Developing a Successful Partnership with a Staffing Agency

With certain best practices in mind, many component manufacturers have reported having great success finding quality employees through staffing agencies.

Best Practices:

• Establish a Solid Partnership: Find a good staffing agency that will take the time to invest in learning about the components industry and your company’s specific needs. The best way to do this is to establish a good relationship with your sales representative and invite them to spend the day at your facility. It is important that the sales representative is not only familiar with the open positions and their respective responsibilities, but also understands your company’s culture and the type of personnel you are looking to add to your team.
• Determine the Type of Agreement Early in the Process: Come to an agreement with your staffing agency on the type of positions you are looking to fill (see sidebar). This will ensure a good relationship with the stafffing agency and that there are no legal ramifications down the road.
• Be Clear: Create a clear set of guidelines and expectations for your sales representative to use when evaluating candidates.
• Include Managers/Supervisors in Interviews: Include the supervisor/manager for the open position in the interviewing process. This will increase the success of finding a good fit for the position.
• Refresh: Spend time with agency representatives one time per quarter to go over your company’s changing needs and refresh the representative on what you do and what type of personnel you are looking to add to your team.
• Deliver a Consistent Onboarding Process: Orient and train temporary employees the same as any new hire. This gives temporary employees the same chance at success as other new hires, ensures their safety, and increases the chances they could evolve into a permanent employee.
• Stay Involved: Don’t lose site of the end goal – productive, successful employees joining your company’s team. While using a staff agency may be a replacement for job boards, ads, etc., it is not a replacement for a quality interviewing, onboarding, and training process.

Additional Resources:

• Looking to Hire?
• Webinar: Finding Your Next New Hire - The Pros & Cons of Staffing Agencies
• How We Build Our House: Core values live at the heart of Littfin Lumber’s ongoing success
• Diverse Hiring Results in More Effective Training: Wilson Lumber improves training approach after hiring women