by Patrick Glynn
Hiring and recruiting are crucial processes for any organization. You want to find the right person the first time, every time. But not all hiring practices are created equal, though: skilled roles, competitive industries, and economic circumstances might call for different tactics.
Sometimes you just need an expert’s help to avoid sifting through hundreds of resumes to find the unicorn you needed yesterday. This is where staffing companies come into play.
If working with a staffing agency isn’t in your strategic roadmap, it might be that you aren’t aware of how they work or what services they provide. Or maybe you keep hearing things about staffing companies but worry about what they can do for you.
After being industry leaders in staffing and recruiting for more than 20 years, we’ve heard it all—and those worries are understandable! But, once you know more about working with a staffing company, you’ll find that many of these concerns are opportunities.
So, let’s explore six common myths about staffing agencies, and, with help from Regional Manager Sean Dennis, the truth behind them.
Myth #1: Staffing Companies Can Only Help Me Hire Entry-Level or Temp Workers
While it’s true that staffing agencies are a great option for temporary or entry-level hiring, that’s not all they can do. (Although, sometimes that’s exactly what your company needs.)
Professional recruiters working at staffing agencies can specialize in any role, from entry-level to managers, all the way up to the C-suite. No matter what kind of position you need to fill, there’s a staffing agency out there with the experience, network, and expertise to find you the best candidate.
Sean’s expert insight: “Working with a staffing company for temporary or contingent labor provides a lot of flexibility in terms of hiring and scaling up or down. But I also think that for many businesses, especially small- and medium-sized businesses that don’t have established or specialized recruiting teams, we can add a ton of value.
We’ve been able to become very specialized in different industries, and we can take that expertise and bring it to you—finding those people you need really fast. What we typically see is a client comes to us for a singular need in a singular space, and they walk away understanding how broad our brushstrokes are.”
Myth #2: Using a Staffing Company Costs More Than Hiring Through My Existing Process
We’re often asked, “Why do I need to use a staffing agency if we have HR in house?” That’s fair! But can they handle the full load of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training functions you need?
Is it only part of their job to hire? If you have longer time-to-fill rates, higher-than-average turnover, and backouts or resignations early into employees’ tenure, you could be spending way more money on hiring than you think. Attrition is expensive, and the cost of a bad hire hits more than just your bottom line with lost productivity.
The truth is that working with a staffing company can save you money by connecting you to the best candidate quickly. Imagine having a new person on your team who’s a great fit— from expertise to culture fit—from day one. Plus, you have options beyond directly hiring a permanent employee, but they can feel daunting if you’ve never worked with contractors before.
Sean’s expert insight: “The reality is, for an employee making $80,000, the total cost for their first year can be up to $145,000 when you hire on your own. Surprised? Remember, there’s a lot more to hiring someone full time than just their salary. Taxes, benefits, equipment, training, the time it takes for them to be productive—it all adds up.
Whenever you hire talent, it’s a large capital investment. It just is. And the goal of a great staffing partner is to find you the right person fast so you can continue to grow your business.
Working with a staffing agency to bring someone on as contract-to-hire allows you to test the need for the full-time role or other concerns. It creates an opportunity to learn more about what you truly need. You may not know that it costs about the same as hiring someone on your own.
Sure, there’s a fee associated with using a staffing agency, but that investment is worth finding the right person the first time. You can really run into trouble if you can’t do that.
With Insight Global, you have a full 90 days to let us know if someone we brought in isn’t working out. We’re just as invested as you in finding the right person the first time. We’re looking for people who can become real contributors to an organization. And we back that with a guarantee.”
Myth #3: You Won’t Provide High-Quality Candidates
Great staffing companies have a vast database of candidates at all experience levels across multiple job titles and industries. For instance, Insight Global places more than 50,000 people into jobs every year and interview thousands more who are looking for opportunities. That connection to talent is your access to the right candidate.
On top of that, a large part of the U.S. workforce are passive candidates—people who are open to new opportunities but not actively seeking new work. This group represents a massive, experienced talent pool, but it’s unlikely they’ll ever apply for your open jobs. So how do you find them? Staffing agencies do that for you.
Sean’s expert insight: “Isn’t posting a job the most forced feeding of candidates? Because any candidates can submit themselves to you, and then have to clear through the noise of a hundred job applications.
Whereas we’re using our tools like our AI matching tool, our own job board, our programmatic advertising to narrow down that talent pool to five or six great candidates for the role. So, while it might feel like a lot of candidates, a lot goes into narrowing down that funnel from the thousands of project managers in and around Charlotte, North Carolina, to the 5 to 10 project managers that fit that customer in North Carolina.
There’s a lot of back-end work from our teams that goes into ensuring you get the right candidate. We are not perfect. But what our people are committed to doing is working with you and your parameters to find you the best person that fits your company.”
Myth #4: You Don’t Have Expertise in My Company’s Industry
No matter your industry, there’s a staffing company out there equipped to find the right candidate for you. Some staffing agencies specialize in a specific industry—we started as specializing in IT staffing—while some larger agencies have built up a wealth of across-the-board experience. (This is where we’re at now!) Industry expertise is just one of the factors to consider when selecting a staffing agency as a long-term hiring partner.
Sean’s expert insight: “I think that at seven or eight points in our company journey, people have had that worry about us, and we’ve continued to debunk that myth. We started as a technology staffing company in the early 2000s that has grown into industries like government, healthcare, life sciences, engineering, and accounting/finance. As we’ve grown, we’ve specialized and even developed specific skillset recruiting teams to meet the needs of our clients.
So while we don’t claim to be experts in all, what we can guarantee is we have a real, insatiable thirst for learning and specializing and perfecting our craft in any industry.”
Myth #5: Working with a Staffing Company Means Compromising or Giving Up Authority Over the Process
A good staffing company works for and with you. There shouldn’t be any hire made without your approval or any process changed without done in consultation with you. Whether you’re looking to hire a single employee or overhaul your recruiting process, a good staffing company will do this with you and your teams—not in place of them—to work toward shared goals.
Sean’s expert insight: “A lot of our best business partners have felt and thought that way at the outset of our partnership. And I think that can come from this belief that staffing companies are more invested in making a dollar than finding the right person.
We work with clients and get them to see that we are invested not just in making the placements, but in ensuring that our placements perform well. We’re here to co-manage with you side by side to ensure our consultant does a good job. Our consultant engagement process and guarantee period reflect that well. While we encourage our client to say no, we also recognize that this is what we do every day, and we aren’t afraid to co-author and give feedback on your processes to find the best talent.
Myth #6: I Need Multiple Staffing Partners And Should Never Narrow Down to One
Many of the previous myths touched on assumptions before a relationship was formed. This touches on a myth about keeping competition alive by having multiple staffing partners—and keeping it that way.
Some companies understandably believe that having many staffing partners can lead to better competition among those companies, leading to better rates and talent. But if those relationships aren’t managed well—or the companies aren’t high quality—this can backfire.
Competition, as Sean says, should be welcomed. But don’t be afraid to commit to a single partner once they prove themselves.
Sean’s expert insight: “I think that is a natural way of thinking about it. If I were to sell my house, I would want ten offers, right? You create competition through multiple offers (or companies). For certain clients, that’s important to them. But we embrace competition. We’re never ones to say, “You should only go with us,” if you want to create an environment of competition.
We have had a lot of clients who’ve reached out to us and say, “We’re looking for a single vendor and this other vendor is coming in at a lower rate than you.” And my initial instinct is to say, great, why don’t you try us both out and see who brings you better candidates? Let’s compete. I don’t mind. And if you think the candidate quality, attention paid to their success, and the care for the candidate after they start are the same, then I’d ask you to go with the lower price. If I thought the quality of a Mercedes and a Miata were the same, then I’d just go with the Miata every time. But they’re different.
And fortunately for us, if clients do want to center on one vendor, we have the size and scale to be able to do that with any client. But I want someone to see and feel firsthand how we can take care of them before we ask for more business. That’s a big responsibility. To me, trust is created in a relationship over time and through action. That’s always where we differentiate ourselves.
I’m just always wanting to embrace competition. I believe that our quality and our service will provide the distinction and care that differentiates us.
Finding Your Staffing Partner
If you have any other worries or assumptions about staffing companies, we’re glad to talk about them! We work with businesses of all sizes—from startups to Fortune 500 and everything in between—and offer the same level of care and attention to each client.
Fill out the form below for a free consultation, and we’ll reach out to schedule time to talk!
Questions? Call us toll-free: 855-485-8853
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