Hiring In The Gig Economy
People Matters|January 2018

Gig economy has proved to be a silver bullet for many startups. But in reality, getting the job done through freelancers and consultants is riddled with challenges

Srinivas Krishnaswamy
Hiring In The Gig Economy

How do bootstrapped startups manage to push out products and services with shoestring budgets? The simple answer is they don't hire ‘any’ employees! They hire experienced people to get things done and then let them go once the job is done. This is where the gig economy has proved to be a silver bullet for many startups. That's not all! Freelancers are also used by large companies to do grunt work or for specialized, short-term work. There are plenty of online platforms where it's easy to hire people for the job you want to get done and not be saddled with recurring expenses in the form of salary or benefits.

But in reality, getting the job done through freelancers and consultants is riddled with challenges, which are:

Mind the "claim gap"

Be careful about the claims people make in their resumes or online profiles, and be wary of the big gap between the cup and the lip as most people do not have the skills as advertised. Although most online portals have a system of rating freelancers, relying on the ratings alone is not a great idea.

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