Most people think of talent agents and talent agencies only work with movie and sports stars. Wikipedia, for example, defines talent agent as "a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses.
But with the growth of independent workers (consultants, freelancers, contractors, etc.), the role of talent agents is rapidly expanding and includes many types of firms that act as talent agents. Examples include:
- Temporary Agencies such as Manpower and Kelly Services. They employ almost 10 million Americans over the course of a year and on average day place 2.6 million Americans in temporary jobs. Both specialty staffing agencies and the big players are increasingly placing higher value employees - including C-level executives - with their clients. These firms have grown quite rapidly over the last 2 years.
- Online Talent Exchanges such as Elance and oDesk. These firms continue to grow at a rapid pace - both in terms of jobs offered and industries/job functions served.
- Sites that let you hire people for specific tasks. This is a hot area for startups. Task Rabbit, for example, allows people to post jobs they need doing (mostly chores) and find others who are happy to carry them out. The Next Web has a nice article covering several of these types of firms.
- Outsourcing firms also continue to grow in number and scope.
All of these firms act as agents, connecting talent with those in need of talent and making this transaction more efficient for all.
Our recent survey work as part of the MBO State of Independence study showed that independent workers are very concerned about job pipelines, unpredictable income streams and marketing their services. The growth of talent agents will help independents with this crucial phase of their business.
Online talent exchanges continue to expand today. Some are finding finding talents online is more convenient in some ways. Talent agents are very important because they see what anyone could do best. They see talent in anyone and they help them succeed in the field they are good at.
Posted by: pos quickbooks | September 19, 2011 at 11:02 AM