There are more than three million people working as temporary and contract employees around the United States right now. Staffing companies, over the course of a year, will employ about 14 million people. This is often a great way for people to find permanent employment. Nearly 90% of people who have worked as a contract or temporary employee say that it makes them more employable. Nearly half of these temporary or contract employees say that it is a good way to find permanent work. If your company is looking for any kind of staffing help, from legal staffing to healthcare workers, hiring a specialized recruiting agency may be your best bet.
5 Tips for Finding the Right Specialized Recruiting Agency:
- Do you want permanent or temporary staff? What you need can help you determine what kind of agency you hire. You may know that your law firm, for example, will have a need for a number of people for the short term so the company you hire for your legal staffing needs should be experienced with finding short term employees. If you think you are looking more for temporary to permanent legal staffing, that would be for a different kind of agency to help you. Not really knowing what you want will lead to certain disaster as no firm can really help you until you have made up your mind about that.
- Talk to a few agencies. Talk to your clients, your peers, your friends. If you can get personal references from people how have used staffing agencies, do that. Maybe you know law practices that have had their legal staffing needs handled by one agency or another.
- Ask about the agency’s turnover rate. How long do their associates stay with the firm? The answer you look for may depend on the kind of legal staffing firm you want. If you need temporary staff, you want a company whose workforce has been with them a while. If you are looking for permanent employees, you want a firm with a high success rate at placing their people. You should ask them what kinds of training they offer their people. For healthcare staffing, they provide additional training resources or opportunities? If they do staff for temporary positions, is their compensation package attractive enough to keep the caliber of worker that you want working for you? Yes, you want to save money but the people they employ will represent you and your business.
- Be clear about what you need and expect from the staffing agency. You really cannot be too detailed when you tell the firm what you need. Explain the positions for which you need help in as much detail as possible. This will help make sure the firm gets people with the correct skill set and expertise. If you need a number of roles filled, make out detailed job descriptions for all of them. If your company uses certain software packages, for instance, make sure the staffing firm only sends you people who are well versed on those platforms. This will make the entire process easier for everyone.
- What fees do they charge? Make sure you are clear on the prices and fees that you will be charged. Most staffing firms are very transparent in their billing practices but make sure you understand them all. Do not hesitate to ask a lot of questions and make sure they are all answered to your satisfaction. If they do not have time to answer your questions before you are a customer, they will not make the time once you are.
Doing your research into the different staffing firms before you use them will make a huge difference in the experience you have once you hire them. If you are hiring legal staffing, you need a different kind of firm than if you have healthcare staffing professionals needs. You can also ask them if they have references. Look at their Yelp profile and check Facebook. Remember that people are much more likely to complain than compliment so do not be put off by one or two bad reviews.
The staff you hire this way will reflect on you and your company.
