How staffing agencies can boost your recruitment strategy?

What are staff agencies?

Staffing agencies, also known as employment agencies, are the agencies that act as a bridge between job seekers and companies looking for new hires. They help employers find qualified candidates to fill job positions.  By hiring a staffing firm, you can save time and find possibilities you may not be able to find on your own.

The goal of staffing agency

The goal of the staffing agency is to help employers by matching job seekers with job openings based on their skills and qualifications. They act as a middleman between candidates and employers and help the employers fill the open positions with the best fit. They help employers save a lot of time and resources spent on the hiring process.

What type of jobs do staffing agencies help you hire for?

Staffing agencies can help companies hire for various types of jobs:

1. Temporary work: These are the types of jobs that generally have a specific start and an end date.
2. Temp-to-hire: These are the positions that are initially temporary but will transition from a temporary position to a permanent position, this is used to help the hiring managers to determine whether the temporary worker is fit for the company for the long term or not.
3. Direct hire: These are the positions in which the staffing agency acts as a recruiter for the employer by sourcing, screening, and hiring candidates for permanent positions.

How do Staffing Agencies Make Sure It’s a Good Fit?

Staffing agencies make sure that the job seekers fit the job requirements and their main focus is candidates' skills and qualifications they know that the position being offered can't be just filled by anyone. They spend a lot of time with job seekers during every stage of the recruitment cycle to ensure qualified candidates. Following are some methods that staffing companies opt for in order to choose the right fit:

1. Job description: The staffing company makes sure to understand the job requirements and develop an exact job description according to that or use the job description already handed to them by the company to match the job seekers with the job description.
2. Screening: They use a variety of screening methods, to access the skills, abilities, and personality of the candidate.
3. Testing: To ensure that the candidates have the required qualifications and skills, staffing firms use different tests, assignments, and assessments.
4. Interview: Staffing agencies conduct different types of interviews in order to ensure suitable candidates.
5. Reference and Background Check: Staffing agencies often conduct reference checks to verify the data provided by job seekers, that includes their education, experience, certifications, references and etc.
6. Support: Staffing agencies usually offer support and assistance to both the employer and the job seekers throughout the hiring process (see how you can create a structured hiring process). They help them by providing feedback and guidance throughout the process.

Why do companies use Staffing Agencies?

Following are the top 5 reasons why companies choose staffing agencies:

1. Saves time: The agency minimizes half of the effort of sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates in the hiring process, which ultimately frees up HR's time and they focus working on other important tasks.
2. Saves cost and resources: Saving time ultimately saves costs, they help them avoid costs associated with searching, interviewing, hiring, and training new employees.
3. Best fit: A specialized staffing firm is pretty clear about the job requirements and functions to find top talent having all the required skill sets in a variety of different industries.
4. Short-term staff: The staffing agency can hire temporary workers if permanent staff members are sick or on a leave.
5. Quick hire: Reputable staffing agencies have a wide range network of candidates and as they have the ability to deliver qualified talent in a very short time period, they can be great at immediate replacements.

How do you start working with a staffing agency?

Below is the step-by-step guide to working with a staffing agency:

Step 1: The first step is to choose the right staffing agency, that specializes in the area of your field or industry.

Step 2: The next step is to make sure that they fully understand your needs, what is expected of them, and what are the job requirements and that they have no questions regarding the job description.

Step 3: Make sure to sign all the relevant contracts or documents.

Step 4: Try to establish a good relationship with them, give and take feedback and devise solutions to issues. Make sure they are cleared about the job search they have to do, beforehand. Stay updated with their performances from time to time.

Step 5: Fulfil all the legal aspects discussed in the documents after the hiring is done.

Do Staffing Agencies Have Fees?

Yes, most staffing agencies have fees that can vary depending on the type of agency and the services they provide. This fee is discussed in the contract beforehand and can range anywhere between 20 to 50% of a hired employee's pay rate.

How Is a Staffing Agency Different from A Temp Agency?

Following are some of the main differences between a staffing agency and a temp agency:

1. Temp agencies hire temporary employees for temporary work. They usually hire those staffs that are required on short-term assignments, lasting usually from two days to one week. Whereas staffing agencies can also be used to hire for temporary jobs, but unlike temp agencies, they offer more range of jobs including temporary placements, temp-to-hire, contract, and direct-hire, unlike temp agencies.
2. Temp agencies compromise quality as they have an urgent need to fill open positions, and their processes are short whereas a staffing agency cares more about the 'right fit ' instead of 'right now ' and they make sure to not only hire a qualified candidate, but a candidate who also has the potential to stay with the company for a long-term.

Some disadvantages of using a staffing agency

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Staffing agencies help a lot reduce hiring costs and time, but they do come up with a few disadvantages such as:

1. Using a staffing agency, you have to pay additional hiring costs, which is a 15% to 25% annual salary fee, on average.
2. Nobody knows your company culture, terms, and values as much as the employer of that company, a staffing agency has minimum knowledge about your company culture and can never present a candidate that matches 100% of your company's culture and their hire will mostly have a wide cultural gap.
3. Usually, an in-house hiring process allows you to interact with potential candidates throughout the hiring process, in form of interviews and assessments, and you create a certain bond with them even before they become an employee, whereas using a staffing agency to find the prospective candidate, means that the newly hired candidate comes to your company as a complete stranger and will take additional time for team bonding.

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Postface

The need for using staffing agencies completely varies from organization to organization. It can help you boost your hiring process and reduce the workload of HR, but they do come up with some risks at the same time.

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