Businessweek writer Karen Klein’s piece “A Glut of Hiring Alternatives” explores small businesses that are ahead of the curve and taking advantage on demand talent resources.
She opens:
Private-sector job creation has been weak in recent months, as few companies seem comfortable taking on the risk of new hires. But anemic job reports may also be attributable, at least in part, to hiring alternatives that are becoming increasingly attractive to small businesses.
Klein highlights Solvate client Rick Walker and how he’s running his business smarter:
Rick Walker, the founder and CEO of Green Efficient, a Houston-based consolidated building management service for LEED-certified buildings, has found a similar solution. He uses a service that helps small and midsize companies build on-demand teams.
The service, Solvate in New York, has helped Walker source nearly a dozen individuals who’ve provided support in sales, marketing, and IT. In 2009, when many of his clients’ buildings were empty and several defaulted on their contracts, Walker was in no position to make new hires.
But he says he could quickly find the qualified contractors he needed through Solvate. “There’s not a lot of training to do, because they have very, very smart people who can get up to speed quickly. I needed a Google professional, for instance, and they found me someone who had worked at Google,” he says.
The ability to scale overhead up or down with the economy is key for small-company success, as is finding premium labor. “Why can’t you work with a freelancer from the New York Times or a former employee at Google who worked on analytics? Small businesses should have access to those kinds of people, too,” says Julie Ruvolo, Solvate’s co-founder and chief operating officer.
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GreenEfficient CEO Rick Walker on LinkedIn
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