What Clients Look For When Hiring a Staffing Agency

What Clients Look For When Hiring a Staffing AgencyWhat Clients Look For When Hiring a Staffing AgencyWhat Clients Look For When Hiring a Staffing Agency RossheimIn our companion article, How to Improve Staffing Results An Agency Perspective, recruiters shared some of the opportunities they see for clients to improve their screening candidates and expedite the hiring process.In this article, we flip the tables to ask, What do clients want from their staffing firms?Its essential that staffing agencies do a periodic gut check on what clients look for from their staffing agency and third-party recruiting business.Here are some straight answers from the mouths of clients who haveturned away many pitches when hiring a staffing agency.Show prospects your depth. Anyone can google for candidates. To win new business, agencies must show that they will go deeper than the competition or the client to field the right candidates, whether for a temp role, a direct hire or something in between.I wi ll absolutely select a staffing vendor based on the depth of their recruiting process, says Matt Lowney, executive vice president for talent and operations at The Buntin Group, a Nashville-based advertising agency. The responses are truly varied. I want to know how youre sourcing, who are you talking to, how you are using contacts as a launch point for referrals.Make transparent how you earn every penny of your fee. Talk to prospective clients about how youll surface candidates that the client could not have reached on their own. Tell a story about how youve done this for other customers.Ill look and see how many of the agencys reqs are just doing the post and pray and charging a big fee, says Lowney. Ill ask new hires, How did that recruiter find you? So many times, the agency had no relationship with the candidate. I dont think its worth a big commission for a recruiter who just did simple online searches.Take job orders meticulously. We need an agency that will look into everythi ng about our day-to-day operation, from the physical and climate requirements of our work, to whether or not a particular position will be in air conditioning or not, whether it will require the use of a computer or not, and what career paths exist in our growing company, says Tim Whitney, Regional Director of Production and Quality at Coast Southwest, a chemicals distributor in Arlington, Texas.Today, even when we hire manual labor, we want to know about workers befhigung to work with computers and automated systems.Show the difference you can make with candidates. If you can bring it, show it. Sometimes I get nothing back after I express an interest directly to a potential candidate, says Lowney.But a good agency will have a relationship with candidates that makes a difference and causes them to engage with our opportunity. If the agency can do that and I cant, its well worth the money. I have no problem paying for things that Im not getting done myself.Supply workers ready to do the work. Agencies cant supply work-ready temps if they dont have intimate knowledge of the work to be done. To acquire that knowledge, theres no substitute for visiting the work site.I expect temps to be ready to go, says Whitney. So the agency has to do its homework to learn what the company does, then come in and see what we do.Have a deep understanding of every industry you serve. In an age when the reputation of a staffing firm can travel as quickly as a viral video, its unwise to bid for business that you dont understand, or to send in workers who are fluent in the industry.Im not going to use an agency thats only supplied geschftszimmer staff, says Whitney. Our business is manufacturing and distribution, and we need an agency with experience that aligns with my needs.Look out for the clients long-term interests. That applies even when supplying short-term temps. An agency that consistently fields temp workers with full-time potential will be deeply appreciated by many clients .Who wouldnt want the temp to perm option and permanently hire qualified people who have already demonstrated that they can navigate the clients workplace? If I hire a temp, Im basically looking to hire an employee, says Whitney.Demonstrate the durability of your agency and its internal staff. No one wants to deal with a staffing firm whose own employees act like they were just sent over by a temp agency. Agencies with a continuous influx of low-paid new grads cannot win the confidence of clients seeking a long-term staffing relationship.Says Lowney I ask the vendors people, How long have you been with the company, how do you show your commitment, what keeps you there?Understand the DemandIts all well and good to follow best practices that have served you well throughout the years. But times change, and so do the staffing needs of your clients. You need to stay one step ahead if you have any hope of success. Could you use some help with that?Sign up for exclusive https//www.youtube. com/ adviceand well send you the latest recruiting tips, hiring trends, management strategies, and even some awesome deals. Let the experts at help you fine-tune your staffing services so that youre offering cutting-edge solutions to ever-changing problems.