Make a career in SAP in the gig economy

In a global labour market increasingly characterised by the prevalence of short term engagements, independent working and freelance contracts, the ‘gig economy’ is a natural progression in the age of flexible working.

The gig economy, usually used to refer to couriers, ride-hailing drivers, video producers and developers, describes a type of self-employment where workers, instead of receiving a regular wage, get paid for the ‘gigs’ they do. In the UK it’s estimated that five million people are employed in this capacity. One industry that relies on a high number of these workers is SAP, which permeates nearly every aspect of our world with few of us ever realising it.

SAP, which stands for Systems, Applications and Products, is a centralised Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that provides business solutions for large companies. The namesake company behind the system, founded by five IBM engineers in Germany in 1972, now has more than 10 million customers in over 120 countries, including most companies in the Fortune 100.

There are plenty of opportunities to make a career in SAP in the gig economy. Here’s why, and how. 

SAP contractors are in high demand

SAP systems can be particularly complex and requires highly specialised skills to see to their implementation. This stretches the personnel and expertise of any business’ IT department to the limit. However, the skills requirement to implement SAP is only temporary; once the system has been successfully implemented, the required headcount required for any SAP project drops—that’s sort of the point: a large part of SAP’s brand identity is making the complex “run simple”.

Many companies prefer using external talent to hiring new staff and investing money and resources into them. “Across the world, the traditional notions of labour, work, and talent are being altered. Internal enterprise functions are reshaping their talent management initiatives, understanding that the very concept of ‘contingent labour’ does not mean what it used to,” wrote Christopher J. Dwyer, research director, of Ardent Partners in the report produced by Ardent and co-sponsored by SAP Fieldglass.

In a digital world where companies must move quickly to activate their strategies, they need to secure the best talent to suit their needs. SAP, therefore, well and truly falls under the remit of the gig economy. Contractors are taken on, do their magic, and move on to the next project. It takes someone a little special to make a career in SAP in the gig economy.

Make a career in SAP in the gig economy

1. Network

For SAP specialists, your most important skill is networking. As specialist SAP recruiters Eursap explain, “your network is your net worth”. In order to improve your chances of securing SAP jobs, networking events, user groups, SAP conferences and social media are all ways to put yourself out there and stand out from the crowd.

2. Be flexible

SAP jobs also takes a deal of flexibility, in terms of time, industry and location. Many SAP contractors travel countries and continents taking on one project after another, and though there are opportunities to specialise in commerce, no two SAP jobs will ever be exactly the same. Therefore, it is important to avail yourself of good and ongoing training, whether online or in a SAP classroom. The broader your experience, the more opportunities will present themselves to you when searching for SAP jobs.

3. Think about your skills

A career as a SAP consultant requires a basic knowledge of coding and configuration, but SAP consultants draw subsidiary skills from a range of different backgrounds. An international trade degree or commercial background can be a good prerequisite to become a SAP SD Consultant, an accountancy or finance background is suitable for a job as a SAP FICO Consultant and an interest in sociology and HR qualification could help you become a SAP HR Consultant.

4. Do what you love

The intersection of your expertise, your passion and market viability is where you’ll find your niche. As leadership blogger Michael Hyatt puts it in an episode of his podcast, “If you have passion and competence without a market, you don’t have a calling. You have a hobby. If you have passion and a market without competence, you don’t have a calling. You have a failure. If you have competence and a market without passion, you don’t have a calling. You have boredom.”