Why Businesses Hesitate to Employ Freelancers: Unveiling the Reasons

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Hiring the right candidate for an organization can be a daunting task, as finding the perfect fit is never guaranteed despite a thorough hiring process. There is no mathematical equation for assessing a candidate's qualifications. Evaluating a candidate primarily hinges on two factors: "Technical Ability" and "Cultural Fit". Technical skills are relatively easier to measure than finding a cultural fit for the team, especially while evaluating during the few hours of the interview process.

The Guiding Principles

Despite the effort invested, there's no surety the selected candidate is technically equipped and the perfect fit for the team, leading to a leap of faith. To mitigate hiring risks for a full-time job, we have formalized several rules. One significant rule emphasizes:

💡 Prefer candidates with full-time experience over long-term freelancers.

Freelancers and Challenges

Drawing from our experiences working with long-term freelancers, we have identified some common quirks among many individuals. If you're a freelancer considering this shift, we've pinpointed traits that should be addressed for a successful transition.

1. Approach to Problem Solving 🧩

Freelancers often approach problem-solving differently from full-time employees. Through their extensive experience in various freelance projects, they might start embracing the "If It's Working, It's Done" mindset. This approach prioritizes immediate functionality and might disregard the best practices for task completion, potentially impacting the project's overall health, team coordination, and successful goal achievement.

2. Collaboration Struggles 🖇️

Freelancers' prolonged solo work impacts their team collaboration skills, making it challenging for them to coordinate within the team and other teams in the organization. This lack of team experience often results in difficulties when attempting to synchronize efforts within the organization.

3. No Strings Attached Mindset 🔄

Freelancers often cultivate a habit of transiting from one project to another, nurturing a constant "Urge for Change" within themselves. Organizations looking for stability invest in candidates with the anticipation of a more enduring commitment and are caught off guard by departures within a short span of 2 to 3 months at times.

4. Short-Sightedness ⚙️

The idea of "Be your own man" and doing everything on your own may seem powerful, but it's even more important to recognize the significance of being part of something bigger and creating things that fit flawlessly with others. The nature of freelancing sometimes requires a shorter-term focus on immediate tasks or projects and does not realize "Your work will be a cog in the machine instead of the machine itself". Companies prefer candidates who can take a more holistic and long-term view, contributing to the broader vision and goals of the company, rather than focusing solely on short-term tasks. Forward-thinkers who foresee future needs are the architects behind groundbreaking products.

5. The Performance Metrics 📈

High-performance applications significantly influence user satisfaction, productivity, and competitive advantage in today's market. The Freelancer's "quantity over quality" approach for delivering tasks quickly, with minimal effort and time, often leads to subpar unoptimized output. These modules and products adversely affect product performance, leading to customer dissatisfaction, impeding growth, and negatively impacting customer retention.

Conclusion

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."

-- Aristotle

The purpose of the discussion is not to devalue the role of freelancers, rather it is important to acknowledge their significant contributions to the thriving tech industry. While freelancers bring so much to the table, their alignment with organizational objectives often poses challenges. Recognizing the strengths and understanding the potential discord between freelancing and long-term goals is essential for refining hiring strategies and ensuring an ideal match for both employees and organizations. Freelancers, too, should introspect on these common issues discussed and address them, regardless of pursuing a full-time job or continuing in their freelancing career.