In fast-paced industries with ever-changing demands and needs, your business is dependent on a skilled, flexible workforce. It’s impossible to remain competitive if you’re unable to staff the right employees. And that means using the right employment agency is imperative to your long-term success.
Especially when your demand grows quickly, you must be able to expand your staff with new team members who are capable of contributing immediately.
Staffing agencies are not all the same. There are large, national providers; small, local boutiques; and partners somewhere in between. The strengths and capabilities of any given agency may vary. Whether any single partner is right for you depends on your specific needs.
What do you Need from Your Employment Agency?
Before you can be certain that your staffing partner is able to support your needs, you must first understand what you want to get out of the relationship.
Your internal human resources capabilities may dictate how involved your partner must be. Do you have one person managing HR or a comprehensive department that simply needs some additional support?
Another important consideration is the scalability of your partnership. Will this staffing push be limited to one or two roles, or might you need to expand rapidly in the future?
Once you’ve determined your own needs, you can then search more intelligently for the right partner. That being said there are a number of qualities that any employment agency should have.
What Always Characterizes the Right Agency
If any staffing agency is going to help you find the right employees, it must understand your priorities and company culture. Regardless of skill set, a person who does not fit your culture is unlikely to be a good match, and won’t last very long.
Your partner must also have the ability to evaluate any specialty skill sets you may need. In some cases, pre-hire skill testing can help an agency quickly narrow your pool of qualified applicants.
Local knowledge and geographic familiarity is another characteristic you must look for. If a firm does not have a local presence, it can have difficulty connecting with local candidates. In many cases, a local partner best understands where to market your job openings and from where to recruit people, and likely already has established a candidate pool in your market. A local firm may also be able to give you more attention and resources to support you.
Any great employment partner should also have a detailed process in place to target qualified candidates, determine their fit, and prepare a candidate for success. Finding the exact kinds of employees you seek – from expertise and skill set to personality, work ethic, and culture fit – is the product of a systematic approach.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, any suitable employment agency takes a partnership approach. Relationships with staffers work best when both you and your partner view each other as departments of the same company. This is key to having a good working relationship.
Make sure you have a partner that is truly able to support you and fulfill all of your needs. Partnering with a staffing agency that’s committed to finding the best-suited employees will help you minimize your turnover. Just as you want your employment agency to do its due diligence on your candidates, you must work to understand who the firm is. This assessment will clearly reveal if you are working with the right partner.
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