How To Find The Right Technical Contractor For Your Business

If you need a little extra help in your business, you don’t always need to go through the rigmarole of dealing with recruiters or interviews to find the right person. In today’s day and age of immediacy and shared talent, employers no longer have to rely on advertising permanent positions to attract the best candidates. By choosing to hire a short-term technical contractor instead, this will provide you a flexible solution, utilising the specific skillset of a particular individual on a project-by-project basis.

However, while this may all sound great in principle, identifying the best technical contractor for your business’ needs can be a lot easier said than done. So, we thought we’d try and help. Join us as we run through some of the key points to consider before deciding, firstly, whether hiring a technical contractor is right for you in the first place, and secondly, which one to pick if they are.

What is a technical contractor?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of finding the best technical contractor for your company, it’s important to understand what a contractor actually is.

Often referred to as freelance workers or consultants, contractors are not employees. Instead, they will effectively work as an independent business on your behalf, occasionally on your premises should you allow them to. Technical contractors, more specifically, refers to individuals with particular skillsets within the technology and IT industries. According to ClearHub, there are three separate types of contractors to choose between, depending on the technical role they are required to provide.

 

  1. Nail the job specification

While it may sound fairly obvious, the more detail you can provide in your job specification, the easier it will be to identify the best candidates for the role. This is especially important when it comes to hiring technical talent, after all, since the person will need to have a lot more technical experience in their arsenal.  There would be no point hiring a contractor with specialist data science experience for a product manager role, for instance. It is, therefore, up to you to ensure your job description is as technically detailed as it can be in advance of hiring.  

  1. Look at their credentials

Since contractors work independently, it will fall on them to advertise their services and effectively encourage you to choose them to work with. Therefore, it’s important to look at their credentials before you choose to hire them. From client testimonials to case studies, each and every contractor should have a portfolio or some form of evidence to prove their worth to you.  

Just because they’re a nice person with a good personality doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have the skill set required to get the job done. As such, you’ll need to scrutinise their achievements and previous work experience in meticulous detail to know you’re making the right hiring choice for your business. 

 

  1. Look at their background

While a contractor may not technically be an employee, they will be fundamentally working to improve the business – much like the other staff who work there. As such, when it comes to hiring the best one for your needs, it’s important to consider their background.

If, for example, you plan on offering your contractor the opportunity to work in-house, you’ll need to ensure they’re a good fit with the rest of the team – something which will come down to their references and the interview process. You and the rest of the team will need to work with this person, after all. Therefore, it’s essential for them to have good communication and people skills – otherwise, you could wind up back at the drawing board before you know it.

Final thoughts…  

Put simply, the technical contractor you choose to hire can make or break your business. Therefore, it’s imperative to get it right. 

With the advice listed above though, you can do exactly that, filtering through the candidates to source the best one for your business.  The key thing to remember is to meticulously look into their working background. Analyse where they’ve worked before, ask them for case studies and make them demonstrate to you why you should hire them. That way, you can feel most rest assured in the hiring choice you decide to make. 

Photo credits: eOffice

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