What is a Staffing Agency? Let The Experts Tell It

When companies need to bring in talent into the organization, a staffing agency helps them do that! They’re the connection between job seekers and business.

If companies don’t have their own internal recruiters, don’t handle hiring on their own, or they’re in need of niche skill sets, they’ll often come to a staffing company to help them find talent.

Let’s talk a little more about what a staffing agency is, but not just its definition. Let’s talk about what a staffing company can be—for job seekers, for businesses, for the workforce.

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Work With Insight Global Today

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What Is a Staffing Agency?

Staffing companies are also known—or have been known—as:

• Staffing firms
• Search firms
• Recruiting agencies
• Temp agencies
• Headhunters

Working with hiring managers and businesses, these companies search their own internal databases and external options (job boards, social media, etc.) to find them talent that meets their needs. Then working with job seekers, staffing agencies connect their unique skill sets and desires out of a job with companies that need them.

Staffing agencies will help businesses find temporary or permanent talent. They can be fully integrated partners, working onsite alongside your business to meet and manage staffing needs.

What Services Do They Offer?

Staffing agencies will offer to find a company:

• Temporary workers: Workers sign a contract for a set amount of time.
• Contract-to-permanent staff: Talent sign a contract then the employer has the opportunity to convert them to a permanent hire after a set period
• Direct placement hires: A staffing company find a company the talent that works full-time for them.

Staffing agencies—also known as staffing firms, search firms, recruiting agencies, and other terms—often offer a host of services outside of individual staffing, too.

Insight Global, for example, offers:

• Managed services (build and manage entire teams of people)
• DEIB consulting (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging training and staffing solutions)
• Culture consulting (culture change solutions and team experiences)
• Executive search (finding executive and C-suite leadership for companies)

What Industries Do Staffing Agencies Work In?

All of them!

Some staffing agencies work in one specific industry—like information technology (IT) or healthcare—but many staffing agencies work across industries, filling roles for businesses of all kinds and all sizes.

What Does a Staffing Agency Really Do?

We’ve gone over the basics of what a staffing agency does. Insight Global has been in the staffing business for more than 20 years, and we have employees who have made staffing their entire career! So, we asked some of them, “What can a staffing agency do?”

Here’s what they said:

A Staffing Agency Makes Hiring Easy

“A staffing agency can make hiring easy. They can help a hiring manager hire a contractor, a contract-to-hire or a direct hire resource in any number of skill sets. By using a staffing firm, you are leveraging the breadth of their recruiting force and their consultant network.”

– Matt Gonsalves, VP of Technology Staffing

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“Working with a staffing company is like having a personal concierge to fill your hiring needs. We take away the mundane task of screening the best of the best candidates before a resume hits your desk. We don’t just rely on passive recruiting (candidates who apply to job postings), but we actively go out and hunt for the best talent. Our recruiters and account managers schedule the interviews, prepare the candidates for success, walk them into their interviews, and sit in on them to give both the candidate and the client feedback post-interview.”

– Korryn Williamson, Director, DE&I

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“A staffing agency can attract and retain top talent, provide personalized support, and offer an experience focused on transparency, clear communication, and delivery of significant impact toward your mission.”

– Brindy Pickett, VP of Consultant Engagement

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Staffing Agencies Bring Value to Job Seekers & Employers

“A good staffing agency can be your talent partner: someone who helps people and teams become the best professional versions of themselves by fitting the right people into the right opportunities to reach their full potential.”

– David Lowance, Chief Legal Officer

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“A staffing company can accelerate growth and bring positive change to an organization. Bringing in an industry expert on talent is the best way to compete in whatever market or industry you are trying to grow your business in.”

– Tommy Cadden, VP of Sales

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“A staffing agency can be your business partner, helping to protect you from employment risk by ensuring compliance with a patchwork or employment laws across the country.”

– Ariel Zion, VP & Deputy General Counsel

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“A staffing agency can transform cultures, deliver solutions, and accelerate results through the power of people.”

– Jared Streppa, President, Insight Global Technology

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A Staffing Agency Elevates Your Company

“A staffing agency solves problems. They show up to understand your challenges and works with you to solve them. They find you the right people to help you get to wherever you need to go. And ultimately, a staffing agency connects people to your purpose.”

– Jessica Calzaretta, President, Insight Global Health

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“A staffing company’s primary job is to help you build and manage world-class teams. By partnering with a staffing company with a hands-on approach, you are able to find the right talent with a partner dedicated to getting the best work out of the consultants on your team.”

– Lawrence Dearth, President of Recruiting

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“A staffing agency has no limits when it comes to talent. They can fill your critical needs to meet business objectives, they can completely own your hiring process, and they can mold your culture over time. In a world with many priorities, start with finding the right partner for talent.”

– Greg Dowling, President, Insight Global Business

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A Staffing Company Inspires

“A staffing agency can be the partner you never knew you needed, help you solve problems you hadn’t yet uncovered, and take your business to levels you never imagined possible.”

– Jenny Sabo, Vice President, HR & ESG

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“A staffing agency exists to connect people with opportunity. That can come in the form of using an agency to present job opportunities to you as a job seeker. A business can also have a project to complete or a problem to solve, and the agency helps address both.

We can also help you transform the way your organization thinks about people and how to properly lead, manage, and train them.

When you think about the people who will help your organization grow, think about a staffing agency, because the staffing agency will unlock your access to the amazing people who do the great work that powers our world.”

– Greg Murray, VP of Emerging Markets

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“Staffing companies get to know your culture, so when we talk to candidates, we know if they will be an addition to growing that part of your company as well. We also seek to understand how the role you’re looking to fill contributes to the overall mission and vision of the company, so we can inspire the candidate through what can be a treacherous job-seeking process.”

– Korryn Williamson, Director, DE&I

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“A staffing agency empowers you to cut through distractions, allowing you to focus attention on what truly matters. They make hiring more efficient, which allows you to execute on key priorities, drive innovation, promote talent development, and drive productivity. Ultimately, a staffing agency becomes a catalyst for meaningful change—accelerating progress towards your goals.”

– Brendan Haas, VP of National Accounts

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Work With Insight Global Today

We’re the second-largest IT staffing firm in the country and the eighth-largest overall, placing over 50,000 with thousands of companies in 2022 alone. Let us know how we can help find you the best talent for your team and company!