Is Your Business Ready for Professional Staffing Services

Hiring the right employee for the right position and at the right time sounds simple enough, but as any recruiter will tell you, maintaining an optimal staff strength is easier said than done. Recruitment teams face many challenges — the need to hire skilled candidates quickly for short-term projects, a cap on the number of full-time employees and access to a limited talent pool.

This is where professional staffing agencies can come to the rescue. They help identify hiring needs and to develop and execute a comprehensive strategy to source, screen and hire qualified people. The selected candidates are employed by the staffing agency which takes care of all the vetting and paperwork. While all this looks attractive, companies must understand when to utilise professional staffing agencies.

What staffing services can do for your business

Today’s dynamic business environment requires businesses to be agile. Professional recruiting services can address skill gaps and staff shortages with ease, and companies can remain lean. For example, with most businesses going digital, the requirements of IT staffing continue to escalate, and many of these needs can be met with the help of IT staffing agencies. Besides savings on time and cost, professional staffing services providers offer many benefits to companies by offering flexibility, access to a wide talent pool and the freedom to easily downsize when the need arises.

To address short-term business needs, companies can engage professional staffing agencies for contract or temporary staffing. This arrangement brings candidates for periods usually ranging from a month up to a year. On the other hand, with a contract-to-hire staffing arrangement, the staffing agency can provide candidates for a fixed period of time, after which the company can opt to get them on board. This offers great flexibility to the employer as the company can actually evaluate the candidate on-the-job, so to speak, and then make an offer.

When should companies leverage professional staffing services?

Recruitment strategies need to be decided based on various considerations such as flexibility, speed of hire and business agility, amongst other things. Here are some reasons why companies should consider utilising professional staffing services:

• Bridge the talent gap: Finding bright and qualified candidates with the right skills is a constant challenge. Professional staffing firms have access to a wide talent pool, especially for professional recruitment.
• Small business requirements: Small companies often have a limited need for permanent employees, and may prefer contract staff. In dynamic environments such as startups, businesses need to be able to ramp up or down quickly, and staffing agencies can help meet the requirements while keeping costs and time to hire low.
• Demand for specialised talent: Staffing agencies can prove to be extremely useful where it concerns hiring people for short-term projects requiring specific skills. Companies often have a limitation on employee headcount, and contract hiring gives companies the latitude to hire people on demand, thereby helping maintain an optimal staff strength.
• Frequent hiring requirements: When companies recruit people often, it can fatigue internal recruitment teams, and this is compounded when a large number of qualified candidates are needed for specific projects. Companies can reach out to professional staffing agencies for hassle-free professional recruiting, letting internal teams focus on planning, connecting with hiring managers and conducting interviews.
• High employee turnover: The pressures of recruitment can often lead to poor decision-making while hiring a candidate. This eventually leads to employees quitting prematurely, leading to high attrition. Professional staffing agencies can easily provide qualified candidates while considering other aspects such as culture, wages, benefits and so on.
• Need to reduce recruitment bottlenecks: Inertia in recruitment and approvals processes often leads to positions remaining vacant, and indents expiring, even though qualified candidates are available, and sometimes even selected. Partnering with a professional staffing agency can help to streamline and expedite the process, leading to reduced latency.
• Need for flexi staffing: Companies often have internal limitations for hiring full-time employees. They need to strategise recruitment to satisfy business policies. Professional employment agencies can provide both contract as well as contract-to-hire employees to satisfy this need.

It’s important to partner with a professional staffing agency that has good business practices and an unblemished reputation. CareerNet professional staffing solutions help companies understand their needs, and provide access to a talent pool based on industry and requirements. Hiring a professional recruitment agency offers the distinct advantage of both experience and expertise, and building a relationship with the right staffing partner will ultimately lead to long-term gains and a competitive advantage.