This is the first in a new series of guest blogs from TempBuddy which will cover themes around the temp market. Firstly the ever present question; How can my Temp Agency Stand Out from the Crowd?
If you have been in recruitment for any length of time you will soon begin to see what separates the good from the bad both from the company level right down to the individuals who work with you.
People of all backgrounds come to recruitment in search of a career that is both personally and professionally rewarding but even with the best people will become frustrated in an industry that is ripe for change but struggles to do so. Time and time again temp agencies fail to realize the importance of simplicity when it comes to processes, clinging tightly to the status quo.
Whether you are looking at your strategy for the up coming year or starting afresh with a temporary recruitment agency the advice that we offer remains the same and can be applied to the company, the branch or indeed the individual.
1. Start as you mean to go on
You need to ask yourself are you capturing enough data first and foremost. Stacks of boxes full of application forms and invoices leave you with the pain of creating an insightful report that can
a) Show you your strengths allowing you to capitalize on them
b) Identify weaknesses before they become serious issues.
c) Create realistic targets and stick to them for the company and the recruiters.
Ask yourself what are the metrics that you cannot live without and put in place simple methods of collection via online forms, a smartphone application or clear guidelines among temps and clients.
At the very least you need to be able to pull a report in seconds that shows you the CVs you receive, the jobs that you have available, the revenue that you are generating as well as time based reports on how fast you can get paid per assignment overall and at a client level are of the utmost importance, particularly if you are a small agency. The right data will allow you to identify bottlenecks in your process.
2. Hire the right people
Once the targets are set you need the right people to hit them. A common trait of recruiters of any backgrounds is that they need tough skin to deal with the multitude of issues and questions that people will throw at them. Secondly, technical skills to find candidates and work efficiently and finally, that they can sell. If one of these three fundamentals is missing, don’t hire them.
3. Paper is the enemy
We are now in 2015 and yet there remains disconnect between front and back offices in agencies the length and breadth of the country. Millions is spent every year chasing invoices, chasing incorrect time sheets and fixing avoidable payroll blunders.
Technology not only connects you to your temp workforce it also helps to remove human error from any administrative process that you may come across. It is also a much cheaper way of gathering data whether it’s time sheets holiday requests or screening forms. Paper based processes are indeed the enemy and at every opportunity keep it out of your business.
4. The Right Technology Will Set You Apart
The agency that bridges the gap between their front and back office will undoubtedly power ahead of their competition and run more efficiently than the ones the cling to the status quo. More often than not, regardless of the size of an agency people will choose a technology solution they can work with rather than one that actually works. This usually means that there are numerous fragmented systems that (eventually) work together to define your process of booking temps.
But in the future of recruitment, while booking more temps will grow your business, there is now a conscious effort of the best agencies to change what has long been held as the standalone success factor, recruitment is no longer a completely sales driven business. Bill Boorman wrote a piece in June explaining important changes in the recruitment landscape agencies need to focus more on building relationships, becoming more connected and intelligent employer branding. The article outlines how people are now much more equipped to find jobs than ever before, which is putting a dent in how agencies find people and in how companies themselves find people.
We share in these thoughts of capitalizing on connectivity, building relationships, aggressive marketing and developing a unique sourcing model but we would like to take it a step further in terms of technology that will enhance an agencies ability to build lasting relationships.
At Tempbuddy we do not charge license fees we operate utility-based model that works in a market that is subject to seasonal and other fluctuations, you only pay for the temps you book and you pay a fraction of what our competitors will charge. Why should you pay a fixed monthly fee for booking more temps on month and less the following month. As the price of advertising and the cost of running an agency is increases why is it that very few vendors have adapted their pricing models for systems that by their very design our sold to agencies as fragmented software.
We believe the reason is because that is how it has always been done, until now. Connecting your front middle and back office will enable you to provide an unparalleled and simplified service to both clients and candidates and save your agents hundreds if not thousands of hours over the course of their tenure in your agency and the flexible pricing model means you can redeploy the extra cash you have to focus on developing unique sourcing models, employee development and marketing.
Having multiple tech sources may provide you with the functionality that you need but the come at a significantly higher cost than an all in one solution, not the mention the complexity of compatibility and training costs and that is just for inside your own agency. In short, don’t be another agency with a solution they can work with, choose a solution that works.
5. Do you want the large workforce or do you want the best one?
1,000 temps that never disappoint the client are far better than 10,000 temps that do in some way or another. Employers who use temps need to be assured that not only can you deliver temps that will show up on the day but will have the required skills to tackle their workload and that they can be relied upon in the future should the need arise.
Do you have a process that goes beyond leaving a note in your ATS to alert you to when your best temps are available? It may take time to develop and it will definitely take time to perfect but one has to remember that knowledge is power.
Fundamentally, these five pieces of advice are difficult to achieve and require a new mindset that challenges the prevailing wisdom of how you should run a temp agency. If you can break down the silos, put together the fragmented pieces, weave together your clients and candidates with a streamlined process and surround yourself with good people success.
