6 Reasons Why Using a Talent Marketplace Is Smart For Your Company

Talent Marketplace

Talent is a commodity. It’s true that some people are better at certain things than others, but in the end we’re all human and have the same needs: to be engaged in meaningful work, treated with respect, compensated for our worth, and given opportunities to grow. Thus it makes sense why so many companies are turning to talent marketplaces as an answer for their recruitment woes. 

The term “talent marketplace” is changing as quickly as everything else these days. Essentially, the talent marketplace allows businesses to hire off of skills and match people to opportunities and even offer internal talent mobility.

Online talent marketplaces like Upwork offer access to qualified candidates who will do what it takes to get the job done. Meanwhile, Gloat uses AI to help you build an internal marketplace to shift talent around based on skills and project needs instead of job title or education level. According to executive consultant David Green in a recent SHRM article, “With the pandemic increasing the focus even more on internal mobility, the rise of the talent marketplace will gain pace in 2021.”

Here’s 6 reasons why using a talent marketplace is smart for your company!

1. Talent Marketplaces Save Money on Talent Acquisition

In a recent survey done by SHRM, they found that the average cost per hire is just over $4,000. Now imagine you hire one person every three months for the next six years. The cost of hiring these people alone is nearly $100,000. 

Talent marketplaces allow companies to post jobs and needs in one place, which saves them money over traditional recruiting methods. Instead of advertising jobs or hiring expensive and out-dated agencies, companies can look through the marketplace and hire in bulk. 

If you are considering the internal talent marketplace, consider how much money could be saved through retention by giving workers new opportunities within the organization. With a talent marketplace, you have access to data about the skills of your workers, not just their education level and current job title. This information allows managers to save money on recruiting new talent for new initiatives by finding candidates from within.

Companies that are looking to hire freelancers can cut their costs by using an online talent marketplace.  Did you know that, as a client, there’s no charge to sign up on Upwork or to get quotes from freelancers? Engaging in the search for new talent through a talent marketplace has hardly any risk. You can save money on talent acquisition by expanding your hiring horizons through talent marketplaces.

2. Talent Marketplaces Give You Access to Top Talent

If you want to find top-level talent, then using a quality talent marketplace will be able to help you fill that need. Talent marketplaces give you access to top talent in your industry or in your company, allowing you to work with the best.

Top-level talent is a term describing high-quality skill, creativity, and uniqueness that is set apart from other candidates in competitive environments. Labeling oneself as a top-tier talent takes personal confidence and courage to create one’s own identity within the job environment. 

Candidates within talent marketplaces show great deals of initiative and drive in addition to skills related to the role you’re hiring for. When people own who they are and what they’re good at, you have the makings of a great engagement. Can you imagine working with the best talent in your industry? That’s what a talent marketplace is all about.

3. Talent Marketplaces Help with Future Planning

Talent marketplaces help us predict where our workforce will be in the future so that we can better prepare ourselves and our companies. As we prepare for the future of work, it is important to create plans with forecasting based on data. Using talent marketplaces, employers can get a glimpse of where their workforce will be in 5-10 years. They can see how they might need to adapt now so that there are enough qualified employees when needed.

Talent marketplaces take into account the changing demographics and provide a glimpse of society’s future. When we make better preparations for our workforce, we can ensure that they are more productive in their jobs by having them develop skill sets to prepare for different career paths or shifting roles.

Talent marketplaces help us predict where our workforce will be in the future so that we can better prepare ourselves and invest in training, internships, and mentoring programs for potential candidates as well as current employees or freelancers.

The ability to accurately forecast what skills are needed by employers is vital if you want your business venture to succeed over time. In an article on the future of work after COVID-19, McKinsey reports that “COVID-19 may propel faster adoption of automation and AI” in the workforce, and a quality talent marketplace will help keep important forecasting factors like this in mind.

4. Talent Marketplaces Ensure a Diverse Workforce

An online talent marketplace lets you find talented people who can bring new perspectives to your company. Working with a talent marketplace provides an opportunity for employees from all over the world – so you’re not limited by location or nationality when it comes time to fill a position.

For those working within internal talent marketplaces, a platform like Fuel50 has “a deeply embedded commitment to diversity and inclusion” and uses “ethical AI” to map your workforce and match your people to opportunities in real-time. Fuel50 recently raised 15.5 million in Series B, showing the power of talent marketplaces and mobilizing talent within a business. 

For years, many people found it easier to get a job outside their company rather than find a new role inside of it. We’ve all heard someone complain about how someone else was picked for the promotion over them. In the past, promotions within companies have been vulnerable to prejudice and bias.

In today’s age, the power of AI is making workforces more inclusive and diverse by allowing for promotions to be guided by skill set instead of favoritism. AI is one of the largest factors to pay attention to when thinking about workforce management tech. GreenLight uses the power of AI to properly classify workers, mitigating any compliance risk within your workforce.

5. Talent Marketplaces Are Flexible

Talent marketplaces allow you to hire people on a per-project basis, so that as your needs change or fluctuate with the seasons, you don’t have to commit long term. If you’re using an internal talent marketplace, you can find people to form project-based teams that allow flexibility and agility. 

When you have a freelancer or employee who shares your values and fits your culture, it’s important to keep them engaged. LinkedIn Global Talent Trends reports that “94% say internal recruiting helps them retain their most valuable talent.” Using a talent marketplaces allows you to see where they could fit once the project you’re working on is completed or transformed. 

People are going to change and grow along with their career, and they need a company to be flexible to keep up with them. When you find someone who is valuable to your business, you might as well let them change and grow within your company over a long period of time. Using a people-first workforce management platform like GreenLight allows you to have a flexible workforce ecosystem while remaining compliant.

6. Talent Marketplaces Save You Time

From job posting to screening resumes, talent marketplaces help you save your most valuable resource: time. Your perfect talent fit could be just a few clicks away. 

The rising costs of employment and the increased competition for talent in today’s economy means that companies are doing more with less. Talent marketplaces leave traditional recruiting methods in the dust in terms of how quickly you can find the right people. These platforms make it easy to find qualified applicants fast without spending hours filtering through CVs or LinkedIn profiles one at a time like some kind of digital data miner from 1999.

Josh Bersin writes about corporate talent, learning, and HR technology. He recently shared that Unilever has been using a talent marketplace and in doing so, “already Unilever has unlocked 60,000+ hours of work that people want to do, and 95% of employees endorse the system.”

The future of work is going to be very different from what it looks like today. How will you find the people who are needed for your company or even just an independent contractor with the right skills and attitude? Talent marketplaces are going to make sure that companies can fill all of their needs. 

Once you’ve found the talent you’re looking for, you need to hire them the right way. Schedule a demo of the first AI-powered classification platform today, and see how a world-class payroll system can be one of the best retention strategies in the future of work.

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Jason Posel

Jason Posel

Founder and CEO of GreenLight.ai, Jason Posel is a sought-after expert in issues related to technology innovation in contingent workforce management, the gig economy, and the Future of Work. London > Atlanta > Miami > Palo Alto > Miami

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