If you have ever considered using a staffing partner, then you are in the right place. This article will walk through everything you need to know about using a staffing partner. Now, let’s get into all your questions surrounding staffing partners!
What Is a Staffing Partner?
A staffing partner is an agency/organization that assists a company with their hiring needs. Staffing partners help companies hire for different vacancies in their organizations. Staffing partners, also known as staffing agencies, can hire for temporary or permanent positions. Staffing partners can be paid in a variety of ways, some charging a flat rate fee and others charging a percentage of the employee’s salary/hourly rate.
What is the Role of a Staffing Agency?
A staffing agency connects job seekers with organizations that are hiring. Here are the different position types a staffing agency helps hire for:
- Temporary: The employee is hired with a designated start and end date
- Temp-to-Hire: the employee is initially hired as a temporary employee, but the employer can offer them a full-time position once the temporary contract ends
- Direct Hire: The employee is hired into a permanent position
As you might predict, the type of hire that employers desire determines the role a staffing partner or agency takes. However, the staffing agency’s role is largely the same no matter what kind of role they are hiring for. Staffing agencies match candidates in their existing talent pool or they advertise and recruit new talent in order to fill the positions they’ve been assigned.
How Do Businesses Partner with Staffing Agencies?
While it may seem complex for a business to partner with a staffing agency, it is not as complicated as you might think. Here are the steps to partnering with a staffing agency:
How to Partner with Staffing Agencies:
1. Determine what you want
It’s important to take the time to initially understand what you want. Figure out what roles you want to hire for and what your ideal candidate would look like. Then figure out what you need from a staffing partner to get that.
2. Find an agency that aligns with your organization
There is no shortage of staffing agencies. The American Staffing Association reports around 25,000 staffing agencies in the United States. Given this, you need to ensure that the agency you pick is the right fit for your company.
Develop a list of local or national staffing agencies that matches up with what you want in a staffing partner. Analyze which option best aligns with what you want. Then set up a meeting to chat with them
3. Communicate your needs to them
In your initial meeting, you must clearly and effectively communicate what you need them to do for you. Be detailed in what you are hiring for and what you want a candidate to look like. While the staffing partner will likely direct the conversation, you should be prepared to go into detail of the following:
- Job overview
- Experience required
- Job requirements
- Skills needed (both technical and soft skills)
- Personality type/traits needed
- Salary, benefits, and perks of job/company
Many of these items should look familiar, as most are included in a traditional job description. You want to be very clear with what you want from a candidate, as this will ensure that a staffing partner has enough direction to move forward and find someone who will fit the company organization and culture.
4. Monitor progress and assess
As the staffing partner works to fill the role, be sure to communicate your needs/wants to them. This will help you end up with the candidate you want. Assess the staffing partner’s hires. Are you pleased with the candidates that they have brought to you? Do they meet your needs? Ask questions like these to determine if a staffing agency is the right fit for your long-term needs.
5. Utilize the trial-and-error method
In the ideal world, you’d pick the right staffing partner the first time. However, that doesn’t always happen. If you haven’t matched up with the right organization, find another agency that could meet your needs better.
Pros and Cons of Using a Staffing Partner
To avoid overwhelming you with information, here’s a simple list of pros and cons that come with using a staffing partner:
Pros:
- Quicker than traditional hiring – With deep candidate pools, a staffing partner can fill roles quickly and effectively.
- Less strain on your team – Without the stress of finding and hiring new talent, your team can focus on other business needs.
- Flexibility – Not having a large recruiting or human resources team gives you the ability to focus your investments on other areas.
- Specialty hiring – Many agencies specialize in certain areas, giving them the ability to find great talent in certain disciplines.
- Less risk/liability – Oftentimes, staffing agencies are the ones to hire employees which shifts the legal obligation from you to them.
Want to know more pros of choosing a staffing agency? Check out this article on staffing agencies.
Cons:
- Additional hiring costs – Although a staffing agency could end up saving you money in the long run, you will have to pay either a flat fee or percentage of the employee’s wage to the staffing partner.
- Potential culture gap with employees – If the organization’s culture is not communicated effectively, then a candidate might not fit in with the culture or other team members.
- Less opportunity for team bonding – If a staffing agency recruits, conducts the interviews, and handles communications in the hiring process, then your team won’t have the chance to get to know them in this process.
- Less control of candidate experience or hiring process – Since your employees might not recruit and interview candidates, you won’t have complete control over the candidate experience.
Review this list. Take inventory of your business to decide what is most important to you. Weigh out the pros and cons. The critical first step in using a staffing partner is understanding your needs and what you value.
Last Thoughts
After reading this article, ponder your business’s needs. If you are in need of a staffing partner, don’t procrastinate reaching out to a local or national agency. The assistance that a staffing agency can provide could influence tremendous results for your business!
