Creating an Independent Professional Value Proposition for Your Enterprise

Competition for high-value independent talent is heating up. The US independent population was 64.6 million strong in 2022, and even with a low unemployment rate, that number is likely to continue to increase as professionals with in-demand skills choose independence as their best career strategy.

To attract people with the right skills, it is critical to create a brand that focuses on independent talent. Part of that brand is an Independent Value Proposition—your IVP—which gives a potential contractor a good sense of the experience of working with your enterprise.

A strong IVP, communicated often to potential and current contractors, can attract and retain the best independent talent. It differentiates you from your competitors. The benefits to the enterprise include the curation of a strategic talent network, facilitated achievement of strategic goals, and an improved competitive position.

Your IVP answers two questions from an independent professional considering engaging with you.

Question 1: What Can I Expect from You?

To create your IVP, you first need to clearly articulate the answers to questions like:

• What are our core values and how do we demonstrate them?
• What are our key strategic goals?
• How do we measure success?
• What are the main challenges and opportunities that we face?
• What are the skills and qualities that we look for in our independent talent?

Your responses will serve as the basis for the portion of your IVP that offers an attractive view of the enterprise to high-value independents. In addition, it’s important to include descriptions of your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as your social responsibility programs. These aspects of the enterprise matter to independent professionals.

Describe your culture in a realistic way. In other words, talk about what a worker’s day-to-day experience is like.

Question 2: What’s in it for Me?

As the Great Resignation became the Great Realization, more high-value professionals became independent business owners. These are the people for which enterprises compete, and an enterprise that becomes a Client of Choice for independent talent that it strategically needs will be better positioned in its market.

Keep in mind that independents are likely to gravitate toward enterprises that help them create the life and work styles they prefer. Increasing revenues, finding new revenue streams, and growing their markets are common business goals, and they apply to independents as well as any other company. Independents also assess opportunities in the context of their own business growth, including opportunities beyond revenue like skill development and networking.

Include key points in your IVP like:

• Streamlined administrative processes that make it easy for independent contractors to onboard and get paid
• Assurance that you will consistently engage them where they have the most value and can leverage their expertise
• Your commitment to assisting your independent talent to build skills that help them grow their businesses
• The availability of opportunities for additional work within your organization

Communicate Your IVP Everywhere

Once you have crafted your IVP, make sure that its contents are communicated in all your messaging to independents. Align all interactions and communication channels to be consistent and to emphasize the key points of your IVP. Your success metric? The independent talent you want to have on your team also wants to be on your team!