Role of Information Technology Staffing Agencies in Driving the US Economy

The US economy is recovering. The staffing industry has been one of the driving forces responsible for this recovery. There have been numerous surveys and research efforts to measure the growth of the staffing industry and assess some of the hiring trends. Based on the results of this research, it is possible to identify some prominent ways in which the staffing industry is contributing to the recovery of the economy:

Recruitment firms are ahead in the war of talent

Most of the surveys conclude that there is a skill gap with available candidates and this gap becomes most evident among IT workers. Companies’ HR professionals often find it difficult to find candidates with the desired IT skills or experience. There have been recurring cases where companies are forced to hire candidates with lesser experience and skills and then train them to match the needs of a position. Replacement staffing is also another challenging area for many businesses.

Recruitment companies provide better access to talent

Employment firms have better access to talent. Almost 80 per cent of survey respondents rated staffing firms as either an extremely useful or useful as a tool for finding candidates. Businesses understand that classified ads are just not enough to tap the right IT professionals. Recruiters need to be innovative in their search for the right candidate. They have to use a combined strategy including social media networking, online searching, job boards and referrals to create a pool of pre-screened talent. Employment firms also need to maintain a list of passive talent. This enables them to provide rapid access to a highly skilled and diverse pool of talent thereby making it easier for businesses to hire the right candidate faster.

The present economic condition provides a green pasture for the growth of Information Technology staffing agencies. But they need to capitalize on certain trends and ideas for their growth:

How can an employment company capitalize on the economic recovery for its growth?

Understand your customers’ needs: Although the economic condition is favorable for a staffing agency, not everyone can succeed in this industry. An employment firm needs to know its clients well. Recruiters must be able to look at client’s workforce and work culture and find a candidate that not only suits the technical need but is also compatible with other workers and their work environment. A staffing firm should take a close look at a client’s requirements and hiring scope to identify opportunities for strategic staffing options.

Be proactive with your search: Every recruitment agency tries to find the best candidate for a job order. How are you different? Try to provide extra service for your clients that will prove your competency and dedication in finding IT candidates. For example, you can do a free background verification of the candidate and share that result with the client.

Show your work: If you have been able to recruit a candidate for a client and have received positive feedback from them, do not hesitate to share that on your corporate website and marketing collateral. 

Technology Staffing Solutions - Strategies to Stay Ahead of Competitors

Over the last few decades, the staffing industry has been through several transformations. The responsibility of a staffing firm is no longer limited to finding a replacement for a position or recruiting for a vacant position. Today’s staffing companies operate in a dynamic business environment. In a modern business scenario, a staffing company has emerged as a strategic business partner to its clients.

In recent times, the recruitment industry has witnessed a huge surge in their business. There has been an increasing demand for finance, sales, health care, legal and information technology candidates among businesses of different sizes.  Among these, the demand for IT candidates stands out to be the most and this is because of the growth in Information Technology industry. Though in high demand, providing an effective technology staffing solution is quite a challenge for an ordinary staffing company.

This has given rise to recruitment firms that specialize in recruiting only for the IT industry. These firms usually follow certain strategies to stay flexible and adjust to the ever evolving IT needs. Following are some of the common strategies that staffing firms should follow to stay competitive:

Streamline the Process

An information technology staffing company should use information technology to streamline their internal processes. For example, instead of using spreadsheets and handwritten notes to manage processes like prospecting, matching skills of applicants to requests and recruiting, staffing firms should use a proper solution. Such a solution will help to streamline the recruiting process, increase its efficiency and will also help an IT staffing company to stay ahead of its competitors.

Automation

Manual processes are time consuming and are also prone to errors. The chance of errors only increases if the company is spread across multiple locations. This not only inhibits the ability of recruiters to fill the job orders but also hampers the growth of a company. Hence a staffing company should automate some of its processes to increase the ability of its recruiters and help the business grow.

Integration

Experts believe that integrating different processes helps in increasing the efficiency of a staffing firm. A recruitment firm must try to create a centralized data source for its recruiters and clients. This helps both the recruiters and clients get a consistent and clearer vision that helps a company’s growth. By allowing all its recruiters to use a single source of information, a staffing agency can dramatically increase the efficiency of its recruiters.

Building Relationships

Recruiters must focus on building relationships with their clients. The primary job of a recruiter is to understand the needs of his clients and understand the work culture of his client’s company. Then only he will be able to find the right match for the position. Hence a staffing agency must integrate and automate its processes to free up time for its recruiters to build relationships with clients.

Skilled recruiters

The most important task of a recruiter is to match the skills of an applicant with the job description. An enviable pool of top-notch resources and a covetous pipeline of job orders might not give a staffing company the right momentum if its recruiters are not skilled in this endeavor. 

Technology Staffing Solutions Bridge the Gulf between IT Candidates and Jobs

Businesses are always challenged to stay ahead. A business needs to use the latest trends to stay competitive and profitable. Great people and great IT processes are some of the prerequisites for the success of a business. The combination of skilled IT professionals and effective IT processes optimizes a business and prepares it to attain great heights. This partnership between the right people and the right IT position is really critical. A business needs to have the right technology staffing solutions. Developing an IT staffing solution might sound simple, but in reality it’s not. One needs to have special expertise in developing a staffing solution. It is also a matter of time and money.

Gets candidates faster

Companies usually prefer to work with IT staffing companies to find candidates for their vacant positions. This is because a staffing company helps in finding the right candidate for the right position faster. A recruitment firm usually maintains its own intensive database of shortlisted candidates for future use. A recruiter begins his search by searching these potentially qualified candidates from their existing talent pool.  In many cases, they also post advertisements online or in newspapers.

Who conducts the initial screening?

The goal of a staffing company is to match a candidate with the requirements of a vacant position.  The job of a staffing firm does not end until they find a candidate who is properly paired with a vacant position. In order to achieve this, a recruitment company screens resume, may conduct several interview sessions and finally sends the shortlisted candidates to the client for the final hiring decision. A recruiter also tries to ensure that the association between a candidate and a company is successful.

Significantly reduces mis-hiring

A recruiter generally asks candidates to take an aptitude test. The purpose of this test is to identify the mentality of a candidate, so the candidate does not become a misfit for the position. A wrong hire can prove to be disastrous for an employer. It not only means a waste of time and money but may also mean decelerating the speed of a project or losing reputation. Working with employment companies can help companies significantly reduce this chance. This is because a recruiter screens a candidate not only for his technical skills but also for his psychological acumen.

A recruiter begins his screening

Studying a resume is an integral part of an interview. It helps recruiters learn about the personal traits of a candidate including his hobbies and interests. This helps in understanding the mentality of a candidate. A typical interview process begins by asking simple questions. Complex questions are usually asked as an interview progresses. Candidates may also be asked to do a practical task, like giving a presentation or preparing a report. This is important to understand the skills of a candidate.  

A skilled recruiter can make the hunt for the ideal candidate easier. He bridges the gulf between the right candidate and an open position.

Best Practices of Technology Staffing Companies

Whether a staffing company is working with a large organization or a small business, it’s important for technology staffing companies to keep up with the best practices and trends of the staffing industry. This helps a technical recruiter to understand his market, its trends and formulate strategies to help him more easily reach his goals. This is one of the most important factors that determines the success of a staffing company. Though every staffing firm follows a different set of best practices for its employees, there are staffing industry best practices that should be followed by all recruitment firms. We will look at some of those best practices here:

Do not depend on job boards alone

Successful technology staffing companies do not just depend on job boards to recruit candidates. They need to go the extra mile and attract both online and offline resources to get access to the right candidate. Recruiters need to network, join groups to expand their search for the right candidate.  The general practice of an IT staffing agency is to create a pool of top-notch talent. 

When a recruiter gets a request for a candidate, he usually tries to match the job description with the skills of one of these candidates.  In other words, a staffing firm should have a database of pre-qualified active and passive candidates. This helps them find candidates faster. 

Provide excellent client communication

A recruiter must be able to maintain excellent client relationships. He needs to be a master of relationship management. At the same time, he must also be very prompt in his thoughts and actions. When a business approaches a recruitment firm, the firm assigns an account manager to the client. Account managers work with their internal recruiters to fill the requirements set forth by the client. It is the responsibility of a recruiter/account manager to fully understand the needs of its client, the responsibilities of the position and also the company’s culture. Only a person with excellent communication skills and acute promptness will be able to grab such vital information from a client within a short time. 

More than matching skills

An ideal staffing company not only matches the skills of a candidate with a job order, it does something more than that. They equally focus on a candidate’s style of work to make sure that it best fits their client’s work culture and environment. Additionally, a staffing firm also takes a look at some other aspects of a candidate, like a candidate’s expectation of salary, training, and benefits. This is to ensure that the client enjoys a long, fruitful relationship with the candidate.

Must be compliant with a company’s HR policy

A technical staffing firm usually works as an extension of a company’s HR department. A staffing company must comply 100% with the HR rules and policies of a company. A recruiter needs to be cautious about its client’s HR policies and also the best practices of the staffing company while he is looking for candidates to fill a vacant position.