Employing a contractor

Q: What to consider when recruiting contractors?

• Rates of pay: How will contractors be paid? Who will pay them (intermediary?) How will they report their time (timesheets, tech platform?) Who will monitor this? Smaller projects might benefit from an hourly rate, whereas longer projects might be weekly or monthly. At Give a Grad a Go, we’ll cover all of this for a margin charged on top of the contractors’ costs. • Contracts and IR35: Before you hire a contractor you’ll need to decide what type of contract to offer. Will it be a fixed-term contract or a casual employment contract? It’s also important to adhere to IR35, enforced by HMRC to combat disguised employment. Ensure that you’re paying the correct amount of the tax and national insurance, to avoid interest and penalty charges. • Sourcing and vetting: The contractor recruitment market is fast-moving and competitive. Self-employed contractors don’t hang around when looking for the next project. A contractor’s availability could change quickly (faster than the perm market) and good contractors often get multiple offers. Map out the job spec, start dates and process, then prepare for a quick turnaround.

Q: What are the benefits of hiring contractors?

• Quicker recruiting process: The recruitment of contractors is generally quicker, as contractors tend to be hired solely for certain skills with less consideration for long-term fit within the company. • More flexibility when you employ a contractor: Hiring on a rolling basis gives flexibility. You’ll have a fluid workforce that you can scale back very quickly should the market require you to react. Employing a contractor also allows you to evaluate whether a permanent position is required further down the line. • Specialised or niche skillset: Hire a contractor for their expert knowledge or niche skills. Having someone with this sort of expertise can significantly help the company to evolve and grow. • Faster to onboard contract employees: Contractors generally come with experience that is suited to the project they’re ‘employed’ to do. So, they’re often quicker to onboard too (ideal for remote working) with a lot less handholding. Less strain on resources means you might save on training budgets and equipment, too. • Make a great impression from the outset: As hiring contractors is usually on a temporary basis or for a shorter time-period, they know the importance of making an excellent impact from the moment they join. • Contractors are adaptable: Accustomed to working with different personalities and in new environments, contractors tend to settle in quickly. They can sometimes offer fresh perspectives and insight into how the business could operate more efficiently.

Q: What are the disadvantages of hiring contractors?

• The more niche the role, the higher the rates: The higher the skill-set required, the more expensive a contractor’s rates tend to be. Whilst this is also true for perm hires, contractors’ rates can escalate very quickly. • Contractors sometimes like to move from job to job: It can often be part of the reason they choose to be contractors, and can make scaling businesses more difficult if you’re overly reliant on a workforce that isn’t with you for the long haul. This is often why they’re used in such large volumes within larger corporate companies. • Using a contractor might require adapting: As every company is different, there can sometimes be a trade-off between how the contractor usually works vs fitting in with how the company likes to work, which might not always go smoothly (or get the result the business was after).

We’ll help with recruiting contractors.

We take great pride in promoting positivity in the workplace – creating a fun and cooperative working environment that filters through to the way we help candidates find their ideal jobs, and the support we give businesses in helping them grow.

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When to hire a contractor?

There are many instances in which hiring a contractor might be the best option.

1. Whether you’re starting a new or one-off project and need some more hands on deck, or if you’re seeking a particular skill in an area of expertise.

2. Contractor hiring is beneficial for any business that has made the very difficult decision to let staff go but is faced with short-term spikes in work. Or, if work is steadily increasing but the confidence isn’t there to warrant taking on people permanently; then recruiting contractors could offer a great solution.

3. We’ve even seen contractors hired to train junior members (who are permanent). This might seem odd, but you’re then only paying the higher costs of experienced individuals on short-term contracts, whilst gaining well-trained junior talent on lower salaries. A cost-effective solution to building up teams.

There are many other benefits of hiring contract employees, read on to find out more.

What are the benefits of hiring contractors?

The recruitment of contractors is generally quicker, as contractors tend to be hired solely for certain skills with less consideration for long-term fit within the company.

Hire a contractor for their expert knowledge or niche skills. Having someone with this sort of expertise can significantly help the company to evolve and grow.

As hiring contractors is usually on a temporary basis or for a shorter time-period, they know the importance of making an excellent impact from the moment they join.

Hiring on a rolling basis gives flexibility. You’ll have a fluid workforce that you can scale back very quickly should the market require you to react. Employing a contractor also allows you to evaluate whether a permanent position is required further down the line.

Contractors generally come with experience that is suited to the project they’re ‘employed’ to do. So, they’re often quicker to onboard too (ideal for remote working) with a lot less handholding. Less strain on resources means you might save on training budgets and equipment, too.

Accustomed to working with different personalities and in new environments, contractors tend to settle in quickly. They can sometimes offer fresh perspectives and insight into how the business could operate more efficiently.

What are the disadvantages of hiring contractors?

The higher the skill-set required, the more expensive a contractor’s rates tend to be. Whilst this is also true for perm hires, contractors’ rates can escalate very quickly.

As every company is different, there can sometimes be a trade-off between how the contractor usually works vs. fitting in with how the company likes to work, which might not always go smoothly (or get the result the business was after).

It can often be part of the reason they choose to be contractors, and can make scaling businesses more difficult if you’re overly reliant on a workforce that isn’t with you for the long haul. This is often why they’re used in such large volumes within larger corporate companies.

What to consider when recruiting contractors?

Rates of pay

How will contractors be paid? Who will pay them (intermediary?) How will they report their time (timesheets, tech platform?) Who will monitor this? Smaller projects might benefit from an hourly rate, whereas longer projects might be weekly or monthly. At Give a Grad a Go, we’ll cover all of this for a margin charged on top of the contractors’ costs.

Contracts and IR35

Before you hire a contractor you’ll need to decide what type of contract to offer. Will it be a fixed-term contract or a casual employment contract? It’s also important to adhere to IR35, enforced by HMRC to combat disguised employment. Ensure that you’re paying the correct amount of the tax and national insurance, to avoid interest and penalty charges.

Sourcing and vetting

The contractor recruitment market is fast-moving and competitive. Self-employed contractors don’t hang around when looking for the next project. A contractor’s availability could change quickly (faster than the perm market) and good contractors often get multiple offers. Map out the job spec, start dates, and process, then prepare for a quick turnaround.

Contractor recruitment is big business because of the speed and depth of the market. The support of a reliable agency with an extensive candidate database will prove to be extremely valuable.

Hiring a contractor through Give a Grad a Go can be a real time-saver, we’ll take away the administrative pain that comes with employing someone. We employ the candidate ourselves, meaning we handle all employment aspects including background checks, onboarding, contract signing, monthly payroll administration, and offboarding.

As with any hiring, there’s no blanket solution that works for all. But, with so many businesses having gained so many advantages from using contractors, it is a business case that you should consider if you haven’t already.

Get in touch!

If you’ve been looking for recruitment agencies for contractors,
please get in touch today to find out how we can help you hire the best talent.

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