We all may be sick of hearing the phrases “the war on talent” or “the talent wars,” however, the very truth of contemporary contingent workforce management (CWM) dictates that talent is a primary focus for achieving core business objectives through temporary labor.

It’s no great secret that the CWM industry has been evolving for quite some time; a space that was once an afterthought before the economic downturn of last decade has now become a vital component of the average enterprise. In fact, based upon its research, Ardent Partners predicts that this industry will grow by nearly 30% over the next three years.

With rampant growth comes great expectations, and as the contingent workforce industry continues to not only expand and evolve, enterprises will leverage fresh, new, and exciting approaches for sourcing the high-quality talent and specific skill sets they require to support, manage, and execute critical corporate projects and initiatives.

Thus, the age of socially-sourced (“social recruiting”) talent is upon us. There are now a plethora of viable options available to the modern organization as it transcends the boundaries of talent engagement. While the traditional sources of contract talent, such as staffing suppliers and agencies, remain a critical component of the industry (particularly as it pertains to the Contingent Workforce Management Framework), both executives and project team members will look to the world of social media as an additional means of finding the talent they not only need, but require, to fulfill key objectives.

A social source such as Twitter can be an ideal means of identifying individuals (or services) that are tied to specific industries or concepts (think: following users based on niche aspects via hashtags), while LinkedIn can prove to be the fine-tooth comb from a business and professional perspective. Regarding these social platforms, they are also ideal for building “talent pools” of already-known talent (alumni, retirees, etc.) that can be utilized as a way to align candidates with the particular requirements of a project.

However, while this social-engagement evolution is certainly a stimulating new way to source contract talent, there’s still a deep need to control how it is leveraged from cost, spend, and risk management perspectives. Readers of CPO Rising may remember that one of my predictions at the beginning of the year focused on this notion, stating that CWM programs will expand out of pure necessity to effectively track, monitor, and gauge how program leads and other executives engage their contract talent from varied sources.

High-quality contract talent is certainly beneficial and can go a long way in addressing crucial enterprise needs, but it must be controlled for the sake of both compliance and visibility. It is imperative that socially-sourced talent be funneled through a robust CWM program that can support risk / cost management, as well as technology providers (such as Vendor Management System (VMS) solutions) that can track utilization of social sources.

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Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Christopher Dwyer, Contingent Workforce, Networks, People, Predictions, Solution Providers, Technology