The roles and responsibilities of a staffing agency

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Only the best people can grow your business. Only the right staffing agency will help you find them. Ask any HR manager or business owner and they’ll tell you that people are the greatest asset to any company. With some reservations, they might admit that people can be a company’s greatest liability. It all depends on the people that you hire.

It is a big responsibility to the staff! If you do it right, your organisation will have a great workforce. You risk losing time, money, and worse, your reputation. It’s not always possible to predict the outcome of a staffing role. Businesses are choosing to use the services of staffing agencies more often.

What is a staffing agency?

An employment agency, also known as a staffing agency fulfils hiring needs of businesses whilst carrying the load of searching, evaluating, and screening the candidates based on the criteria provided. People who join a company through a staffing agent aren’t employees, but temporary workers who are paid on the agency payroll.

What are the best times to choose a staffing agency?

Sometimes, business owners find it difficult to outsource their workforce to staffing agencies. They prefer to be in charge of the hiring process. Once they overcome this mentality, it is often beneficial to work with placement agencies, particularly temp agencies to fill temporary jobs and get the projects done.

Here are some cases where employment agencies can be extremely helpful:

• When a large number of skilled workers are needed for a short-term job.
• When a company doesn’t want employ people for long-term or permanent positions.
• When a highly-skilled worker with specialized skillset is required.
• You don’t have the resources nor the time to hire a team.
• You are looking to lower your recruitment costs by having a large HR department and insurance for employees.

Sometimes, a staffing agency may be focused on one industry and only serve a specific sector such as IT or manufacturing. They can also be used to help businesses connect with specific roles, such as executive positions or subject-matter experts.

What are the responsibilities for a staffing agency?

A staffing agency provides complete staffing solutions for a business. This includes:

• Understanding the company’s workload requirements.
• Determining the required workforce and filling the same.
• Calculating appropriate compensation for the employees.
• Interviews and shortlisting of candidates.
• Essential screening of potential employees such as background checks and employment history.
• Drawing contracts and studying legal issues.
• Training in the event of gaps.
• Analysing performance of employees.

What roles does staffing agencies offer?

Although most staffing agencies focus on curating a pool of temporary talent, they can also search for permanent candidates depending on the needs of your company. Staffing companies classify job seekers when they approach them. Let’s have a look at their specifics:

• Contract employment or Short-term hire: This model simply focuses on immediate needs of a business or enterprise – warranting fulfilment of short-term projects that require specialized services by offering seasonal or temp jobs to candidates.
• Long-term Staffing: This model focuses on the company’s growth plans and needs. Under this, a staffing agency works closely with your company and identify and replace poorly performing employees, the ones which are about to retire and taking sabbaticals.
• Tempo-to-hire: A model where the company hires a temporary worker on a trial basis. If the worker meets the performance criteria, the worker is transferred from the payroll of the staffing agency to getting a permanent position with the company.

What are the advantages of a staffing agency?

This is more than a matter of filling a temporary need. A business can reap many benefits from collaborating with a temporary staffing agency as well. Take for example:

• The staffing agency has specialists who can help you find the right talent. They use proven strategies and have the right tools to help you hire which you might already don’t have.
• Staffing agencies keep a talent pool. They are actively involved in building a network skilled professionals. They connect with passive candidates and host their own events in order to grow their talent pool.
• Staffing agencies are able to hire more quickly and accurately. They have access to the best talent and can find qualified candidates faster than your internal staff. These tools include professional portfolio sites, sourcing tools and other related platforms that can quickly fulfill your needs.
• Staffing agencies can offer tailored solutions, flexible staffing as they call it which most businesses also prefer. It offers a spectrum of options for hiring, so they can personalize a solution for your company.
• Staffing agencies allow you to focus on your growth by taking care of all aspects of hiring quality candidates, whilst saving your time.

How to find the right partner in staffing?

Do your research before you hire a staffing agency. As you get to know them better, consider answering these questions for yourself:

• Are they able to offer the staffing solutions that you require?
• How does their recruitment process work?
• What are their unique services?
• Are they able to provide a skilled workforce in a timely fashion?
• How is their market reputation?

These parameters will help you determine if partnering with a staffing agency reduces or increases risk. Only the right people will be able to help your business grow, and only a right agency can help you find them. Assess, partner, and hire!

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