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This is an article I wrote that
appeared in the Los Angeles Business Journal in February 2004.
Enjoy reading!
-Tom Anderson
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LA BUSINESS JOURNAL February 2004
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Minimizing staffing mistakes during these difficult economic
times is especially important. Maximizing your human assets is
critical to your firms overall ability to do well in these
trying times.
What are you doing to make
certain that your company is positioned to make the best hiring
decisions? With so many staffing agencies consolidating and
“right sizing”, it is possible that the level of service you
once enjoyed are no longer being delivered.
Now is an excellent time
for business owners and hiring managers to review their staffing
agencies and decide whom to keep, whom to let go and whom to go
after.
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Ask yourself the following questions: |
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Are you very satisfied with your
staffing specialist? |
(Yes / No) |
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Are they saving you time & money by
filling your needs right the first time? |
(Yes / No) |
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Do they send “bodies” or do they
send qualified, tested, referenced matches? |
(Yes / No) |
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Rank their placement
success/satisfaction ratio: |
Low |
Medium |
High |
Excellent |
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Does management have an on going
relationship with your account? |
(Yes / No) |
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Are they providing you with the
cost effective services you need? |
(Yes / No) |
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Are they proactive and introduce
strong candidates in advance of a job order? |
(Yes / No) |
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Are they knowledgeable about your
company? |
(Yes / No) |
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Your industry? |
(Yes / No) |
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Can you confide in them and know
your confidence is maintained? |
(Yes / No) |
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Are problems / issues resolved
quickly and without hassle? |
(Yes / No) |
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Are they a staffing vendor
(order taker) or a staffing partner? |
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| Smart
Staffing |
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Smart staffing begins with smart,
informed decisions. This is no time to go it alone or to waste time on
massive job boards filled with untested, unreferenced resumes. Take some
time to decide what type of staffing relationship best suites the needs
of your company – a vendor (order taker) or a staffing partner. |
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There are 3 types of staffing agency –
Temporary, Direct Hire and Full Service.
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A Temporary agency provides an
array of employees for short term staffing needs. Light Industrial, food
service, office support, accounting, legal, insurance, event planning,
etc. The agency pays the employee and bills the client a mark up that
takes into account the cost of Workers Compensation and Unemployment
insurance, the employer related taxes, and the expenses related to
sourcing, testing, referencing and overhead.
A Direct Hire agency works
primarily with currently employed or recently laid off professional’s
who are in search of immediate, full time career opportunities and
clients who have a similar requirements. These agencies typically
charge a percentage of the successful candidates annual salary and
provide a replacement guarantee in the event the hire does not work out.
A Full Service agency employs
staffing specialists for Temporary (short-term), Temp to Hire (try
before you hire) and Direct Hire (full time / perm). Each department has
a staff of experts in their specific area of knowledge. They typically
have access to a wide array of applicants and clients in many different
fields of expertise and offer this cross section of talent to their
clients.
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Small to Mid Sized Companies |
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If you are a small to mid sized
company, perhaps it’s best if your Human Resource professional is
primarily charged with making sure the hiring managers are clear about
what they need in a new hire; making sure all compliance issues are met,
and provide training and career direction to existing staff. Consider
using a Full Service-staffing agency for your new hires. Rely on them to
source, identify, contact, skill test, interview and reference check
your new hires. Use their temporary division for your short term
vacancies, maternity leaves or other FMLA related vacancies. Use their
Direct Hire recruiters for time sensitive or confidential searches or
searches that involve sourcing applicants from your competitors.
Negotiate the terms, conditions, and rates in advance. |
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Large Companies |
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If you’re a large company with an
experienced Human Resource department, then having a relationship with
several top-drawer Direct Hire recruiters is the way to go. Rely on them
for time sensitive or confidential searches or searches that involves
sourcing applicants from your competitors. Use temporary agencies for
your short term projects and vacancies, maternity leaves or other FMLA
related vacancies. |
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Applicants |
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Many good people with solid skills
have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are looking for
the right opportunity. They are more selective then ever, because they
do not want to make a wrong company decision. They turn to staffing
agencies for the same reasons our corporate clients do – to save time
and money and have a partner to help them make the right decision.
 They know good staffing agencies do
their due diligence on potential corporate customers, they’ve done a
credit analysis and work only with firms who have solid financials.
They know that a professional
staffing specialist can help steer their career in the right direction
and as important, can give them critical insight about potential
employers gleaned from their extensive contacts. |
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What about the costs?
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Compared to the cumulative costs
incurred by most companies who go it alone - the classified
advertisement; the labor costs expended reading the avalanche of
resumes; deciding which ones to call; contacting them all; deciding whom
to invite for an initial interview ; conducting the initial interviews;
deciding who to refer to the hiring manager; coordinating their
schedules; waiting for feedback from both people; negotiating the offer
(hoping the counter offer isn’t a deal killer) and the acceptance. If
the chosen candidate turns you down, it’s back to square one.
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Outsourcing |
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Outsourcing all of this work to a
staffing agency that matches your needs and concentrating your valuable
time on the actual interview and hiring decision make excellent business
sense.
At Anderson Staffing, over
90% of our Direct Hire placements are still hard at work long after the
guarantee period is over. Our Temporary placement statistics are even
better – 96% of the job orders received are filled right the first time!
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