Imagine recruiting a freelance website designer on-demand and paying them using the same platform. A human cloud platform does exactly that.
Human cloud platforms store critical information about freelancers such as personal details, services offered, previous projects, expected quote, and availability. By using such data, human clouds can streamline the entire process of finding and recruiting freelance workers.
The human cloud can help recruiters break down complex tasks into smaller components that can be assigned to independent workers. This approach proves more cost-effective than hiring full-time employees.
The rise of human cloud platforms is transforming conventional recruitment models, causing more and more employers to adapt to this emerging trend. These emerging recruitment trends are also going to affect the market of job boards. Hence, job boards need to upgrade their platforms by integrating technologies like the human cloud into their website or aggregating and advertising freelancing opportunities on their portal.
For this purpose, job boards can use a suitable job board API that can effortlessly collect freelancing opportunities along with traditional job data. By automating the collection of freelance jobs, using tools such a job board API, jobsites improve adaptability and set themselves on a path towards evolution.
The rising gig economy and the human cloud
Millennials have been a major part of the gig economy and employers are trying to hire more millennial freelancers for specific tasks.
The gig economy is projected to comprise around 42 million freelance workers by 2020. Studies indicate that these freelancers are more likely to take professional risks and work harder compared to their full-time employed counterparts.
Hiring freelancers for certain projects can prove to be less expensive than hiring new talent. Hence, the gig economy is transforming traditional work models and organizational structures. The human cloud is thus, helping employers adapt to these emerging market trends. Human cloud platforms enable employers to tap into the pool of freelance workers by offering work intermediation models to hire and pay freelancers.
Human cloud vendors often offer ‘workforce management systems’ that enable organizations to manage, track, and analyze interactions with each independent worker. Organizations can now track the progress of individual tasks and manage projects effortlessly.
What’s more, is that human cloud vendors allow recruiters to hire freelancers just-in-time for on-site as well as remote jobs. For example, human cloud providers can suggest professionals who design the UI of a mobile app as well as ones who can drive a cab.
To create such a flexible platform, human cloud platforms utilize ratings and algorithmic matching. They also provide traditional staffing technologies like resume screening that are used by modern freelancer platforms. By offering such solutions, human cloud vendors have built a symbiotic relationship with the gig economy.
Human cloud: the rising competitor for job boards
Organizations are gradually coming to accept hiring freelancers, instead of permanent talent, for job functions that fit the bill. These organizations are tapping into human cloud platforms to browse and interact with potential talent. Almost 540 million workers will be utilizing human cloud vendors and freelance websites to find jobs by 2025.
This suggests that that human cloud vendors will soon become direct competitors to job boards.
Human cloud platforms allow independent workers and businesses to crowdsource certain tasks by creating microtasks that can be completed by a group of freelancers. For instance, if a company is crowdsourcing mobile app development, then a group of independent workers can execute microtasks such as programming, compiling, testing, and final release.
Additionally, human cloud providers can allow organizations to engage with many experienced freelancers who can work on multiple tasks simultaneously and generate the desired output faster. With such services, human cloud providers have created their own niche and offer unique services to employers as well as freelancers.
With this platform, human cloud vendors benefit not just employers but also freelancers who wish to attain greater work flexibility and security.
How job boards will need to evolve
The dynamics of talent acquisition are slowly shifting. More organizations are opening up to the idea of task-oriented, remote teams that can be on-boarded and dismantled efficiently. This signifies a large change for job portals who must find a way to cater to these demands successfully.
A key to this is to first, understand the mindset of freelancers and what draws them towards the human cloud system. And second, to provide meaningful interactions between freelancers and hiring professionals. Not just recruiters but hiring managers themselves might stumble upon these freelancers while looking for efficient ways to accomplish a task. This will broaden the channels for job board marketing communication to a new audience while widening their scope of business.
Changing the way your job board operates
Job boards will have to gather and accommodate a multitude of freelance-job openings that are currently in the market. For this purpose, job boards can use premium job wrapping solutions from Propellum. These offer lots of site crawling options to search for job data across human cloud platforms. Freelance jobs can be automatically scraped, cleaned and posted to job sites using a specialized job board API. This will ensure that job wrapping tools collect every available freelance job and post them to your job board.
However, every employer and freelance platform stores job data in different formats. Hence, job boards have to optimize job data to ensure that critical information is stored in a single, standardized format. A premium job board API can help ensure quick and proper posting of these jobs.
Employer websites and human cloud platforms update job data regularly. Job boards need to keep up with these changes and avoid posting outdated jobs on their job feed. The task of collecting and regularly posting job data can be automated with the help of job board APIs.
Premium job board API providers like Propellum can help in developing automated job portals. These can check for job posting updates at regular intervals and make necessary changes to the stored job data. With such job board APIs, job boards ensure that their job feed is always updated with the latest job vacancies.
By advertising full-time and freelance work opportunities, job boards can become the go-to job portal for job seekers and freelancers. Such job boards have a higher probability of attracting traffic compared to their competitors.
The need for an advanced job board API
Job data aggregation and optimization are not the only changes. Job boards will need to focus on developing user-friendly UI’s that boost internal search algorithms. By using premium job board API providers like Propellum they ensure that jobs are put in the right categories. Not only that, but missing fields in the jobs can be automatically populated with the right data using Propellum’s technology.
Through job feed categorization, job seekers and independent workers will able to search better. The job feed will allow for filters according to location, work experience, skills, CTC, fees, and job descriptions. Also, job boards can categorize jobs for engineering, design, sales, marketing, customer service, and mobile and software development separately. Now, employers can narrow-down their search for freelancers. By incorporating these features, job seekers and freelancers can effortlessly explore suitable professional opportunities.
Job boards can earn more revenue by offering subscription-based programs. These could provide exclusive features like tailored search results, specialized collaboration tools, project tracking platforms, and detailed employee and company analytics. Such subscription programs will enable recruiters, job seekers, and freelancers to utilize the job board to its maximum potential.
Organizations have realized that the growth of the independent workforce is imminent. They are now going beyond traditional resumes and employment models to discover fresh talent. Job boards can exploit this situation to create a standalone platform that advertises generic and freelance jobs with the help of premium job board APIs. By developing a standalone platform, job boards can differentiate themselves from their competitors and offer top-notch services to their customers.