Staffing Agencies Are a Fast-Growing Industry
Whether you’re looking for a new employer, full-time work, or a flexible schedule, staffing agencies can help you find the right fit. And if you’re looking to make the shift to contract work, you’re in good company.
“Economists, human resource experts, and global workforce managers dubbed 2023 the year of contingent staffing.” Contingent workers, sometimes called “gig workers,” include contractors, freelancers, consultants, advisors, temporary employees, and more. And since 2023, this worker pool has continued to grow.
Ongoing macroeconomic pressures and employee retention challenges have led to shrinking workforces. Businesses have had to reevaluate how to fill open roles. In fact, “[r]esearch reveals that 83% of organizations considered or reduced their overall headcount in 2023.
Staffing agencies have been around since the 1940s, but shifts in recent years have propelled their growth. “Staffing is a $174B industry — and one of the fastest-growing industries in B2B services.”
Why Companies Use Staffing Agencies
In human resources (HR), digital transformation and hybrid workforces have driven pressure to optimize costs, facilitate change management, and ensure airtight compliance. As access to data insights and process-streamlining tools has grown, the skills required of HR professionals and the demands placed on them have expanded exponentially, even as resources have remained stagnant or declined. “Even in the areas of HR traditionally imbued with meaning and cultural significance—recruitment and learning and development—the emphasis has been on productivity and how to measure it.”
As a result, many HR teams are shifting their focus to partnering with staffing agencies for certain functions like recruiting and compliance. “The vast majority of CHROs said they were eager to shift to a model we have come to call ‘back to human.’”
By working with staffing agencies, companies and their lean HR teams can focus on more employee-centric initiatives and driving engagement. They can also partner with agencies to cut costs, maximize internal resources, and quickly staff open roles.
Partner With the Right Staffing Agencies
Just as it’s important to find the right role for you, it’s also important to work with the right staffing agency. Staffing companies often specialize in certain industries. For highly technical positions, an agency with a long history in your focus industry will know what constitutes a “good fit” between companies and candidates.
According to the American Staffing Association, 40% of staffing employees work in higher-skilled occupations, and 11% of staffing agencies serve the engineering, IT, and scientific industry. This means you should ask specific questions related to your field, in addition to standard questions about their success and experience.
Here are some sample questions to ask:
- What are some positions they’ve staffed relevant to your experiences and interests?
- What is their fill rate or placement success rate?
- On average, how quickly do they fill a position?
- How long is their average placement fill process?
- How long have they worked in the industry?
- What is their process for placement?
- Would current and past employees recommend the staffing agency?
Though you may not be working for the staffing agency directly, their reputation can tell you a lot. Ask about their mission and vision. Learn about their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Investigate what current and past employees have to say about the agency, including culture, benefits, and employer net promoter scores (eNPS). Review sites like Glassdoor offer first-hand experiences and perspectives.
You want to work with staffing agencies that prioritize placing you in a role that works for you, as well as meeting their clients’ needs. Make sure you understand fees (if applicable), payment, benefits, onboarding, and development and training opportunities.
Don’t forget to do your research. Explore the staffing agency’s reputation on review sites and social media like LinkedIn. Where there is smoke (red flags), there is likely fire (a bad fit).
Land the Job
Before a specific role has been identified, know what you’re looking for so staffing agencies can match you with the right employers.
Be honest during the interview process with the staffing agency about the type of role and projects you’re looking for. Make sure you understand the type of employment, whether it’s contract, contract-to-hire, or direct hire. If you have a company, product, or service you envision your next position in, share that too. Prepare just as you would if you were interviewing directly with a company by getting to know staffing agencies ahead of time.
As you get closer to a specific placement, it’ll be especially important that you understand the specifics of your contract, including the contract’s length of time, requirements and skills needed to succeed in the role, and frequency and rate of pay.
Interviewing via staffing agencies gives you a distinct advantage. The staffing recruiter may have previous experience with the company and even the hiring manager, with information about the gaps the company is looking to fill. You can arm yourself with the right anecdotes and questions to stand out.
Think Beyond One Job
An exceptional staffing agency is one that has more to offer than a single job placement. Learn about how the agency maintains relationships with its candidates, including health benefits and development. An estimated one-half of staffing agencies offer medical benefits, and 79% even offer unpaid leave. Just 8% offer paid leave.
By building a long-term relationship with the staffing agency, you can stay connected to a network of roles and companies that interest you. Stay in touch with your point of contact throughout the duration of your placement to keep a line of communication open for feedback (in both directions). You should also keep them aware of your availability and goals once your placement end.
When a Staffing Agency Is More
Learning about the mission that drives staffing agencies can give you insight into your future with that company. As with any company, find out what kind of impact they want to make on the industry and the world around them. Learn how you can reach your professional and personal goals with them as a partner.
“Though it’s a job, we’re doing life with these people,” says Heather Moyer, President/CEO and founder of HNM Systems. “We ensure our people are well taken care of. We are the advocate of our people; we take that responsibility seriously.”
When a staffing agency is about more than filling their clients’ requests, job seekers can find more than a job.
