Why Use a Staffing Agency? 5 Benefits

The hiring process can be extensive, but staffing agencies provide services that can help businesses alleviate the time and expense it requires to find qualified employees. Companies often hire through staffing agencies to fill temporary needs, expand their candidate search or expedite the hiring process for human resources. In this article, we explore the advantages of using staffing agencies and tips for working with them.

What is a staffing agency?

A staffing agency is a business that provides qualified employees for businesses. As agency clients, companies can hire associates on a temporary, part-time or full-time basis depending on the job vacancies they need to fill.

Here is how a staffing agency works:

* Human resource managers determine the needs of the organization: The managers communicate to the staffing agency the type of role that is open and how long they need a new employee to fulfill it.

* Staffing agencies recruit qualified candidates: Based on the skills the client prefers, the recruiters create and advertise a job description, and they review the resumes of the candidates that apply for the job. Then, they interview the candidates.

* The organization chooses which candidate to hire: After the recruitment process takes place, the staffing agency presents a group of candidates who can fit the role, and the organization decides who gets the job.

Why use a staffing agency?

Using the services of a staffing agency can:

Prevent work overload

Temporary employees from recruitment businesses can help accomplish tasks to ease the stress of permanent staff, which may increase productivity in the workplace. For example, a content creator at an advertisement firm takes maternity leave, leaving the other creator to complete the work of two people. The firm hires a staffing agency that recruits a qualified professional to help the employee fulfill the work duties until their coworker returns.

Decrease costs

Hiring temporary associates from staffing agencies may cost less than hiring permanent ones in house. As a human resources manager, you can save the organizational funds you would spend paying for benefits packages and taxes associated with payrolls for contractual employees. Staffing agencies find more work for the temporary employees after they finish working with the client, so you can also save the money you would spend paying for unemployment claims as well. Plus, the more the temporary staff contributes to an organization's workflow, the less you would need to use organizational funds to pay for permanent staff overtime.

Save time and resources

Staffing agencies can expedite the hiring process by evaluating job candidates on your behalf. Instead of spending weeks reviewing resumes from hundreds of candidates, you can hire an employee from a small group of professionals that the staffing agency suggests.

If your organization has limited training resources, staffing recruiters can find candidates who already have the specific skill the job opening requires, which saves you time you would spend handling the entire recruitment process and onboarding internally. For example, you're a hiring manager at a small jewelry store in need of a cashier for Valentine's Day sales, the store's busiest season. With the help of a staffing agency, you hire a temporary associate with experience selling jewelry who works at the store until the holiday rush has passed.

Offer a chance to evaluate before commitment

With temporary staff, you can appraise their job performance before you offer them a permanent position. You can monitor how quickly they adapt to the work environment and observe how well they respond to unexpected situations. Track their progress and any achievements they make. You can also ask other organizational members their opinions about the temporary associate before making a final decision.

Expand search for qualified candidates

Staffing agencies can connect you with qualified professionals to fit the unique needs of your company. They may have access to candidates who are outside of your search area or ones who sought a staffing agency to find the exact job you may seek to fill. With more access to talent in your industry, you can find more people to help your organization grow.

For example, you're a manager at a technology firm that has recently transitioned to a new operating system called Linux, and you're seeking a professional who's proficient in Linux and can train the rest of your team to use it. The staffing agency recruits a candidate who's Linux certified with several years' management experience, which fulfills the requirements of your job vacancy.

Tips for working with staffing agencies

Consider following these guidelines for working with a staffing agency:

Do your research

It's important to find a staffing agencies that specialize in your industry to make sure you're getting access to candidates with the most relevant skills. Review the websites of staffing companies to learn about the recruitment services they provide and the employees they assign to businesses. Collect information on their rates, which you can compare to the costs of hiring candidates in-house.

You can also ask questions about how long it takes for the agency to refer employees, which may influence the productivity of your permanent staff. For instance, if your job vacancy requires urgent filling and the agency quickly responds, you can have an employee immediately start the role.

Be specific about the organization's needs

Specifying the job qualities you're seeking can enable the staffing agency to refer an ideal employee for your company. For example, if you have an opening for a social media manager position, it may be helpful to specify that you need someone with analytics experience and content creation skills, instead of someone who simply knows how to work the platform. Specifying your needs can also help staffing agencies create more accurate job descriptions and look for certain qualities when interviewing candidates.

Give feedback

Informing the staffing recruiters about the success of the employees they refer can help strengthen their recruitment process, which may benefit your organization in the future. If they know they recommended an employee whose skills aligned well with your company, they can continue with their approach. If they know the employee's skills were incompatible, they can change how they assign candidates to achieve better results.