to a new way of working – with an expert in your team

ClearHub specialises in finding the best Atlassian freelancers that propel businesses into the future. Want to know more? Get in touch with the ClearHub team today – call +44 (0) 2381 157811 or send your message to info@clearhub.tech.

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Gig Economy: The End of Employment?

UBER EATS

Change is human nature. Sometimes it’s powerful. At other times, subtle. Change can be painful, liberating, scary, exciting – or all of that, at once.

Regardless of how we perceive it, change is inevitable. Humans have experienced it throughout our tiny blip of cosmic existence, before the invention of anything.

12,000 years ago, the Neolithic revolution transformed human societies from hunter gatherer tribes, into farming communities. Slowly, we became experts of the land.

In the 1700s, the Agricultural Revolution ended the need for people to work the land. We gained powerful new tools.

Then came the Industrial Revolution. We gained power-driven machinery and factory production. We automated long, labour-intensive processes for the first time.

And progress from that point snowballed, and has done ever since.

Today, we live in an age of rapid transformation. Not centuries, or decades – not even years.

Welcome to the Technology Age – where the way work is in a constant state of transformation, with tidal waves of disruption.

“The size, speed and global nature of the current Information and Technology Age make all the previous revolutions seem like mere warning tremors.”

The Information and Technology revolution, like it’s slower, more localised predecessors, is fundamentally changing the nature of work, the structure of labour and the attitudes of employers and employees – both at home and at work.

We live in an age of change

The full implications are difficult to define, but several patterns can now be mapped with a degree of certainty.

And the timeline will include:

  • Artificial intelligence, with software robots replacing people in many jobs
  • Virtual and augmented reality – literally changing the way we see and interact with the world
  • The mass production of driverless vehicles, disrupting how we travel
  • Perhaps most important of all – the maturation of the gig economy

These areas, and the way that technology helps us to collaborate, will challenge the very nature of work itself.

Digital disruption has already transformed your life

The world of work has changed dramatically – especially over the last few years, as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the planet.

But long before Covid was forcing the hands of workers and employers, digital disruption was moving in the direction we all find ourselves travelling now: towards software-controlled, automation-heavy digital-over-physical interactions.

digital-disruption

Digital disruption has blurred the boundaries between employment, contracting (freelance), remote work and digital staff.

Consider Uber’s influence in the Taxi industry, or AirBnB’s disruption of hotels. Or what about Amazon’s influence on traditional book stores, and commerce in general? Or the impact of Netflix on traditional television distribution?

But – it’s nothing new.

The term “Creative Destruction” was first coined by Joseph Schumpter way back in 1940, to describe the way technological progress improves the lives of many, at the cost of a few.

What is digital disruption?

Digital disruption is when new digital technologies and business models affect the value proposition of existing goods and services.

Artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and automation are shaping the future of the global workforce. Especially in relation to the gig economy.

A gig economy is one in which companies use freelance talent on frequent, short-term contracts.

In the UK alone, 7.25 million people are expected to be working in the gig economy in 2022.

By 2030, between 75 million and 375 million workers (3-14% of the global workforce) will need to switch occupational categories because of automation technologies that include AI and robotics, according to McKinsey.

The rise of the gig economy

The lines between traditional work and contracting are blurring daily.

You may Intuitively think you understand the differences between permanent and contact staff. But, on inspection, ask yourself: how many of these assumptions hold weight?

Do you assume that contractors are highly skilled specialists, used for short-term bursts of extremely focused work – whereas your full-time employees in it for the long haul?

I did too.

As the contractor market continues to grow, and entire sectors become disrupted by gig economy workers, these arguments do not withstand scrutiny.

The conclusions are fairly stark.

Employment vs full-time = £0

Once you add the costs of a person’s employment AND take into account the impact of hiring on the business, the cost savings versus contractors simply no longer exist.

Basically, this changes the very nature of a full-time workforce.

Imagine for a moment that your entire marketing team is made of contractors – used as and when you need them, to match their skills and your needs.

Even if you use the same contractors all the time, they’ll be no more expensive to the business than employing directly.

Over the next three years, the average casual workforce will grow by 30% – Beeline

In 2020, 2.2 million people in the UK were self-employed freelancers. With the onset of the so-called “Great Resignation”, that number is steadily rising, year on year.

Globally, with side hacks and casual work considered, the freelance workforce could make up to a third of the total workforce.

70% of organisations are looking to expand their external workforce, so if you’ve not yet been disrupted by contractors in your organisation, the current trend suggests it is just a matter of time.

digital-wave

The impact of the gig economy now

Deliveroo, Uber and other companies in their guise often become the focus of any conversation around the gig economy. And sure enough, those companies grew massively during coronavirus lockdowns – but it’s in tech and software development that the effects of the gig economy are being felt the most right now.

And this has triggered fresh innovations.

You can get the most from contract workers by making sure that your existing team and freelance talent work together, fast.

This was the realisation that led me to start ClearHub. I could see that managing directors needed:

  • A fast, safe solution
  • Guaranteed technical skills, for quality work
  • Someone who could fit into their existing team without disrupting productivity

I already had access to the Platinum-standard expertise through my company, and personal knowledge of building high-performing agile teams.

So, it was a logical step that we could use this combination to help other companies realise the benefits of the gig economy, with our expert guidance and support.

As non-traditional forms of talent continue to grow in importance, tech and software companies will need new strategies to attract and manage contractors and freelancers. That will mean implementing an entirely new approach – including knowing how to get contractors and staff to work together in complete harmony.

While you may already have some processes in place to help with this, the majority of companies have yet to fully embrace the gig economy.

That’s where we come in.

Welcome to the future of work

ClearHub specialises in finding the best Atlassian freelancers – the people who can propel businesses into the next phase of growth.

Want to know more about how the gig economy can work for you? Get in touch with the ClearHub team today – call +44 (0) 2381 157811 or send your message to info@clearhub.tech.

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Your guide to team development with contractors

All teams – established or brand new – go through changes. At times, contractors need to be brought in to fulfil a specific need with their skills. This can be a real boon to your teams, if it’s handled well and there are plenty of benefits to bringing in contractors besides hitting company objectives.

For instance, integrated, engaged contractors will impart their knowledge and experience on the rest of your team – and build an affinity with your company that could last their entire career. We see this happen often in the world of DevOps, and many of the seasoned Atlassian contractors in our roster have become long-standing partners with most of the firms they’ve worked at.

But there’s always a flipside. Internal teams can feel undermined if the contractor’s role isn’t explained properly, which can impact integration and ultimately, project success. With clear communication and establishing trust in your team, everyone can feel more empowered at each stage of the team’s development.

But what exactly do we mean by team development?

Your team development lifecycle

In 1965, Bruce Tuckman outlined a four-phase model of group development:

  1. Forming
  2. Storming
  3. Norming
  4. Performing

All teams go through these phases more than once. Even established teams in stage 4 of the team development process will enter the cycle again (albeit partially) when a new member joins the team – and that includes when a contractor is onboarded.

Let’s look at this process more closely.

  1. Forming

This is where everyone’s new – however experienced they are – to the task at hand. It’s a really exciting time, when everything’s fresh and interesting. But there can be a lack of direction, and as-of-yet unknown gaps in skills that need filling.

There’ll be lots of meetings, planning and questions; but the outcome should be a set of defined goals that set your team up for success.

Read more: How to set SMART goals

This is the phase where roles are established and clear goals are defined – to be refined later.

  1. Storming

This can be a painful phase – a stormy one, if you will. This is where your team learns that the goals aren’t as easy as they seemed at first, and that several factors have been underestimated.

This is when it’s time to take stock and reflect on the goals: and make things as simple as possible. Adjust the project goals and milestones, and make each incremental step to success smaller.

Gaps in skills can become very obvious at this point. Onboarding a contractor at this phase can help, as long as the team arrives at the decision and is included in the discussions. Done correctly, without stepping on anyone’s toes, this can also build morale; bringing in a contractor can boost confidence rather than diminish it.

Towards the end of this phase, things really start coming together. The pain was worth it – because it led to team growth, development and a better sense of the collective goal.

  1. Norming

As the name implies, this is where things start feeling “normal”. Everyone knows who’s responsible for what, where to go with any issues and how the process works.

The team has found its feet and productivity is high. There’s a sense of pride, and the quality and frequency of work is exceptional. These are the good times – long may they continue.

But if you take your eyes off the prize, and if you fail to monitor and check in with the team, then complacency can set in. Just because things are working now doesn’t mean they’re going to stay that way forever. With team growth and development, change is inevitable.

If goals are being met but not refreshed, a lack of direction or a sense of pointlessness can take hold. Engagement dips. Productivity falls. New hires are made to pick up the slack – but this is a dangerous scenario to onboard anyone into, not least a contractor.

Attrition is to be expected if this happens. So what can you do?

Listen diligently, but maintain distance. The team knows what they’re doing now, so check in regularly and give them what they need, when they need it – including upping capacity at peak times, or filling skill gaps by hiring contractors. Don’t spoil the vibe by micromanaging, but instead get feedback often. Keep your people engaged and keep them feeling refreshed – and you’ll maintain this flow into the fourth phase.

  1. Performing

This is it. You’re established, scaling up and performing at a sustainable level. Your team trusts each other and management fully, and successes are celebrated together.

It’s not the end of the lifecycle; because with every new member who joins the team, there’ll be a little bit of onboarding (forming), learning the ropes (storming) and getting into a flow (norming) – for everyone in the team.

This is the late stage of team development. It’s a long road to get here – but it’s well worth the journey.

Hire Atlassian contractors – and grow your team

ClearHub specialises in finding the best Atlassian contractors to fit with your business at every stage of growth. Our talent pool is full of the brightest and best Jira and Confluence DevOps professionals, who can add value to your team in so many different ways.

Want to know more? Get in touch with our friendly team today – call +44 (0) 2381 157811 or send your message to info@clearhub.tech.

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Working remotely with contractors? Head to the Cloud

Working remotely with contractors? Head to the Cloud

If lockdowns and office closures over the course of the coronavirus proved anything, it was that working remotely is not only possible, it’s beneficial.

Productivity, work-life balance and employee satisfaction are all improved. Overheads, commuting costs and carbon emissions are cut. Inclusivity is vastly improved, with a far wider talent pool to choose from as a result.

Having the option of remote work keeps employees happy, and gives their employers better work. It’s a major win-win.

Some companies (and their workers) have worried about moving to remote working models. This can stem from a workplace culture that values interactive, live collaboration – or more commonly, it can be due to a lack of trust.

While some elements of collaborative working can translate to remote work, the trust issue is much deeper and harder to resolve. Some solutions include actively monitoring teams – but this is intrusive and creepy, signalling deep distrust of employees. That’s hugely damaging to engagement.

These are outlier cases, though – and most of the world managed to prove that remote working is one of the best ways of working, ever. In fact, many people base their decision to become contractors solely on the ability to work remotely and flexibly.

But there’s definitely a right way to do it, and Cloud solutions enable businesses and contractors to work together seamlessly, no matter where they are in the world.

How the Cloud is helping remote work (especially with contractors)

The Cloud was supposed to revolutionise the way we worked – and now, it looks like that time has come.

Cloud computing and storage solutions enable everyone in a team to collaborate, on a level playing field. With a private Cloud solution, even teams with slower internet connections and older hardware will have ultra-low latency access to powerful virtual workspaces.

This is a far cry from having to share large files over email, or relying on file transfer services. Solutions from Microsoft, Google – and now even an option to migrate to Atlassian Cloud – have streamlined collaborative workflows in a truly revolutionary way.

This is really helpful when working with contractors remotely. For a start, Cloud security is built-in. Access can be granted at a project or admin level, and with the backup and rollback features of Cloud solutions, nothing can ever really be lost – so companies can rest assured sharing their workspaces with contractors.

Cloud tools, including Atlassian Could solutions, are made for collaboration. Cloud computing and storage platforms can be upgraded to the latest hardware and software totally seamlessly – slashing IT costs. Cloud computing lets you automatically scale up whenever you need to, meaning your infrastructure can grow at the exact same rate as your business.

Remote working with contractors does pose some challenges – but, with video conferencing and good management, you can make every project run smoothly.

Onboarding

This is a vital step to working with contractors, remote or otherwise. Give them clear goals to work towards, and help them integrate into their team with icebreakers. These can be done over video conferencing apps, and in group chats on collaborative workspaces like Slack.

Read more: setting SMART goals for contractors

Make sure they have the access and permissions they require to do their work, and all the tools they need to do it, too. Make your contractor feel as welcome to the team as any new starter – and trust in their ability and expertise.

Check in regularly

Team development with contractors can seem tricky, but it follows the same principles. A core requirement for success is regular check-ins; not intrusive interrogations – but a quick “hello, how are you doing today?”.

Find and resolve issues before they become damaging to the project, with simple, understanding communication. Keep goals and milestones updated – but importantly, make sure your contractor feels as valued and listened to as any other part of the team.

Always give them feedback! Even negative feedback can be tactfully delivered to become a motivator. Engaging with contractors like this is a great way to maximise their potential.

Don’t snoop

If you’re thinking of using monitoring tools to snoop on progress, think again. Only 30% of workers are comfortable with being tracked – and that figure may be skewed by those simply agreeing to it to save their jobs.

While monitoring can have positive outcomes, it is overwhelmingly seen as a sign of distrust.

Trust that your contractor knows what to do, and build a rapport that reciprocates that trust – so that they’re comfortable and happy to raise issues with you as they arise.

Trust is a wider workplace culture issue. If it’s low, it can harm individuals, teams and whole businesses.

Getting it right won’t be a quick fix. But with the future firmly set in remote working in the Cloud, it’s one that will benefit every company adopting the remote model.

Hire Atlassian contractors – experienced remote workers

ClearHub finds Atlassian contractors that suit your business best. Our global network includes team players who are remote working specialists; highly aware and tuned to the intricacies of working remotely in the Cloud.

Want to know more? Get in touch with our friendly team today – call +44 (0) 2381 157811 or send your message to info@clearhub.tech.

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There’s never been a better time to add a contractor to your team

There's never been a better time to add a contractor to your team
There's never been a better time to add a contractor to your team

Remote working has taken over this past year, as we’ve all had to make changes to stay safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Although it may have started as a necessity, many businesses and individuals have realised the benefits that remote work can bring, and are looking to continue to incorporate it into their normal routines going forward. 

But remote work doesn’t just benefit full time employees. There can also be a large number of benefits for contractors, and the teams that hire them.

Read on to see some of the ways hiring a remote contractor could benefit your team.

No travel costs

In the past, technical contractors had to accept that there would be a certain amount of travelling required to do their job, as many employers would want them on site to complete projects. 

In order to get the best person for the job, employers might have had to cover travel costs and maybe even the cost of living if contractors would be working away from home. 

Embracing remote work means that your contractors can work from their own homes, creating significant savings for your company. Contractors will also benefit from the added convenience and better work life balance, and may be more willing to negotiate on sticking points such as salary and length of contract. 

Unlimited talent pool

If you’re willing to take on remote contractors, then your talent search is no longer limited by the contractors who live near enough or are willing to travel to your offices. This opens your search up to contractors anywhere in the world, and means you’re much more likely to find the right person to fill your role particularly when you’re looking for highly skilled, technical talent.

At ClearHub we work with a wide network of contractors located across the world, and our experience in placing highly skilled talent has shown that the right skill set and personality are often greater factors in a great contractor experience than physical location.

It also means more opportunities for contractors who are unable to travel, and the chance to work with companies that they are passionate about.

Team integration

In the past, hiring a remote contractor while the rest of your team worked from the office may have led to a lack of connection between colleagues, impacting how well your team collaborated.

After the past year, where so many workers have experienced remote working first hand and businesses have placed a great deal of emphasis on giving their employees the best tools to collaborate, this is likely to be less of an issue. 

Using video conferencing and instant messaging software that has already become integrated into their daily routines, it will be much easier for your teams to connect with a new contractor, and work with them to complete projects.  

Proven productivity

In the past, some companies may have been reluctant to embrace remote work if they were unsure how it would affect productivity levels in their teams. Hiring managers may have also avoided remote contractors as they may find it harder to verify their skills, or to trust that they would be able to provide the quality of work promised.

Not only has the past year shown us that people are able to adapt quickly to working from home, but it has also demonstrated that many people are able to be just as productive, if not more productive, in their home environments.

Additionally, if you choose to hire a contractor through ClearHub you can have the added peace of mind that your contractor has been professionally vetted, skills checked, and will have the support of our technical team to help them while working on your projects.

How can we help?

At ClearHub we specialise in placing Atlassian and Agile contractors with teams, and are able to provide support and security to you and your contractor throughout the placement.

As a team of software experts, we started ClearHub when we identified a need in the market for specialised, short term contract work and realised we were in the best position to help. 

Not only are we able to understand the challenges and dynamic of software teams to a far greater level than an average recruiter, but we can also technically test all our contractors before they are placed, giving our clients peace of mind when they hire through us.

We are even able to go one step further and offer technical support to the contractor throughout the placement. This means that if they face any unexpected challenges they’ll be able to turn to us for advice and support and avoid disrupting your team or delaying your projects.

The added testing, security and support we offer makes it easy to take on remote contractors, and leave you able to enjoy the benefits that this can bring without any added worries.

Do you think a remote contractor could fit into your team? If you’re looking to hire Atlassian or other agile contractors, we can help you find the right fit. Give us a call on  02381 157811 or use the form below to reach out and learn more about our services.

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