Quiet Hiring isn't "rising," but it is an incredible opportunity for growth.

A new article from CNBC is making the rounds on LinkedIn today, chillingly forecasting the rise of "Quiet Hiring" and how we, as workers and employers, need to prepare for it.

The article above discusses the three traditional categories of hiring: backfilling old roles, creating new ones due to growth, and addressing acute, immediate needs.

It focuses on the third category and I want to approach it from two very distinct perspectives - for both employees and employers.

Employees: Don't fret, but do prepare to be flexible.

The article discusses rotating into a new division or new responsibilities in order to serve the needs of the business. I get this - intrinsically - because it's something that I have been asked to do previously in my career. There can be some trepidation around being asked to make such a drastic shift; the author makes a great point concerning the hesitancy you might have if asked to do something different than your daily duties:

If you’re temporarily reassigned to a different part of your company, you might interpret that as being told that your regular job isn’t particularly important. After all, nobody’s getting hired to backfill your old responsibilities.

Earlier in my career (and in my first civilian job out of college) my senior leadership and I agreed for me to move into operations and build up multiple divisions within my organization. This was specifically not the traditional career track at the company... and I was told that it would drastically affect my trajectory while there. But it would also allow me to utilize talents that I wasn't presently using in my role. I was scared at the prospect - was I a valued member of the company, being utilized like a super-utility player in baseball? Or were my skills so acutely defined (and potentially unnecessary) that the company just needed to find something for me to do instead of letting me go?

Luckily, over the next couple of years, I was able to realize just how valuable I could become... and how my flexibility was also inherent to that value. I think that was the first key to professional growth in my career - recognizing that your flexibility is an inherent value-add to an organization; not a critique on the viability of your particular position. Once (on a Saturday) I was even asked to fly from Dallas to Los Angeles in order to spearhead the damage control from a critical fault in one of our primary business applications. I flew out the next day... and spent the next two weeks doing something completely outside of the scope of my normal duties (and incidentally, helping to save the organization from near-certain financial catastrophe). Again, my flexibility is what made me capable of moving into that role and finding success... and becoming more valuable to the company. Afterwards, I was able to go back into my old role, my old responsibilities, and my old routine... but I also knew - for a fact - that I could always be called upon to do more. In all of my temporary duties, whether they were focused on sales, finance & accounting, technical training, project management, or safety, after each stint I felt like I had an immensely more valuable understanding of the fundamentals of how the business operated... and I felt even more important and critical in my own role.

My point here is that if you are asked to do something outside of your normal realm of responsibilities? Don't panic. It might give you the opportunity to expand your skills, deepen your knowledge, and ultimately become even more valuable to your organization (and future employers) than you were before.

Employers: This isn't new, but maybe your strategy should be.

If you are able to move employees into new, ad-hoc roles in order to support business initiatives, then do so. Ask them their willingness to be flexible, be sure to reiterate their importance to the company, and give them the ability to use the shift as an opportunity for growth - not just an opportunity to keep business goals & initiatives on track. I'm regurgitating what McRae says, but communication is of the utmost important when asking your team members to take something like this on. So don't just communicate their value - overcommunicate it. The cost of hiring a new employee will far outweigh the cost of setting proper expectations - and reiterating the security of the employee's job - ever will.

Bosses can help address that by clearly articulating why the specific project or business division is so crucial to the company’s success. It’ll help the employee feel valued, and less likely to see the move as a sign that they need to start looking for jobs elsewhere. - Emily Rose McRae

Alternatively, if you have ever worked in an industry - or business unit - that relies heavily on contracting, then this isn't anything new to you. Especially in sectors with unemployment numbers that are traditionally lower than the market (such as IT or the skilled trades), contractor support can allow you to bring in the technical talent and expertise that you need without creating new concerns surrounding headcount and payroll budgets. It can also be a great way to budget migrations, updates, upgrades, or other projects by allotting CapEx resources towards contractor usage. This can help maintain year-over-year OpEx budgets without sacrificing your ability to stay on the cutting edge of the market from a technological perspective (while simultaneously saving money compared to using a consulting firm for an end-to-end solution). Many highly-skilled professionals - with niche, cutting-edge skillsets - work almost exclusively as contractors. If you haven't considered using contractors to supplement your teams and projects, then you might be missing out on the exact type of talent that you need for your business.

Alternatively, contractors can also be leveraged to also help with backfilling employees who leave for other opportunities. Ask yourself - when the economy is in fluctuation, how often have you experienced one employee resignation leading to more following them? Most of the time it isn't because of anything inherently wrong with the business, but instead with the increase in effort required to pick up the workload of the recently departed employee. While they may not be a perfect fit, many times contractors can be the difference between your team becoming overstressed (and creating a cascade of resignations) and maintaining their current workload until the seat is filled permanently.

Market downturns create opportunities for growth. Use them.

Whether an employee looking at the coming year with concern surrounding your job security or a hiring manager wondering how you're going to maintain your current workforce or stay ahead of your competition, remember that economic uncertainty - and the stress it can create - also creates an immense opportunity for you to identify areas to grow. Whether that growth is personal, professional, or both - you have the ability to use that uncertainty to find your own flexibility... and maybe find those skills (or that product offering) that sets you apart from the competition.

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