Quick! We need someone to help us build a mobile app. Start looking for developers on LinkedIn.
Hold up.
How much will it cost to headhunt? How much time will it take? Anyone less than a “10” will drag down the business.
Plus, have we thought about the additional costs of hiring full time? Health benefits alone cost 1.5 times the salary. And what if the product fails, then what?
So many questions…
Sometimes it’s just better to crowdsource talent from within.
Take for example, the other day I was writing copy for a landing page, for an event coming up in Munich. I don’t speak German, so part of the challenge was finding someone to translate the document. Rather than hire a translator or outsource a firm, I posted a question to our enterprise social network asking if anyone could translate the document. Sure enough someone could.
There are countless examples where employees crowdsource talent from their internal social network: one employee finds the right person to troubleshoot a technical problem; another employee finds someone who has experience optimizing websites for Google search results (saving the company thousands of dollars otherwise spent on an SEO firm). I could keep going. Instead, lets break it down in terms of the concrete business benefits:
Crowdsourcing Talent Internally…
Reduces costs – This one’s obvious, but must be restated. Why spend the mula on hiring, when you can source talent internally? Historically businesses haven’t had the technology to crowdsource talent, but now 52% of businesses access internal experts faster using enterprise social networking.
Increases Flexibility – So many businesses spend thousands of dollars hiring employees and launching a product just to have it fail. When it comes to testing the viability of new products or features, it’s better (at least less risky) to have current staff work on it. If the project doesn’t workout the company can easily shut it down or ramp up hiring as needed.
Delivers Better Results – Also, when you’re experimenting with a new venture (be it a new product, website, marketing campaign, customer service policy etc.) having access to a creative talent pool means you get more results. You can leverage their feedback and insights to improve whatever it is, especially before it goes public. In other words, crowdsource the wisdom of crowds; tap their ideas first.
How often do employees ask, ‘Who knows what I need to know?’ Start discovering the genius you didn’t know about on an enterprise social network.
