YunoJuno’s CEO on Contractual Hiring within the Distant Work and AI Period


The distant work period has shifted how corporations work, ushering in contractual hiring as the brand new norm. 

As Runar Reistrup, CEO of YunoJuno, explains, “Firms will discover it important and very useful to have quick access to a highly-skilled, versatile workforce” within the present enterprise setting.

Whereas full-time workers stay the cornerstone of organizations, contractual hiring helps scale back the time to rent and related prices. With rising recognition of the advantages of a versatile workforce and adjustments introduced on by AI, Runar shares his perspective on working a contractual hiring firm and the way it’s shaping the way forward for work.

This interview is a part of G2’s Skilled Highlight collection. For extra content material like this, subscribe to G2 Tea, a e-newsletter with SaaS-y information and leisure.  

Heat-up questions

What’s your favourite beverage? It is boring. It is water out of the faucet within the Faroe Islands. My household comes from there, and that, to me, is my favourite beverage. I’d import it to London each day.

What issues at work make you need to throw your laptop computer out the window? I strive to not get to that emotional state, however I firmly imagine that in case you get to that way of thinking, it is time to look inwards. If the whole lot round you frustrates you, perhaps it is time to relaxation, take just a little stroll, swim, or no matter. So sure, each time I get the sense that the whole lot goes incorrect immediately, I usually look inward and say, okay, let’s examine what we will do right here. 

 

What was your first job? I have not truly had many roles, however my first entrepreneurial endeavor was beginning a car-washing service, starting with my grandmother’s automotive and steadily extending to each member of the family’s automobile. I’d manage these weekend tasks the place everybody introduced their vehicles for a wash. That was my preliminary foray into work. 

 

I by no means had a correct job till I used to be 18. My first job was at a printing press, engaged on a newspaper. However I imagine the entrepreneurial spirit has all the time been part of me.

 

What’s your favourite software program in your present tech stack? There are numerous software program instruments obtainable, however I gravitate in direction of these which can be extremely versatile. For me, that device is the spreadsheet. Whether or not it is Excel or Google Sheets, I usually discover myself beginning my tasks there. Whereas I would not name myself an skilled, the limitless potentialities these instruments provide make them indispensable to me.

Deep Dives with Runar Reistrup

Tanushree Verma: Are you able to share a bit about your background and what initially impressed you to hitch YunoJuno?

Runar Reistrup: I’ve spent most of my profession constructing corporations, and thru this journey, I’ve found what actually evokes me—fostering entrepreneurship inside a big neighborhood. So, I spent fairly a while constructing an organization known as Depop. Depop enabled younger folks to embark on their first entrepreneurial ventures, usually from their very own bedrooms and with no matter expertise they’d, regardless of missing formal coaching.

Witnessing Gen Z’s entrepreneurial spirit has been extremely inspiring. This era is hardwired to run their very own mini-businesses moderately than match into conventional job roles. This perception aligns completely with my encounter with YunoJuno, a community-driven firm devoted to empowering freelancers and contractors. 

I noticed a chance to make a distinction and make it large, and I grabbed onto it. The imaginative and prescient is to create a seamless expertise for these in want of specialised work and the expert professionals obtainable to supply it. Platforms like YunoJuno and the developments in AI are set to make these processes environment friendly, guaranteeing that the main focus stays on the work itself moderately than the complicated processes surrounding it. 

What’s a chunk of recommendation you want you had obtained while you first began out? And the way did that change your strategy?

Once I began out, there was a number of noise, by way of recommendation, surrounding me. Nonetheless, I used to be very fortunate that I labored for good folks originally of my profession. 

I feel one of many earliest items of recommendation that I actually took on board was:

“Let’s go over and past and never simply the minimal required.”

Runar Reistrup
CEO of YunoJuno

Many individuals get by within the education system by doing the minimal required to attain good grades. Nonetheless, within the office, it is not about that. It is about what you’ll be able to develop into. I do know it sounds a bit aggravating, but it surely makes the whole lot way more pleasing. 

So, I all the time encourage folks to do their greatest work once they enter the workforce. By doing so, you’ll not solely discover your work life extra pleasing but in addition enhance your expertise quickly. 

It boils all the way down to this: Working for your self means taking ownership-by doing so, you’re additionally working for the corporate and the staff.

What are among the key classes out of your expertise at Depop that you simply proceed to use at YunoJuno?

The core lesson from my expertise at Depop was that in case you construct one thing essentially higher, it will likely be embraced. 

Once I first analyzed Depop, I noticed that purchasing and promoting objects on-line or on cellular had a whole lot of current avenues. So, what was the necessity for one more one? The reply lay within the subsequent era’s want for a superior cellular and social expertise tailor-made to purchasing and promoting objects they cared deeply about, like trend.

By listening fastidiously to this demographic, we constructed a platform like Depop that met their distinctive wants. 

Equally, managing and discovering contractors has been round for many years, if not longer. What units YunoJuno aside is our strategy to doing this much better by aligning intently with what folks need of their present processes. 

This requires what I name “10x pondering” — not simply minor enhancements however creating one thing essentially totally different. This was the important thing to Depop’s success, delivering a profoundly distinct expertise. It’s the identical philosophy guiding YunoJuno even earlier than I joined. 

So, one of many vital classes I discovered is gaining a really deep understanding of what’s vital to a freelancer and what’s vital to a hiring supervisor after which bringing these two collectively. 

Are you able to share among the most vital improvements YunoJuno has launched underneath your management and what your greatest challenges have been all through?

The largest innovation was not pushed by us however by world occasions just like the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an increase in distant work. This alteration within the world labor market offered ubiquitous entry to expertise. For contractors, freelancers, and corporations like ours, this shift prompted a right away change in mindset. 

“Firms realized they might faucet into expertise past the standard 25-mile radius, which drastically altered the panorama for each companies and us.”

Runar Reistrup
CEO of YunoJuno

We transitioned from being a UK market chief to aiming for world market management. This required substantial adjustments, from navigating the laws and cultural variations amongst 150 jurisdictions to making sure compliance throughout international locations, every with its personal algorithm.

Below my management, this transition has been probably the most profound change. Though it won’t match the standard definition of innovation, the impression of embracing distant work and increasing globally was a giant step for us. 

Given YunoJuno’s spectacular world growth into over 150 international locations final 12 months, what are your strategic targets and plans for the upcoming 12 months?

Our plan is to attain world market management. We imagine our platform can considerably and positively impression corporations needing to get work carried out in an ever-changing setting, particularly for people preferring working as unbiased contractors.

Our aim is for YunoJuno to change into synonymous with the use and administration of versatile expertise, the best way Airbnb is synonymous with journey and home-sharing. 

We envision a future the place YunoJuno is the go-to platform for partaking versatile expertise globally, revolutionizing the best way contractors join with their purchasers.

As YunoJuno units its sights on turning into a frontrunner, it is vital to think about the broader trade’s strategy to expertise acquisition. How ought to advertising and marketing leaders strategy the dilemma of in-housing hiring versus outsourcing within the present financial local weather?

The uncertainty of what expertise you want and the place the economic system goes will favor a extra versatile strategy to expertise and getting work carried out. 

These speedy adjustments underscore the necessity for agility. Having a robust base of extremely dedicated workers with a broad vary of expertise is important. This enables corporations to keep away from overextending their workers into areas the place they could not excel, leveraging their major strengths as an alternative.

In advertising and marketing, a staff of 15 and even 50 folks can’t presumably cowl all crucial expertise. 

“Advertising and marketing shouldn’t be what it was; it requires a continuing evolution of ability units over time.”

Runar Reistrup
CEO of YunoJuno

We see the sector main the shift towards freelance expertise because of its wide-ranging ability necessities. Firms will profit from having a core staff that’s deeply educated and might collaborate successfully with exterior, versatile specialists. 

Do you suppose contractual hiring would be the way forward for the HR tech area?

I feel it is going to all the time be a little bit of the whole lot. Full-time employment is not going away. At YunoJuno, we have now a considerable variety of full-time workers who stay our core energy. 

Nonetheless, as corporations and the enterprise setting change, the necessity for straightforward entry to a highly-skilled, adaptable workforce will develop.

To me, a versatile workforce means people who transition from one challenge to a different, usually throughout totally different corporations. For example, somebody may work on a challenge with us after which tackle a challenge with one other firm, solely to return after we want that ability set once more. This flexibility permits them to repeatedly develop new expertise, because of their publicity to various environments. 

One factor that freelancers are superb at is maintaining with new expertise. As a result of they work in such various environments, they carry one thing totally different to an organization. Nonetheless, they do not exchange the core capabilities of a full-time workforce, which stays important for any enterprise.

Profitable and revolutionary corporations will more and more depend on this mix of full-time workers and a versatile workforce. The contract and freelance staff sectors are already turning into vital elements of the workforce, and this pattern is more likely to proceed. This shift is pushed by the brand new era of extremely expert professionals preferring non-traditional, versatile profession paths over linear ones. 

It’s a change coming from each side, reflecting what the world wants immediately.

How do you envision the way forward for the gig economic system, particularly with AI coming into this area? Do you suppose AI will change freelancing and contractual hiring?

I feel it undoubtedly will. 

We’re already seeing corporations dealing with uncertainty in regards to the future, notably with the speedy developments of AI. Moderately than hiring a standard workforce for the following problem, many are actually tapping into a versatile workforce to stay agile. This enables them to shortly modify if AI shifts the market dynamics. 

This shift is considerably affecting corporations and their strategic planning cycles; what was long-term forecasting has now shortened dramatically. The attract of a versatile workforce has change into strategically important.

The impression is already evident for freelancers and contractors. They’re usually the primary to adapt to any adjustments, particularly when leveraging AI. In some sectors, specialists are actually anticipated to combine AI into their work as a result of their efficiency is judged on output, not tenure. 

Utilizing the perfect instruments obtainable is essential for sustaining high-quality outcomes. In areas reminiscent of design, growth, and content material creation, AI has seamlessly built-in into the workflow, changing duties that have been beforehand outsourced. Nonetheless, in additional specialised and strategic fields the place extremely expert contractors are introduced in, AI hasn’t changed these roles however has moderately augmented their capabilities. 

The truth is that contractors should keep present with AI instruments to take care of their aggressive edge. They often search new roles each few weeks, in comparison with the longer cycles for conventional workers. This steady adaptation makes them invaluable belongings in immediately’s fast-evolving market.

How are you utilizing AI to boost YunoJuno, and are there any particular AI applied sciences that you simply’re utilizing?

We’re utilizing AI in virtually all operation layers at this level. AI instruments have been built-in all through our growth, advertising and marketing, and gross sales processes. Inside our platform, we have centered considerably on automating parts associated to firm and contractor interactions which can be non-differentiating, reminiscent of compliance and funds, to make sure the whole lot runs easily and on time.

Optimizing the match between employers and freelancers is a very essential a part of our work. AI’s position is pivotal right here, not simply in responding to present wants but in addition in predicting future necessities. 

For instance, if a consumer is hiring a product designer immediately, AI can anticipate upcoming wants for roles like challenge managers, engineers, UX managers, and content material writers based mostly on hiring patterns and behaviors.

Wanting again in your journey with YunoJuno, what has been probably the most rewarding facet of your position as CEO? Is there something you want you had carried out otherwise?

Essentially the most rewarding facet of my work is deeply private: it is the expertise of constructing a staff. 

Making a 10x expertise is extremely fulfilling. Bringing collectively a bunch of gifted people and remodeling them into a tremendous, cohesive unit is a robust course of. When a small staff achieves extraordinary outcomes, it usually leaves me in awe of how a lot might be completed with restricted assets. That is what fuels my ardour for firm constructing.

It is vital to acknowledge your errors and what you may need carried out otherwise. We make a number of errors, however in a manner, errors are a part of the journey. Encouraging our staff to step outdoors their consolation zones inevitably results in errors. Nonetheless, the teachings they educate are invaluable. They form our tradition and contribute to the tip product. 

So, there is not a lot I’d want to change, because the scars from these experiences are a part of our success story.


Comply with Runar Reistrup on LinkedIn to maintain tabs on the most recent tendencies within the contractual hiring world. 

In case you loved this insightful dialog, subscribe to G2 Tea for the most recent tech and advertising and marketing thought management.

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