The Contrax Workforce Blog

How the Contingent Workforce Helps With High Volume Recruiting

Written by John Clark | Feb 20, 2023 1:45:00 PM

Finding the right person for a role is far from easy. This is even more true in today’s economic climate, where increased competition, the skills shortage and a potential looming recession all create the perfect storm that makes talent acquisition that much more difficult.

So, what happens when you not only need to fill one role, but you need to fill hundreds, or even thousands, of positions in a short period of time. This is known as high-volume recruiting, and it can be incredibly difficult to do right. 

In this blog we look at everything you need to know about high-volume recruiting, and how your business can better achieve workforce goals through the use of contingent labor

What is high volume recruiting? 

High volume recruiting, also referred to as bulk hiring or mass hiring, is the process in which a business recruits a large number of candidates to fill a sizeable number of positions in a short period of time. 

According to a report from Aptitude Research and Fountain, almost two-thirds (65 percent) of companies have high volume hiring demand.

So when is high volume recruiting required? Here are a few of the most common reasons: 

New projects

Businesses are increasingly focusing on building flexible and agile workforces. That means they keep their internal team lean, but when new projects are taken on they need to scale their workforce up to meet those new demands.

Seasonal hiring

For some businesses, seasonality is huge. In retail, for example, businesses ramp up their hiring requirements significantly for the holiday season, before scaling back down again after the season has ended. 

Rapid growth

In some cases, businesses experience accelerated periods of growth in which their existing workforce cannot meet the demand. In these cases, organizations must focus on high-volume recruiting in an effort to better meet those demands. 

Despite this requirement, the report from Aptitude Research and Fountain found that companies are not seeing as many candidates applying for jobs, with almost seven in 10 companies stating that they are getting fewer candidates applying for jobs this year than last year. In addition, 48 percent of respondents say they are having difficulty finding quality hires.

How can the contingent workforce help organizations better meet their high volume recruiting goals?

High volume recruiting has traditionally been linked to unskilled labor, but this is far from the truth today. As organizations increasingly look to improve their workforce flexibility and overall business agility, high volume recruiting is also becoming a necessity for skilled labor. 

Let’s take a large IT consulting company, for example. While many of these organizations will have resources in-house, it’s unlikely they’ll have the resources to take on new large projects or a high number of smaller projects at the same time. 

This is where the contingent workforce is critical to high volume recruiting. The contingent workforce offers businesses the opportunity to access highly talented, skilled workers rapidly, so that they can have the agility to take on new projects and increase their resources when required. 

When managed correctly, a contingent workforce program helps businesses to better achieve their workforce goals, save money, improve business agility, speed up hiring times and enhance the acquisition of top talent. 

Interested in learning more about how you can better achieve your workforce goals by better utilizing the contingent workforce? Get in touch with Contrax today. We have a range of solutions to ensure your business successfully manages its non-employee workers.