Consultant Exchange - A HotGigs blog

More members, new opportunities

We recently welcomed our 100,000th consultant member to our Staffing Exchange -- only 9 months after soaring past the 50,000 mark. Our consultant membership is growing rapidly, and so are the number of opportunities available to consultants. You may think of the Staffing Exchange as a place you come to look for contract work, but keep in mind that it's also the place that companies and firms come to look for contract talent! Having more consultant members on our Staffing Exchange attracts more top firms and companies, which translates into more contract jobs that our Basic Consultant Members can apply to free of charge.

Here's how it works: when a Consulting or Staffing Firm joins our site at the Premium Membership Level, the jobs they post are open to any consultant member who wishes to apply, including Basic Members. We do not require that independent consultants pay to upgrade to a Premium Membership to apply to these positions, so we refer to them as "free jobs".

Another source of free jobs are hiring companies who utilize HotGigs' new Channel Vendor program to help identify consultants and firms who can work for them on contract assignments. Jobs from these Manged Client Companies are open to all consultants on the Staffing Exchange, including Basic Members (HotGigs does factor in a nominal management fee over and above your requested rate, but this does not reduce that rate). More information about how you as an independent consultant can work directly with our Managed Clients companies (including 3M and ADC) through our Channel Vendor program, can be found here.

Currently we have more Free jobs on the HotGigs Staffing Exchange than ever before and we wanted to make sure all of our consultant members understand how easy it is to apply and submit your resumes to these great opportunities.  We recently updated the site to make it easier than ever for our Basic Members to find free jobs. Here's a quick summary:

• On the Advanced Search page, select the location and skills you would like to search on, and then check the box labeled "Find free jobs". This will narrow down the search results to only free jobs.
• You will see the same "Find free jobs" checkbox at the top of every job search results page. Check the box and click the 'Go' button to filter the search results to include only free jobs.
• Free jobs are also linked on the sidebar of the job search results page. Click the links to see jobs from featured companies and firms, or you can do 1-click searches by subcategory.

On any job search results page, the free jobs are always listed first, and the company or firm name is displayed in the listing (you have to be signed in). Find a job that interests you and click the job title to view it. At the top of the job description page, you will see the notice, "All HotGigs consultant members may apply. Premium Membership not required." Click the 'Apply' button and you're on your way! 

If you still have questions about Free jobs (or any other aspects of HotGigs) feel free to check out our new Consultant Member FAQ section located within your HotGigs account.  A link to this new FAQ section (titled Consultant Member FAQ) is located within the Getting Started box of your My HotGigs page.

-Colleen

Colleen Williams is the Consultant Community Manager for the HotGigs Staffing Exchange.

Work directly with 3M and other premier companies through HotGigs' new Channel Vendor program

Have you ever wanted to land a contract with a Fortune 500 company, but weren't able to because you weren't on the list or didn't work with one of their approved vendors? If so, you will be glad to know that you can now work directly with 3M and other HotGigs clients who have added HotGigs to their preferred vendor list. It's all part of our new Channel Vendor Program, which we announced last week with an invitation for consultants to work directly with 3M.

How does this work for you as an independent consultant?  Through Channel Vendor, 3M’s IT division is now able to work directly with our Consultant community through a single vendor relationship. This is one example of how our Channel Vendor program gives you direct access to consulting gigs at major companies in your chosen markets.

NOTE: Our Channel Vendor program is open to all HotGigs members, including Basic (free) Members. You do not need to pay to upgrade to apply for consulting jobs through the Channel Vendor program.

(If you are a Premium Member, you may submit to not only Channel Vendor jobs, but any and all jobs on the HotGigs Exchange, including gigs with our network of firms.)

Fast facts for Consultants:

• Access 3M's open IT requirements on the HotGigs Staffing Exchange.
• Leverage our preferred vendor relationship to submit yourself to contract openings at 3M. Receive real-time updates on your submission status from our internal sourcing team.
• Win gigs at 3M and other major clients on HotGigs. (HotGigs adds a 10% markup to the client over your submitted pay rate; this does not reduce your rate.).
• Manage your gig through HotGigs: submit billable hours online, and receive payment directly from HotGigs for all engagements.

Here's a quick overview of the HotGigs Channel Vendor program and how it works for consultants.

Interested in contracting at 3M? Use this search to see all 3M contract opportunities through HotGigs. We are constantly adding new requirements, so check back often.

If you're interested, here's how to get started:

To get started:

1. Search 3M requirements on HotGigs now (and receive future email notifications).
2. Apply online by submitting your profile and rates through HotGigs.
   - Premium (paid) Membership is not required.
3. Get real-time updates on your submission status on the HotGigs Staffing Exchange.
4. Win gigs at 3M (and other major companies) and submit billable hours and receive payment directly from HotGigs for all gigs.

In the near future, we'll be posting several more opportunities with new clients through our Channel Vendor program. Stay tuned.

How to green up your consulting business

Even though Earth Day was a couple months ago, I just read a great article on Electronic Recruiting Exchange (ERE.net) by Dr. John Sullivan, Green Recruiting: Building Your Environmental Employment Brand. This article urges firms to market their current green strategies to prospective candidates and also highlights how firms can become more environmentally friendly, using specific examples from other companies who are already actively turning green.  John uses Google as an example of an environmentally conscious company with these practices in place:

• $5,000 subsidies for employees buying hybrid cars
• Company dining facilities that serve organic sustainable foods
• Charitable contributions to organizations that fight global warming
• On-site farmers markets
• On-site composting of food waste
• Use of green fuels and solar power
• Fully subsidized employee bus pools for commuting employees

As consultants, we may not be able to incorporate all of Google's practices, but we can do other things, such as using mass transit, or only using 100% recycled paper.  I was curious about what green strategies were out there for consultants, so I asked Andrea Coutu, the creator of ConsultantJournal.com and here are her own tried-and-true suggestions she incorporates into her consulting business:

• Work from home (no commute and use less gas overall)
• Install a programmable thermostat which can automatically turn down the heat when you are out of your office
• Turn off your computer when you are not at your desk
• Use an all-in-one multifunction printer (less office equipment) and turn off when not in use
• Recycle all office paper
• Live in an urban location with the ability to walk to office supply stores and business meetings
• Focus on knowledge-based companies, instead of resource-based companies

Do you have your own green practices?  What are they? Do you market this to your clients? On the flip side, do you have a preference for working with clients that have set 'green guidelines'?

---Colleen

Colleen Williams is the Consultant Community Manager for the HotGigs Staffing Exchange

Are we a community yet?

Here's the short answer: no.

Here's the long answer: thriving user communities, whether online or offline, don't come ready-made -- some assembly is required. Actually, make that a considerable bit of assembly, done largely by the community members themselves. And it's not something that can be scheduled and rolled out, as though it were a product release. Communities are built from the ground up, by people who share common interests.

By now, we're all well-acquainted with the Web's marquee online communities, and can rattle off their names in a familiar litany: Slashdot, MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn. Each of these online communities provides its members with tools for self-expression, social networking, knowledge sharing, and mutual support. These communities are wildly successful because they enable their members to make personal and professional connections.

Writing for ERE.net on why talent communities matter, Kevin Wheeler observes:

What makes communities special? According to academic research, communities offer a feeling a membership, the ability to influence decisions, the fulfillment of needs at some level and a shared emotional connection to other members.

This is probably a good time to take a breath and explain who I am and what I'm doing standing on this particular soapbox.  My name is Andy Keith, and I recently joined HotGigs as product manager for the HotGigs Staffing Exchange. I won't go into an extensive recap of my background -- if you're interested, see my profile on LinkedIn. Prior to coming on board at HotGigs, I worked for Analysts International, a major IT staffing and consulting services firm headquartered here in Minneapolis, where my focus was on building and managing talent communities, as part of its New Equities division. Earlier, I worked for TechRepublic, a highly-regarded IT portal and online community, now a division of CNET. I also worked on and off as an independent consultant.

In my role here at HotGigs, I am hoping to take the lessons learned in these and other previous lives and apply them to making the HotGigs Exchange a place where consultants, staffing firms and hiring companies do business, but also where we get together to meet and talk about the consulting marketplace, and to help each other become more successful. How that happens depends, in large part, on you.

Back in January, HotGigs announced our newly redesigned website, which laid the foundation for community development and growth:

The redesigned and easier to use HotGigs.com provides separate portals for each of the exchange’s three distinct audiences — consultants, hiring companies and staffing firms. Each portal features Web 2.0 enhancements such as RSS content syndication, blogs, social networking, data on skills in demand and automated agents for marketing contractor opportunities and resources across 17 workforce categories, including IT, healthcare, HR, creative, marketing, accounting, financial and administrative.

Consultants and contractors who join the HotGigs.com exchange can market their services to more than 19,000 companies and staffing firms, and broadcast their availability for new projects to previous and potential clients. They can include ratings from past employers, customized search agents, peer networking tools, and one-click contact between employers and contractors.

This blog is one element of that vision -- a place where we can share our thinking on this and other topics, and get your point of view and ideas to help shape the further evolution of HotGigs. So here are some key questions to get the ball rolling:

• What kind of consultant community would you like to see take shape on HotGigs? How should it be organized?
• As an independent consultant, how would you like to network with and link to other consultants, as well as consulting firms and hiring companies?
• How can consultants with widely different skill sets, interests and expertise come together for mutual support? Does it make sense to?
• What features and capabilities would you like to see to enable and support community development (e.g. linking and social networking,  online forums and groups, knowledge bases and wikis)?
• If you already belong to one or more online communities, which one(s) and what do you like/dislike about them?
• What should we at HotGigs contribute and what do you want to contribute?

This last question is essential, because the HotGigs community is mostly you. In a blog post last year titled "The Art of Creating a Community", Apple legend Guy Kawasaki talks about the need for an "open system":

There are two requirements of an open system first, a “SDK” (software development kit). This is software-weenie talk for documentation and tools to supplement a product; second, APIs (application programming interfaces). This is more software-weenie talk for an explanation of how to access the various functions of a product, and it’s typically part of a good SDK. I’m using software terminology here, but the point is that you need to provide people with the tools and information to tweak your product whether it is Photoshop, an iPod, or a Harley-Davidson. Here's a non-tech example: An open system school would enable parents to teach courses and provide a manual (SDK) for parents to understand how to do so.

What does that look like as applied to HotGigs?  What would you like to see in terms of an open system that goes way beyond the standard job board paradigm and provides capabilities that enable you to creatively market your expertise as a consultant to a growing network of thousands of companies and staffing firms? In what ways would you like to personalize your consultant profile to reflect your unique abilities and differentiate yourself? Please share your ideas in the comments area below.

And if you have suggestions for topics for this or other HotGigs blogs, drop me a line at akeith @ hotgigs.com.

-- Andy

Andy Keith is the product manager for the HotGigs Staffing Exchange