Published on : 18th January 2024
8 Ways To Get A Contractor Started In Your Team
You may have come into 2024 with some budget to spend, projects to be delivered, and new initiatives to be undertaken.
You may have also had some resignations or lost members of your team over the holiday break. You may simply not have an internal team to manage or may not have a bench of workers to support your business needs. If so, this will impact your ability to deliver new and existing projects and programs.
So how are you going to move forward? That is where contractors can come in and support you to deliver. Here are 8 steps that you can take to work with contractors.
Listen to our Podcast or read on to find out more:
1/ Create Your Business Case
You may already have an internal process to generate a business case or you may not. Either way, you’ll probably need to go through a process to approve any spend on external labour or consultancy and it's helpful to get any decisions approved in advance.
Large enterprises will need it whereas smaller businesses may just need to get an agreement with the CTO/CEO to go out and source the necessary resources.
2/ Define Your Requirements
Have you defined the requirements of what you need to achieve? It is essential to capture the expertise that you need to achieve the result. You need to truly know what you need and socialise it around key stakeholders to get buy-in and agreement.
3/ Find The Resource
How will you find the right resource? Do you have the skills and expertise internally to do this? Will you need to go out to a partner who can bring you that expertise onboard quickly?
4/ Plan The Timing
Are there any time constraints you are under? How urgent is the request? Do you need that person onboard urgently, say working with you within the next two weeks or can you wait a little longer, say a month or six weeks for that person?
Think about the time frame because that's going to be an all-important element.
5/ Work With A Partner
Look for someone who has ideally a track record in finding highly skilled contractors. You may already have a suitable partner in place. If not, we can help in sourcing contractors and can work with you to agree on the whole process including the role definition, the timeline, the outreach, the selection and the onboarding.
6/ Prepare For The Selection
Think about who will need to be involved in interviewing the consultants. Check and schedule their availability and ensure they are fully briefed on the requirements.
7/ Establish Commercials
Have you got a framework agreement in place or can you work on a one-off agreement via an MSA or other consulting agreement to enable that? Work with your legal and/or procurement specialists to define and action that process.
Many organisations have a template. If not, we can help you if you don't have one yourself.
8/ Arrange Onboarding
Finally, select and onboard the consultant, and if appropriate, work with the partner to ensure that they add value, provide regular feedback, and help them deliver the project to a successful conclusion.
In some cases, a secure laptop may be required or other clearance may be needed so think in advance to minimise delays when starting as well as engaging other stakeholders early in the process.
These are the key steps in souring and onboarding a consultant. If they are all done in advance and the stakeholders have pre-agreed the process, it will be a lot easier. If everyone is aligned to ensure that your target and objectives are met within the timeframe that you've all agreed, it will contribute to an easier and more successful outcome.
If you want support in this area, we have over 20 years of experience working with companies to bring in contractors to add value to any team. If you'd like to have a conversation with us, simply contact us and we'll set up a discovery call.
