5 Sourcing Tricks We’ve Learned From Gig

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When we at Fountain first launched our ATS, we had huge success selling into Gig companies, from food delivery to rental scooters to rideshare services. As we’ve expanded into other industries such as logistics, manufacturing, and retail, we’ve noticed one key thing: Gig companies don’t need help with sourcing—they already excel at it. 

Gig companies get hundreds of thousands of applicants and recruit thousands of people per year. To achieve this level of high volume recruitment, you need to be able to source efficiently and cost-effectively, at scale. 
 

During the past few years, we’ve learned many tips and tricks from this booming industry about how to source and scale to reach the largest and most qualified applicant pools, and now, we’re sharing five of our favorite tips with you.

1. Automation and Speed Are Key

Gig workers’ fast-paced lifestyles demand fast results, so when sourcing for new hires, keep in mind that they’ll want information and responses right away. Fountain’s mobile-friendly platform is an example of a fast and easy application process through text message (SMS), automated scheduling, and the option to upload interview videos from anywhere. These automated messaging flows continue throughout the hiring funnel and streamline processes for both applicants and recruiters.

By leveraging automation capabilities, gig companies are able to scale their testing efforts and fine-tune optimizations.

2. Know Your Market 

Advances in technology have enabled independent contractors to become a mobile workforce. Gig workers—who are sometimes referred to as freelancers, contingent workers, or independent contractors—may choose this type of work to supplement their income or to achieve more of a work-life balance. The onset of the pandemic has accelerated the transition from the traditional office work environment to an on-the-go, work-from-anywhere employment structure.

Finding Gig workers is easier than traditional hiring as they can be based anywhere and can start work almost immediately. Because Gig workers often have second and third jobs, there’s a wider pool in which to cast your net. This allows businesses to expand to global markets without having to invest in full-time staff. 

As mentioned, the types of applicants you’re searching for are used to responsiveness and fast decision making, as well as freedom and flexibility. Matching your application process to a Gig worker’s lifestyle will make your positions more attractive and more accessible for this population of workers.

3. Keep an Eye on Societal Shifts in Behavior

By monitoring behavior patterns of consumers, you’ll be able to source for the candidates you need when you need them. For example, when the pandemic hit in early 2020, online food delivery spiked as stay-at-home orders forced consumers to order food via delivery services, leading to revenue surges of nearly 30%. As the pandemic has unfolded, some consumers are more cautious about returning to normal social activities and therefore may still rely on delivery services to get most of their goods and the occasional meal. 

Meanwhile, restaurants and shops are opening back up and are clamoring for waitstaff, cooks, and retail associates. Staying abreast of reopening timelines depending on location, as well as standard seasonal surges in hiring, can help you get first dibs on the largest number of candidates. 

The shift in the way work is carried out has resulted in a change in how companies hire the labor they require. Full-time jobs are likely to remain a fixture of most companies for the foreseeable future, but businesses also need to embrace providing freelance and more flexible jobs as a way to remain competitive. 

4. Be Re-Source-Ful

Recruiters rely on countless sourcing sites to find Gig workers, but problems arise with some of these free sites when job postings become lost in the crowd shortly after going live. Allocating part of your budget to push your job postings to the top of search results can add up, especially when you’re posting on multiple job sites. Recruiters need to find other ways to attract applicants via these traditional job boards.

Many recruiters tend to use the same types of templates and plans for recruiting without testing or optimizing their approach for their target market. Gig companies, however, make slight variations to job posting titles, listing structure, targeting, imagery, and to other parameters to find the sweet spot between attracting the most applicants at the lowest cost and finding the highest quality candidates for the best conversion rates. For example, post titles that are written in sentence case cost approximately $10.67 per applicant, while post titles that are in all capital letters cost $82.50 per applicant. Similarly, mentioning the hourly wage in the job post title costs $6.25 per applicant, but omitting this information from the job post title can cost an average of $27.85 per applicant. 

Keep in mind that most free candidate sourcing tools aren’t equipped to deal with the high volume hiring that Gig demands. However, Fountain’s sourcing algorithm takes all factors into consideration (including industry, job type, and location) and optimizes distribution of your budget across the job boards that will provide the highest number of applicants.

5. Maximize Opportunities for Cost Savings

With Gig workers, employers don’t need to set aside costs to cover benefits such as healthcare. Gig work gives businesses access to experts for one-off projects. This can lead to substantial savings for the company of between 20% and 30%. 

When crafting a job post for positions that require certain expertise, entice applicants by noting the experience will be a positive addition to their resume or portfolio, or incentivize with the promise of a sterling review upon completing a project. 

Making professional connections this way can help you cultivate a list of quality contacts for future projects or potential full-time employment. By offering a permanent position to one of your former contract workers, you’ll be able to skip the time and financial investments required by the traditional hiring and onboarding processes. 

Conclusion

It’s evident that Gig work isn’t going anywhere. As the world continues to become more mobile, faster, and more flexible than ever, companies will look to these short-term workers for one-off jobs and tasks for which they may not have the budget to hire a full-time employee. With these tips and tricks that the Gig industry has already mastered to attract more applicants and decrease time to hire, your next batch of workers is just a few clicks away.

Sean Behr is the CEO at Fountain, the high-volume hiring platform that empowers companies with an hourly workforce to streamline and scale their recruiting operations across the globe. Previously, Behr was the Co-Founder and CEO of STRATIM (acquired by KAR). Behr previously served in leadership roles at Adap.tv (acquired by AOL), most recently, as SVP, Global operations. Before Adap.tv, He held various management roles at Shopping.com (acquired by Ebay) including roles in HR, sales, product management and strategy development.  Visit www.get.fountain.com Connect Sean Behr