Isn’t it always better to keep knowledge in-house? If so, why would a business ever turn to freelance contractors?
When I first bring up contractors, some clients are immediately hesitant. Either they’re worried about having lowered oversight on a contractor compared to an in-house employee or they’re just used to doing things the way they’ve always done them.
The Case for Freelance Contractors
As someone working in IT recruitment, I’m used to contractors being a fact of life. For clients just growing into the size where they need an ERP, that familiarity with the tech industry’s habits isn’t always there.
The value of freelancers isn’t always obvious to people from other industries, simply because they’re not as common there. It’s easy to say, well, an in-house team member will learn how we do things, and that’s a huge advantage.
It certainly can be! But not every project requires that level of internal knowledge. Sometimes it can be much more important to have experience with the type of project.
As someone recruiting in the Epicor market I’m used to asking whether a client envisions a new role as in-house or contract. What I’m listening for when I ask that is a moment of hesitation. Sometimes that’s before the answer. Sometimes it’s after.
But that pause tells me whether the client has considered both options or not.
Freelance contractors are often available faster than full-time employees. They’re used to coming in to a new business and getting a sense of how everything works at speed.
Most importantly, if you’re embarking on the kind of project a business does only once, or even once every couple of years, it’s easy to find freelancers with experience of multiple projects in this style under their belts. Candidates who tend to stick to in-house roles will have less of this specialised experience.
For implementations, migrations, and other big projects, this can make freelance contractors many times more useful than an in-house role.
If you’d like to discuss your own freelance contract needs, just drop me a line – I’ll be happy to help.
