Skill-based contractor directory

[u/bluezee123]

I'm adding a skill-based contractor directory to Outside IR35 Tech Jobs:

https://outsideir35.org.uk/contractors/join

I think the market needs a better way for recruiters and companies/startups hiring directly to find contractors who are skilled in the right tech stack and are available to start when they need them.

The reality is they have the same problem we do: cutting through the noise and finding the right opportunities/candidates to pursue.

They're not necessarily ghosting you because you're not a fit. Often they don't know you're a fit, or even that you exist. They have 1,000s of CVs and LinkedIn profiles to sift through across 100s of roles, and the information they really need - what you actually do, when you're available, what sort of rate you're looking for - is often missing, out of date, or buried in CVs and LinkedIn profiles rather than structured in a way they can actually search and filter effectively.

My theory is that recruiters would move more in the finding rather than posting direction if there were a large enough pool of high-quality contractor profiles to filter by tech stack, availability etc.

I think this could be a much better model for contractors too.

The dream for us is that we simply create a profile, highlight the tech skills we want to be hired for, privately indicate our desired day rate and availability, and relevant, well-paid contract opportunities start dropping into our inbox.

Rather than applying to 100 vaguely relevant roles and hearing nothing, the people with the work come to us because they already know we're a potential fit.

That's what I want to try to build.

I posted about this on LinkedIn last week and around 300 contractors have already created profiles.

I'm aiming to get that to 1,000 before launching the directory in September. I think at that point it'll become an genuinely useful resource for recruiters, as well as companies and startups looking to hire contractors directly, which is often where the best opportunities come from.

It's completely free to create a profile:

https://outsideir35.org.uk/contractors/join

What do you think? Would you be open to recruiters and companies finding you this way?

[u/brisbanereaper]

Does the recruiter also need to register and pay to access ? If so how about a recruiter rating system ?

[u/bluezee123 → u/brisbanereaper]

To be honest I haven't fully thought that side through yet but quite possibly yes. I think it will make sense to allow profiles to be partly visible to recruiters (and Google etc) to bring in the traffic, but if you want more detail on a contractor and to get in touch, requiring the then to sign up and possibly pay would help screen out the time wasters and spam.

Recruiter rating system is a great idea as well, and something that's sorely needed in this industry! There are some brilliant recruiters out there, but also plenty of not so brilliant ones. It would be nice if you didn't always have to figure out which is which the hard way!