For many businesses hiring is an extensive and time-consuming process. It requires the business owner or hiring managers to review applications, conduct interviews, and determine salaries – all of which can be difficult to manage while juggling other daily tasks. Therefore, many employers turn to staffing agencies as reliable partners in their search for qualified candidates. Through such an agency, businesses can save significant time and effort in their hiring process. Plus, many agencies are adept at sourcing quality workers that may be otherwise hard to find; they actively assess potential hires by evaluating their knowledge and skills through tests, background checks and reference checks. Staffing agencies also help with compensation decisions; they understand salary trends for different roles and are well-versed in local labor laws, helping employers remain compliant throughout the hiring process. Furthermore, agencies provide additional services like onboarding assistance, payroll management and training support once the employee has been hired. All of these benefits make partnering with a staffing agency an attractive option for any business looking for talent acquisition support.
What Does a Staffing Agency Do?
A staffing agency is a professional service that assists in connecting employees to businesses that are seeking to fill certain positions. They help companies hire for different types of jobs:
Temporary hire – A job with a set start and end date
Staff Augmentation – Position hired to help fill out your team
Temp to hire – A job that’s initially temporary but is used to help an employer determine the temp worker’s long-term fit with the company
Direct hire – A permanent position in which the staffing agency acts as a recruiter
Staffing agencies provide a variety of services for both parties, such as background checks, interviews, and job placement. For employers, staffing agencies help to reduce the amount of time needed to find quality candidates for open positions. Employers are provided with a pool of talented professionals that are ready to join the workforce quickly and seamlessly. For job seekers, staffing agencies can function as a vital resource to help find suitable positions to suit their preferences and qualifications. Overall, working with a staffing agency offers an efficient way to find resources tailored to meet the demands of both employers and employees alike.
Staffing Process
Finding qualified candidates remains a challenge for many businesses in this day in age, but luckily staffing agencies can help. The process typically goes as follows.
- An employer looking for staffing services will contact the staffing agency. When looking for a staffing agency, you should find one that specializes in your industry or the position you are hiring for. You will need to tell them specifics of the candidate you are looking to hire such as job responsibilities, desired timeline to hire a candidate, hourly rate, or salary expectations.
- The company creates the job description. Using specifics, your company will craft a job description around your company’s needs. Staffing agencies may already have potential candidates in the pipeline for the position.
- The agency evaluates candidates. Once they have a pool of candidates for the open position, the staffing agency will review their qualifications and experience before scheduling and conducting interviews. The agency will then select the most qualified candidates to introduce to the hiring manager at your business.
- As the employer you have the final decision. Hiring managers will get presented top candidates that they can interview before making a final hiring decision. This saves your company hours that would otherwise be spent sorting through countless applicants.
- The agency will take care of the paperwork. Most staffing agencies handle all the paperwork associated with a new hire, like contracts, taxes, and other payroll tasks.
Why Do Companies Hire Through Staffing Agencies?
A staffing agency can be beneficial for employers and job seekers. These services can save your company from having to invest in recruiting or hiring, allowing for better utilization of resources that can focus on other areas that support business growth. Utilizing the services provided by a staffing agency can:
Increase access to qualified candidates
Staffing agencies offer access to a wide variety of job seekers actively in the market for a job. They might have access to candidates that are outside of your search area. With the increased access to talent in your industry, you can now discover more qualified individuals to help your company expand. Staffing agencies utilize screening methods to identify people who are best suited for the position. It is important to note that a dedicated staffing agency takes the time to get to know your company and its specific needs.
Save time and resources
Staffing agencies can accelerate the hiring process by assessing qualified candidates on your behalf. If your company has limited resources for training, staffing agencies can find qualified candidates who already have the specific skill the job opening requires, which saves you time and money.
Specialized hiring
According to Monster’s Future of Work Report 2022, more than 9 out of 10 employers are struggling to fill a position due to a skills gap. If you’re looking to hire a niche position with particular skills, a staffing firm specializing in hiring certain positions can make the process significantly less painful.
An example of this is an IT staffing agency. Some agencies solely focus on recruiting employees in certain industries or job roles like tech or legal fields. This specialization gives the agency an advantage with necessary connections, resources and accumulated pools of passive candidates looking for new opportunities, allowing them to locate a perfect fit for your role. Additionally, extensive knowledge of area-specific salary ranges and market history, gives staffing agencies the ability to spot red flags during the screening process, ultimately saving you money in the long run.
Offer a chance to evaluate before commitment
When you hire contract employees, you can evaluate their job performance prior to offering them a permanent job. You will be able to observe how quickly they adapt to the work environment and how they respond to unanticipated situations. Additionally, you can follow their progress and take note of any achievements they make. You will also be able to ask other employees at the company their opinions about the contract employee before making a final decision regarding hiring them a permanent -hire employee.
Decrease costs
It is expensive to operate a Human Resources Department. You’re going to need employees to operate an efficient Human Resources Department, but you will also need to provide benefits and consider things such as insurance. That does not even start to involve the actual recruitment and hiring costs. A staffing agency can reduce those costs significantly. Staffing agencies can help find additional jobs for the contract employees once they finish working with the client. In addition, the more the contract employee contributes to a company’s workflow, the less you would need to use funds to pay for permanent staff overtime. In addition, the contract employees will be able to manage more general tasks while your permanent-hire Employee can focus on the most difficult responsibilities.
Improve employee retention rates
When you work with a staffing agency, you can enhance your company’s employee retention rate with both contract placements and contract to permanent -hire employee placements. Contract employees can relieve the intense workload placed on permanent-hire employees. By hiring contract employees, you help avoid burnout, which helps more employees choose to stay with your business.
Talent Solutions from PSM
If your business or institution needs to hire full-time IT employees, we can provide retained search to recruit and hire the best possible candidates for full-time IT positions. Finding a solid IT candidate for a full-time job can be difficult for businesses and institutions who have little experience or knowledge of IT themselves. At PSM, our IT professionals will help recruit and screen candidates to ensure that you hire someone who has the expertise and skill to benefit your IT operations.
Our flexible recruiting models can help you fill individual roles or handle larger hiring initiatives. Through our recruiting process, we focus on highlighting your company’s culture and technology requirements to ensure that we find the best possible candidates. Our goals is to limit the amount of time you spend hiring IT talent so you can focus on other business operations.
As your IT staffing agency, we will help recruit and evaluate IT candidates so that you hire the best people for the job. We focus on two core areas to ensure that the IT candidates we recruit are the best fit for your specific IT needs: your culture and your technology.
You can call PSM at (312) 940-7830 for more about the managed IT services and IT consulting we offer.