Hiring contractors with Kit
A contractor has weeks to make an impact. Kit helps you pick the one who will.
Speak to Kit is an AI hiring system built for quality of hire. The hiring manager says what a top performer delivers in their first 12 months, Kit speaks to every applicant about the way they work, and the hiring team sees who to meet, and why. How Kit works, step by step.
Why contract hiring is different
A contractor is hired to deliver something specific, usually soon, often on a fixed end date. There is little time to settle in and no long runway to prove themselves. The hiring manager needs to know before the start date that this person has done this kind of work, in this kind of setting, and enjoyed it.
Kit is built around that question. The hiring manager says what the contractor must deliver, and what makes it hard, and Kit asks every applicant about exactly that.
How quickly the first weeks tell
The CIPD's 2026 survey of 1,014 UK HR professionals found 29% of employers said new recruits at least sometimes quit within 12 weeks, down from 41% in 2024, and 34% said they at least sometimes quit between 12 weeks and six months.
For a contract of three or six months, those are the whole engagement. A wrong pick is a wasted contract and a second search, while the work waits.
What the research says about outside hires
Bidwell studied 5,260 workers at one US investment bank from 2003 to 2009. People hired from outside were let go at a 61% higher rate than people promoted into the same jobs, and were 21% more likely to quit. They were paid around 18% more and rated worse for their first two years.
Contractors are outside hires by definition. What helps is knowing how a person worked before: the setting, the team and the obstacle. Kit asks every applicant where they were at their best, and why, so the manager can see whether that setting looks like theirs.
Speed without cutting corners
Kit speaks to applicants the same day they apply, by phone or in writing, at any hour. Contractors between engagements often apply in the evening or at the weekend, and they can speak to Kit then. The hiring team reads each conversation, with Kit's reasons, the next morning.
Every applicant is held to the same standard, so a fast shortlist is not a thin one. The team can interview the strongest people in the first days of the search.
What Kit asks a contractor
Kit recommends. The hiring manager decides, and can read every word of the conversation first.
- What they delivered on their last engagements, and how.
- What got in the way, and what they did about it.
- How quickly they got up to speed with a new team.
- Whether the hard part of this contract is work they enjoy.
- Right to work, availability and notice, in writing, next to the CV.
The cost of the wrong contractor
Managers spend a lot of time on people who are not working out. In a Robert Half survey of more than 1,400 finance directors, managers spent 17% of their time, nearly a day a week, dealing with poor performers. On a short contract that day a week comes straight out of the work the contractor was hired to deliver.
Getting up to speed takes time too. Rollag, Parise and Cross, writing in MIT Sloan Management Review, put it at about 20 weeks for professionals to reach full productivity. A contractor who has done the same kind of work in a similar setting starts much closer to full speed.
Who sets the standard
Your team does. Kit writes a profile of what the contractor must deliver, and the hard part, from the manager's own words, and your team signs it off before Kit speaks to anyone. Every applicant, wherever they came from, is held to it.
For contractors who are still on another engagement
Many good contractors are finishing one job while looking for the next. They can speak to Kit by phone or in writing, in a lunch break or late at night, and pick up where they left off. The basics, such as right to work and when they can start, are answered in writing first, so the call itself is about the work.
Anyone can ask for their details to be deleted at any time. The legal limit is 30 days, and Kit aims to do it the same day.
What it is worth
An empty seat costs money every week. A role takes about 6 weeks to fill (SHRM median, 39 to 44 days). On an £80,000 role, that is about £9,200 of work not done. Kit speaks to every contractor within hours of applying, so the team books someone in days. For example, an online grocer hiring about 2,400 people a year has about 380 first-year leavers, costing about £7.7 million a year. Halving that would be worth about £3.8 million a year (estimate).