Digital Nomads

The Internet followed by recession has accelerated changes in how we work with more and more people working from home, hot desking, part-time, job sharing, second jobs, home based businesses etc.  So what's the impact on recruitment particularly as we come out of recession and back into growth?  Will the digital nomads be prepared to come back to the old world of employment?

The concept of working from home, moving from job to job, business to business may sound like the ideal scenario to some but not to others; particularly if you like the regular pay cheque every month.  But, I come across more people these days who are employed digital nomads.  People hot desk. They have locations on their business address they rarely go to.  They use personal e-mail addresses for important information e.g. the Corporate Recruiters Handbook(!) rather than a work e-mail address.  The employed and self-employed digital nomad are moving ever closer in how they operate but does one earn a fortune, work less hours and have more choice than the other and therefore has the more attractive lifestyle?

Of course the difference in value depends on what the individual wants but, I think we will start to see more digital nomads remain rather than go back to where they escaped from.  The Interim market allegedly did well during 2009 and assuming this was the case, I see it continuing.  And these nomads will start to form small tribes in order to share the workload rather than become companies in their own right.  And guess what.  They'll form small communities that will communicate online but still meet offline either on projects or just to build their tribal relationships. 

So the smart recruiter will have to also think about how they utilise these people for key projects.  I'm not talking about bringing in a team of Consultants (although this is in reality what they are) but rather than think Big 5 (or is it 3 now?) or sole trader i.e. big cost versus bigger risk they will need to identify these tribes of like minded people and how to best utilise them.  As these digital nomads are notorious online networkers guess where you'll find them:

• Linkedin Groups.
• Twitter lists.
• Niche Ning networks.
• Google searches.

This isn't about social media per se but how the workforce is evolving and where you can find these groups.  Digital nomads are a growing force and I see more good people joining which will require a different resourcing strategy in some key business areas. 

What do you think?  Reality or hype?  Economic necessity or workforce evolution?