Small Business Catch 22
July 13, 2009
July13, 2009
We here in the IT and engineering small business vertical at Careerbuilder are optimistic that the economy is slowly taking a turn for the better. This past year has been tough for every business at all levels. While this industry is not as affected as others, we realize that every business is watching every penny.
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Simona Covel writes about how rising healthcare costs are serving as a giant handicap to many small businesses today. She talks about how health insurance is “likely to be the company’s No. 2 expense – second only to wages, and edging out rent and utilities”. It goes without saying that everything else that is crucial for a small business to grow, such as marketing and other investments in the company, cannot be the number one focus in these economic times.
The article talks about how several small businesses are struggling with the backlog of work due to not having enough people on staff, yet not being able to afford these people full time. There is a real catch 22 situation that many of our clients are currently facing.
We find that our consultants are coming across similar scenarios with our client on a daily basis. Fortunately, we have options for companies that find themselves struggling with the fact that they have the work but not the people or the money to hire these people. Being in this industry, we have seen our clients unable to win projects or bids because they do not have the people in place to fulfill the projects or worse off lose out on new opportunities because once they have secured a project they were unable to find the right people fast enough.
As a leader in the IT and engineering sector, I have spent a lot of time and resources trying to benefit our clients and bring more value for every dollar spent. IT and engineering companies may be forced to hire contract workers in order to avoid high health insurance costs for full time employees. One possible solution that many of our clients are seeing success with is through our partnership with Sologig. We can provide our clients with the largest pool of qualified contract, contract-to-hire, cleared, seasoned professionals that they cannot find anywhere else, at a fraction of the cost that they could be spending elsewhere.
Things are looking better month over month in this industry but we know that the smaller companies are the ones that are, and need to be most cautious with their budgets. We have a solution that can better a business and help alleviate the pain once we know what our clients need and where they are struggling.
I challenge all of the small businesses out there to really look at their business; where are you now, where do you want to go, what is holding you back from your goals? If you are also struggling with your workload but unable to afford new staff, look to other cost-effective methods like contract work. Small businesses are feeling like a lot of things are working against them today, one thing you can count on is that there are resources that can help.
- Categories: Articles, Economy, Technology Industry
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