• Temporary staffing refers to the practice of hiring employees for a fixed period or as temporary hires on an as-needed basis rather than for permanent roles. The demand for temporary staff is very high.
• Benefits of outsourcing temp staff include: reduced recruitment costs, less admin, flexibility, expertise and specialised knowledge.
• Draw up a business plan, consider target market and marketing strategy, form a client network and recruit employees.
• You must register your business, secure appropriate insurance and decide on the legal structure. Depending on your location, you may need to obtain certain licences or permits in order to operate. 
• Consider enlisting professionals to help handle the financial components of your staffing agency.

How To Set Up A Temporary Staffing Agency

Considering launching a temporary staffing agency? Perhaps you like the idea of being your own boss or maybe you’re drawn to how much the industry is growing. Whatever your motivations, starting a temporary staffing agency is an exciting and potentially very rewarding venture. If launched and managed appropriately, temporary staffing agencies have the potential to grow rapidly and become very successful.

Today, the demand for temporary staff is very high. Many organisations are choosing to outsource their staff from a temporary recruitment agency. . This is because staffing agencies offer companies help to find the most suitable candidates in a short time, providing expertise and covering admin.

This guide will equip you with the knowledge you need to navigate the setup process of a temporary staffing agency – from how to understand the market, to the requirements and costs you’ll face. We’ll finish by providing our step-by-step guide to show you how to start a staffing agency successfully.

Here at New Millennia, we specialise in providing back office and finance services for startup staffing agencies. As you embark on this journey, you can be sure we will be there every step of the way to provide the support and solutions you need for success.

What is a temp staffing agency and why are they valuable? 

Temporary staffing agencies act as a bridge between businesses and workers seeking temporary work opportunities; they meet the growing demand for flexible staffing solutions in sectors like hospitality and the events industry.

Both parties gain something of value: businesses benefit from streamlining their hiring process, and the workers gain quick and diverse access to employment options. Day-to-day, your staffing agency will create job postings, assess applications and connect qualified candidates with employers.

What is temporary staffing? 

Temporary staffing is the hiring of employees for a fixed period or temporary basis rather than for permanent roles. These roles can range from short-term assignments to longer contracts, offering both employers and workers greater adaptability in the workforce.

Why businesses use temporary staffing 

Temp staffing provides flexibility to organisations, allowing them to fill urgent gaps without the commitment of permanent hires. For example, in the healthcare sector, this often involves placing healthcare professionals, such as nurses, doctors and allied health staff, into positions where there is a temporary need. This might be due to staff shortages, maternity leave or seasonal demand.

Why should I start a temporary staffing agency? 

There are a few reasons why companies might outsource their staff via a temp staffing agency:

Reduced recruitment costs: hiring temporary staff through a temp agency eliminates the need for companies to invest time and resources in advertising open positions, screening resumes, conducting interviews, and handling onboarding processes.

Less admin: a staffing agency will help with sourcing, interviewing and training potential candidates – saving workload and resources.

Flexibility: outsourcing temporary staff allows companies to scale their workforce up or down quickly based on fluctuating needs. This is particularly valuable for seasonal services like a wedding caterer or retail staff during a festive period.

Expertise and specialised knowledge: A temp staffing agency can provide valuable insight into staffing regulations and ensure compliance by ensuring workers are eligible to work.

How do temp staffing agencies make money?

Temporary staffing agencies make money by charging employers a markup on the wages paid to temporary workers. This markup typically covers the agency’s overhead costs including recruitment, screening, training and administrative expenses, as well as providing a profit margin. For example, if a temporary healthcare worker is paid $20 per hour, the agency may charge the employer $30 per hour, with the difference ($10 per hour) being the agency’s profit. 

Temporary staffing agencies may also charge additional fees for services such as background checks, training or expedited placements. The exact markup can vary depending on the industry and the agency’s pricing structure. The cost of launching a temporary staffing agency will depend on your chosen scope and specialty so unfortunately there is no one-size-fits-all answer. 

However, there are some key costs to keep in mind if you are considering starting a temporary staff agency:

Establishment costs: these include forming a business entity, securing the necessary insurance, leasing a physical space and purchasing hardware like computers.

Software: you’ll also need to invest in software to streamline your workflow, such as payroll processing systems. Alternatively, if you choose to outsource back-office functions for your staffing agency, the accounting firm will have its own software.

Marketing: allocate a substantial portion of your budget for advertising in the initial stages of starting a staffing agency. This will ensure you reach and attract potential clients.

Potential Issues When Starting a Temporary Recruitment Agency

Another key consideration is that temporary staffing agencies face a unique cash flow challenge. You’ll likely pay your temporary workers on a weekly basis, but clients may take longer to settle their invoices, often paying monthly. This delay can disrupt your cash flow but partnering with a specialised recruitment funding and payroll firm is a good way to ensure your staffing agency remains financially healthy. 

They will help bridge the gap between your expenses and client payments, ensuring you can pay your employees sufficiently and operate smoothly.

Whilst factoring is an option, an alternative funding solution is a risk-free solution with one fixed cost – no drawdown percentage, setup costs or minimum fees.

How To Set Up A Temporary Staffing Agency

Starting a temporary staffing agency requires careful consideration – before making the decision there are some factors to weigh up. 

Goals. Both long-term and short-term, the clearer the goals, the better the execution. Drafting a business plan and taking the time to define your target market and competitive strategy will be highly beneficial for the success of your staffing services.

To guide you through the process, follow our six-step guide to help you set up your staffing agency:

Research And Find The Target Market

Launching a successful staffing agency hinges on thorough market research. Analyse different industries to identify where your company can best fill the gap. The three main staffing industry areas are office, industrial and professional. It’s also worth considering that prior experience in a particular field can be valuable and allow you to offer targeted experience.

Develop A Business Plan 

• Agency name
• Your niche
• A marketing plan
• A financial strategy
• Clear business goals.

Requirements To Open A Staffing Agency 

There are certain requirements to consider when setting up a temp agency. It’s important to familiarise yourself with the laws applying to temporary staffing agencies – this will be essential to stay compliant with regulations.

Decide on the legal structure for your staffing agency. Common options include sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC) or corporation. Each has advantages and possible disadvantages regarding taxes, liability and ownership. Once you’ve chosen a business structure, you’ll need to check for name availability and register your business name with the appropriate government agency.

Depending on your location, you might then need to obtain specific licences and permits to operate a temporary staffing service. Secure the appropriate business insurance. Consider general liability insurance, professional liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance.

Finances For Starting A Temporary Staffing Agency

You need to ensure you’re keeping accurate working records, that your payroll is efficient and that you’re compliant with tax law. By delegating financial tasks to professionals, you’ll also free up valuable time to focus on core business activities like building client relationships and making placements – these are essential keys to growing a successful temporary staff agency.

Consider enlisting professionals to help you with the financial components of your temporary staffing agency.

Form A Client Network

Build a website that shows your abilities and the distinct features of your staffing services. Other channels to consider are recruiting networks like LinkedIn, social media, referrals, personal networks etc. You can also find potential clients through advertisements, email marketing, social media and professional networks.

Recruit Employees

While you can certainly launch your temporary staffing agency solo, building a strong team further along the line is crucial for long-term success.  As your business grows and you take on more placements, having a dedicated team can help you streamline operations, provide a wider range of expertise, and ultimately, better serve your clients. You can start by hiring for the most critical roles and gradually expand your team as your business needs evolve.

How to Grow Your Temporary Staffing Agency

Once you have established your temporary staffing agency, the next step is to grow it. Building on existing relationships, networking, diversifying, developing expertise or considering ways to expand and market your staffing agency are some ways you can look to grow your business. If you’re looking to grow your temporary staffing agency, start to strategise your expansion plans.

Related News

How to Grow Your Temporary Staffing Agency

Networking To Grow Your Startup Recruitment Agency

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The post How To Set Up A Temporary Staffing Agency appeared first on New Millennia.

To help you along the way we’ve put together a few little tips and different ways you could think about expanding:

Build on existing relationships

Your current clients are one of the best opportunities you have for growing your temporary recruitment agency. Ensure you’re offering the best level of service possible, then start enquiring about other ways you can support them and different departments you could be introduced to.

Diversify your offer

Expanding in to different areas opens up new markets for your business, helping it to grow. If you focus on temporary positions, could you expand in to permanent roles? If you specialise in HR could expanding in to a new sector you have experience in, such as marketing, be a way to take your agency to the next level.

Be the expert

Use the power of social media to establish yourself as the expert in your industry. Share relevant content and opinion pieces on LinkedIn, and other relevant channels, to build your own profile and that of your agency.

Consider hosting an event

Right now it’s tricky to grow through attending networking events, so why not consider hosting your own event? This could be a webinar where you share advice and guidance, allowing you to gather valuable connections and further build your profile across your industry.

Review your process

Look at how you manage the process of making a fee from start to finish. Is it a consistent process? Will all clients be onboarded and follow the same steps before, during and after you make a placement? Think about how you can improve your process to optimise your time and deliver the best possible level of service.

Grow your team

Is it time to add a new member to your team? Choosing someone who also specialises in your niche strengthens your brand, or you may decide to work with a recruiter who can open up a new sector. Alternatively you may find an assistant is what you really need to free up your time!

Reviews and referrals

Asking your clients to leave reviews for your business is a great way to promote your brand. Asking for referrals can be a little trickier, however if you create content they want to share on LinkedIn for example, this can help push your brand out to their wider network.

Build an email list

Investing in your marketing is so important if you’re serious about growing your agency. One great way to do this is by building an email list of people happy to receive your content. Think about content that could help you attract new clients, such as e-books, white papers or the latest industry news.

Develop your website

If you’ve always relied on recommendation and direct marketing then you might not have put much time in to your website. Developing your online brand can be a great way to grow your business, so think about maintaining a regular blog or look at improving the user experience.

Invest in technology

Whether it’s a new tool to add automation to the recruitment process, or a more effective software for managing your workflow, it can be worth investing in technology. Spend time looking around as there are lots of different recruitment tools out there.

Outsource your back office functions

If your time keeps getting tied up with admin, then remove that workload so you can concentrate on growing your business. Outsourcing your back office functions can save you time and money, get in touch with our team to discuss a bespoke solution.

The post How to Grow Your Temporary Staffing Agency appeared first on New Millennia.

Recruitment is a very sociable industry, built around making connections and bringing those connections together to make successful employer-employee relationships. The question remains how do you get to know the people you’re going to need to grow your agency?

As a startup recruitment agency, you need to be networking with potential clients and connecting and engaging with potential candidates too, not to mention making personal connections with like-minded professionals, connections that could help your business grow.

So, let’s get down to how…

Online

Social media is an unexpected recruiting and networking tool which really shouldn’t be being missed. Overall there are some basic rules which all platform profiles should be following, such as:

1. Completing profiles
2. Achieving symmetry across all platforms
3. Posting regular content
4. A quick response time will mean you can connect with people when they are able and willing to do so, keep checking in so you can respond before they lose interest or forget about you.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is your go-to social media platform as a recruiter, but what about growing that agency?  Establish yourself as an expert in the field by publishing researched and insightful articles, commenting on others’ and getting involved with healthy friendly debate and conversation.

Join Groups: Groups are a brilliant way to network online with a group of like-minded, like-aimed individuals working within your industry, this is one of the closest things to a ‘networking event’ that you will have online.

Twitter: Twitter is really your crossover of personal and business, B2B is strong on Twitter, as are professional interactions, but equal to personal activity, so a strong presence here will get you access to all kinds of connections, businesses (potential clients), candidates and peers! Hashtags can help you to get involved in the right conversations, so explore them and use relevant ones!

Instagram:  While this might not work equally well for all industries, you’ll find a very welcoming and engaged audience on this platform and a lot of inspiration, so a positive and engaging young startup recruitment agency may do well here. According to TechCrunch, Instagram stories reached ‘500 million daily active users’ in January of 2019, and through this, the use of DM (that’s direct messages) on Instagram has risen too. Use this to your advantage and start some conversations!

Email: Capture email addresses online and send out recruitment newsletters – to your candidates, yes, but also to your peers, a monthly low down from your startup recruitment agency including thoughts on the industry changes is a great way to engage with your peers, fellows or competition whilst pegging yourself as a knowledgeable industry expert.

Messaging: We’re not sure if this one should sit in on or offline really, so we’ve kept it right here in the middle. Of the connections you make at offline networking events, create a Whatsapp group with a small number who you’d like to solidify relationships with, ideally a group who can help each other to succeed. Try starting with 3 or 5, and create a little ‘pod’, then you can each add relevant connections who might be interested, and so the connection pool grows steady and strong.

Offline

Events:  Attending regular local events, bigger events in surrounding cities or as far afield as you feel is necessary can be great for first meetings and meeting up with those you’ve connected with virtually.

You might also consider holding your own events, these could be small or large but by putting your startup recruitment agency in the driver’s seat, you’ll be able to connect with all attendees and develop these relationships further.

Colleges and Universities: Striking up relationships with them means you have access to and a preexisting presence in the minds of the next generation of the workforce.  Holding special events for the graduates is a great way to solidify and secure this relationship in preparation for their entry to the workforce.

Top Tips

Our top tips for your overall networking strategy, both on and offline:

• Don’t be shy:  Don’t be afraid to say what you do and why you’re there, on or offline.  Attention spans are short on social media so although the way you word your messages matters, getting the point across clearly and quickly is also vital.
• Don’t be pushy:  Not everyone wants to be targeted as a potential connection, client or recruit.  If your picking up signals that individuals aren’t interested in connecting with you don’t push too hard. Online, especially on the likes of Instagram, can you engage individuals in other more subtle ways, like with your content.
• Be Yourself: Recruitment can be perceived as being a little salesy, and we’re living in a time where authenticity and transparency rule, so just be yourself.
• Do Your Research: Don’t turn up on a social media platform or to a networking event, ready to connect without knowing your audience and their purpose for being there. To misconstrue a networking event could do you more harm than good. However, if you’re following tips number two and three, you shouldn’t have any issues here.
• Always Connect: If you’ve spoken in person or via comments on social media, make the connection by exchanging cards, following their profiles or interacting with their latest LinkedIn posts, whatever seems fitting, but do something to connect further.
• Follow Up: Making a connection is great, but lives are busy and so is business, so if you don’t follow up then your connection will weaken and may melt away. Follow up and keep building on the relationship.

The post Networking To Grow Your Startup Recruitment Agency appeared first on New Millennia.

Social media

Placing itself as the go-to place to connect, personally, professionally and even romantically – social media is not a tool to be underestimated. Here your startup recruitment agency can begin to connect with clients, businesses and candidates engaging in a job search.  LinkedIn is the social media platform which springs to mind when we discuss recruitment, and your presence here should be active. LinkedIn profiles are virtual CVs showing experience, who might be ready for their next opportunity, employed, unemployed or actively looking for employment.

However, LinkedIn is not the only social media platform you can be utilising! Not only should you take the time to engage with any brands and businesses who sit within your target audience on Twitter and Instagram, but you should also be targeting potential clients on these platforms, who are open to your services, those posting about vacancies or ‘hiring now’. These businesses are already looking for services like yours and are therefore primed and ready to approach.

You’ll also find a vast pool of candidates ready to be wooed on social media platforms.  Target those hashtagging things like #jobsearch #careerchange or #hireme.  Also, when posting, be sure to use hashtags like #applynow #jobsearch or #nowhiring as job seekers will already be following these hashtags to sniff out prospective job prospects.

Encourage Referrals

After having built a positive relationship with either an individual or a company do not be afraid to ask for referrals, recommendations and reviews! If the business values your talents, they will more than likely be able to refer you to other companies or connections they work with.

You might also ask your clients for testimonials and to include their logo on your site to showcase the satisfied clients you have worked with, encouraging others to put faith in your startup recruitment agency and also giving you content to promote across social media platforms while you build your presence there.

Networking

This will be no revelation, but it’s so vital that, as a startup recruitment agency, you network; and this can take many forms, all of which you should explore.  Attend a vast selection of business networking events; intimate or large, one-off and regular meetings, morning, lunchtime and evening events.  It might be time-consuming; however, as you know, as an entrepreneur and growing business, your business grows with the time you put in.  Should you only frequent the same networking event each week you will limit your opportunities to meet clients and candidates, so mix it up, rotate and make your presence known; speak, introduce and follow up!

Email Marketing

Email marketing, generally speaking, does have a relatively low return; however, it is still a valuable form of contact in terms of keeping your agency name fresh in the minds of your leads.  Gradually build your email marketing list, always updating, and keep your communications regular and relevant.  Weekly or monthly contact will mean that when these contacts do need a recruitment agency you are a name and brand that they are familiar with.

Following Up

All leads should be followed up, or you’re wasting your own opportunities.  If you give yourself a template for following up, you’ll know you and your team are doing all you can to secure that lead as a new client.

For example, this might be that you almost immediately make contact virtually, via email, social media, WhatsApp, Linkedin etc, then follow up a set amount of time later, maybe after one week then one month.  Record the progression of this relationship in a tracker which can be accessed by all staff so everyone may see where these leads are going or if they are still active.

Candidates

Nurture each positive candidate relationship you have. Unless there is a valid reason you don’t want to work with this recruit again, concentrate on nurturing this relationship, ensure that you keep the contact so that they might return to you again and again, and beyond this refer you to their peers and contacts.

The post Sourcing Clients For Your Startup Recruitment Agency appeared first on New Millennia.

Ordinarily, this is a process which HR might undertake, perhaps there are forms, packages and talks in place, ready for the candidate when they walk into their new position, or perhaps there aren’t. We, however, are entertaining the notion that maybe this onboarding process has already begun before candidates even enter the workplace. Should onboarding start with the recruitment agency?

Firstly let’s clarify what we mean by onboarding; the onboarding process introduces the new recruits to the ways of the company, the company culture, beliefs, values, products and services. This is often seen as a transition phase, from interviewee to integrated member of the team.

Why?

So, why might recruitment agencies look at integrating this as part of their service? Surely once the candidate is placed you’ve completed your job successfully, right? Well, yes, but here are a few reasons for why you might consider extending your services a little further:

It’s good for the worker:

The worker has been dealing with you, the recruitment agency, you pass them over to the client, and everyone will be happy, but how much more satisfied will your candidate be if they are already a little prepared for the workplace they’re about to enter – already a little more onboard? This will build a much stronger relationship between your agency and the candidate, meaning they are more likely to trust, recommend and return to you should they need your services again.

It’s good for the client:

The client is obviously your most important relationship in this situation, so keeping them satisfied from start to finish is the best thing you can do. A strong onboarding programme has been proven to increase the likelihood that a candidate will stay in that job for longer, music to your client’s ears. Mackenzie Jones reported figures from Equifax which suggested that of those who left their jobs, more than 50% did so within the first year. So if you can have a small hand in ensuring your candidate is smoothly integrated into their new position, you’ll be providing not only excellent service at the time but lasting satisfaction too, while again building strong relationships!

Good for company culture:

If you’re a startup recruitment agency, you may only be discovering and creating your company culture, or you may be trying to redefine and sharpen the company culture of an established firm. Either way, in 2018 a company culture which can show that is has a focus on something other than just profit and growth is a positive one. While this is often an external or charitable cause, but it can just as easily be a genuine concern and extra effort shown for their customers.

Good for reputation:

By going the extra mile to satisfy the client, you’re forging a relationship with them; the client will recognise that they have experienced a slick transition with a company who have aligned with their needs and ultimately helped them to find, onboard and retain a new member of staff. They will be happy to have pre-prepared members of recruits who’re likely to stay with them for longer than a year.

How?

What might recruitment agencies do to assist in this process? Although this can be effective across the board, it may prove particularly useful when placing Temps, who will be needed to hit the ground running and quickly become effective in their roles.

This assistance in onboarding could include: as much information on the company as possible, including company and brand values, arranging a visit to the company premises or meeting with the manager and keeping the line of communication between you and the candidate open in case there are questions or issues.

Recruitment agencies may also wish to communicate with the client around their current onboarding processes; if they are open to improvements that can be made in their own onboarding process, this may be a line of consultancy that you could look to offer going forward.

The post What Is The Onboarding Process For Recruitment Agencies? appeared first on New Millennia.

Businesses in 2018 need to be projecting and creating an incredibly strong company culture to compete. Choosing what kind of company you want to become, who you want to do business with yourself and who you want to attract to fit the brand image all comes under that umbrella.

The company culture that your recruitment agency creates is how your clients and customers see you; their experiences with you as a company, the service they have received and the communications they have shared with you.

Ultimately it comes down to creating a positive, competitive reputation, but the reputation starts with the company culture. So, how can you be ensuring that your startup recruitment agency is projecting and creating a healthy and appealing company culture?

Service To Staff

This is the most relevant point of company culture, culture is ‘the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society’, so the culture really is created within the company’s people and radiates out from here.

To become a top noted company for a thriving culture, your people need to be well looked after. Staff need to be well treated, comfortable to speak up, able to communicate horizontally and vertically within the company without issue. All manner of human rights regulations should be met and extra measures beyond them, this all begins with high-quality moral leadership skills.

Service To Clients

Putting your clients’ needs at the forefront of the services you offer. The way in which you communicate with them, attentively, cooperatively and consistently, is going to put you at the front of the queue when your clients are recommending or returning.

Service To Candidates

This goes hand in hand with point two. Your candidates, temps and workers order valium online are another kind of customer, you’d like them to return should they be job hunting again and you want them to speak highly of your company, to add to that positive reputation you’re building.

Social Good

What does your recruitment agency do for the social good? If the answer is currently nothing, then take this as your nudge to find a cause. As the workforce and the business landscape accepts more and more millennials, Gen Zs and young startups into its fold, the demand and desirability for companies who care is rising. Young startups are likely to prefer doing business with a recruitment agency who shows themselves to have a conscience; this might be anything from helping the environment, aiding the homeless, promoting positive mental health throughout their brand or strong benefits and care provided for their employees.

External Offerings

Offering something a little extra to both internally and externally also develops your company culture and reputation. Internally, you could offer constant and varied learning opportunities for your workforce, externally, learning opportunities can be given as follows:
Blogs: This is the easiest extra offering that most recruitment companies are already trying to offer for SEO purposes, but if you can provide a blog with lots of valuable, juicy information ready for your readers, professionals and job seekers alike, it will help you to raise your status as a knowledgeable and trustworthy agency.

If you can offer extra learning opportunities on top of this, whitepapers, short courses or PDF’s and downloads, then this too will boost that reputation for trustworthiness.
Events: Depending on your size and place in the industry, this could even stretch to events. If you can become either involved in or the organiser of events, this is most definitely going to raise your profile as a crucial player in the industry too.

Every aspect of the above mentioned are factors in building a positive, attractive reputation by strengthening your overall company culture, attacking from all angles to improve any point of weakness.

The post Company Culture And Building Reputations For Recruitment Agencies appeared first on New Millennia.

What Are Soft Skills?

So, what are soft skills and why should you be looking for them as an essential addition to your candidate’s skill set. New York Times writer, Daniel Goleman, describes “soft skills like discipline, drive and empathy” as the “mark of those who emerge as outstanding”.

Soft skills are a combination of people skills, social skills, teamwork and communication, with all of the qualifications in the world, these skills are essential to successfully adapting to a workplace.

Many may downplay the importance of these skills, but as competition in so many industries is high and rising; these skills are one way that, as a recruiter, you may be able to set candidates apart and rationally make decisions.  If you have, for example, two candidates with five years of experience in the tech industry, managerial experience and a passion for the job, the one with effective communication skills and an ability to manage their peers well is clearly your strongest candidate.

Why are these skills so important?

Connections and interpersonal skills have changed, we are more connected than ever through social media, email, instant messaging and so much more.  The ability to effectively communicate with those one works with across all of these platforms, not only in the office and face to face,  is essential.

These skills can help employees overcome issues such as disagreements in the workplace.  For example, if those colleagues who don’t agree but need to present together possess the soft skills to compromise and overcome differences, this will make both colleagues much more successful in completing their task.

As workplaces continue to become more and more diverse, the ability to be cooperative, to compromise, communicate and work as a team are increasingly desirable traits for employers and recruitment professionals to find.

A Few More Soft Skills You Might Want To Look Out For:

Being A Team Player

Knowing how to function as part of a team and not just how to fly solo is a powerful tool. Those who can work as a team, towards a collective goal are people who recruiters should be looking for.

Seeing Criticism As Constructive

Being able to see criticism and the passing comments of others as constrictive and something to work on, not as a negative can be a huge benefit to the growth of the candidate and the company.

The Ability To Listen

Find a candidate who has the ability to listen to others, to take on the opinions and ideas of colleagues.  It’s easy to find candidates who are eager to share their own ideas and succeed in showing off their own skills, even at the cost of the company.  However, finding a candidate who is willing to put the company first is a thing to be desired.

A Strong Work Ethic

Hard work, dedication and loyalty are cornerstones of a strong work ethic, and if you can find and recruit candidates who hold these qualities, you’ll have gained yourself a hardworking personality.

Try turning your attention to the soft skills on offer to you in the candidate search, not only the hard skills and see the benefit that you or your clients can gain.

The post Searching For Soft Skills In The Hiring Process appeared first on New Millennia.

1) LIES VS EMBELLISHMENTS

Many candidates tell white lies on their CVs or exaggerate their experience and areas of expertise during the screening process, this is a widely known, accepted and generally is relatively harmless, the candidate’s job at this point, is, after all, to sell themselves to you, the recruiter, and highlight and sell their areas of expertise. However, be vigilant of particularly flamboyant CVs with ‘too good to be true’ experience; this may well be accurate information, but a little background check and reference checking will tell you whether or not it’s legit and accurate or not. You or your clients don’t want to discover that they were a little more than white lies, further down the line.

2) CLASSING CANDIDATES AS ‘OVERQUALIFIED’

A common and possibly one of the most frustrating rejection reasons is ‘you were too overqualified for the position’. What does this mean? The candidate has too good a grasp on the industry? Too much skill and expertise in the area? They’d be too good at the job? Surely you want the best and most qualified candidate that you can find.

On occasion, you may find, for example, that a candidate who has worked in management will struggle to fit the culture of the team or struggle with being managed rather than managing. However, this is more down to the individual and their personality fit rather than their experience; meet them, interview them and give them the chance to impress you, rather than writing them off early doors. There’re an increasing amount of professionals who’re looking to change career paths, move down the career ladder or take a small step back or horizontally even.

Overqualified shouldn’t instantly mean a bad fit for you; you could miss a brilliant hire.

3) AN IMPERFECT PROCESS

This isn’t, or shouldn’t be, a one person job. One person may be in charge of the final decisions or task overall, but hiring a candidate takes more than one employee and there should be a tried, tested and reviewed process in place for screening candidates. The second pair of eyes and outside perspective is always beneficial for any task, not just when screening candidates; candidate potential may be missed, or previous knowledge of the individual might be offered for example. The internal process should cover the CV and all interviewing stages. Is there a route through which the CV must travel, logged in a certain way? Similarly, the interviews should all be recorded and reported in the same way, going one step further, the process for responses should be structured; this is not to say that the whole process should be impersonal, just regulated.

4) SETTLING BECAUSE YOU NEED TO FILL THE POSITION

You review CV’s for a reason, because you’re trying to find the right person for the team, for the organisation. As recruitment professionals, this is a struggle you’re only too familiar with; however, this is no excuse to ‘settle’. Settling will not satisfy you or your client in the long run, if they’re not perfect but have potential then great, but if they’re not right then don’t settle. That said…

5) REJECTING WORTHY CANDIDATES BECAUSE YOU’RE WAITING FOR THE PERFECT CANDIDATE

…is another rooky mistake, because, as we’ve stated previously – there’s not such thing! Your short list of potential candidates is sure to contain some good options, and even if they’re not ideal, is there training that could be applied to mould them? Of course, if your only options really aren’t fitting then keep searching, but don’t fall into the trap of either rejecting, or waiting and losing, potentially strong candidates just in case a better one is around the corner; each situation is unique, but usually, job openings do have a deadline!

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This, seemingly simple, function launched last month was intermittently tested during a soft launch and caused many to eagerly ask when Google Jobs was ‘coming to the UK?’.

Google Jobs allows job seekers to type in either ‘jobs’, a specific job title, ‘jobs in location’ or even ‘jobs near me’ – tapping into location services – and wait mere moments to be presented with a clear and familiar results box at the head of the Google results page. It’s almost strange that this hasn’t always been a possibility for us!

We’re an increasingly impatient population, and for many of us, by necessity or desire, the job search is becoming a regular past time. So it’s only logical that one of the world’s biggest behavioural influencers and information providers has produced a way for us to access all of the most relevant job information in one easy to digest bulletin.

Google, as it would for any information search, draws the most relevant information from the most relevant sites, in this case – job sites. So this might be the likes of Indeed, Monster, Total Jobs or even LinkedIn. It’s not an entirely new functionality, just a clearer and more effective way of Google satisfying its job seekers.

But, what does this mean for recruitment professionals? Has this meant a change in the day to day or month to month for recruitment agencies?

The introduction of Google’s own jobs aggregator will, of course, breathe fear into many existing aggregators as this substantial international organisation barges into their territory. However, Google has released a list of job aggregators which it is ‘integrated’ with and there is plenty of reason to believe that there will be the opportunity for more to join this list. So if this is something that your organisation would be interested in pursuing check to see how you can partner with Google and if you currently list jobs with an aggregator, check to see if they are already partnering with Google Jobs.

If you list your own jobs and want the opportunity to be recognised and pulled by Google to be presented as an option in Google Jobs, you’ll need to look at the back end of your site and listings. Google gives guidelines on how to optimise your listings, such as altering the HTML and tagging your listings correctly should increase your chances of appearing, so this might be one for IT.

“Adding structured data makes your job postings eligible to appear in a special user experience in Google Search results.” – Developers, Google

Every move that Google makes, every product they release and update they create has the user and user journey in mind. User experience is not only a buzzword in business in 2018 but a necessity if those businesses want to be successful.

Rather than seeing this new tool as competition, it’s important that industry professionals approach this as an opportunity. With the possibility to work with this new job search tool and capture a bigger audience, any recruitment agency, professional or jobs aggregator would be amiss not to take advantage, optimise themselves to gain a broader reach and make their customer’s experience as simple and as seamless as possible.

It’s possible that Google Jobs will be helping to fight the skills shortage and talent shortage that we both see and hear of so frequently in the UK. By bringing a new level of ease to those searching for jobs and hopefully more visibility to job posts most relevant to them, we could see more vacancies filled in the coming months and years.

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What do we mean? Well there’s no denying it, England brought passion back to the country, they lifted us up, and we them; although success was not to be for this year, having reached the farthest point in the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, they certainly gave us something!

The team that Southgate selected, built and nurtured had a positivity, a confidence (without being boastful) and a comradery that swept the nation along with it; together we cheered and experienced the wins and the losses, the near misses and the ultimate defeat.

We were not part of that success we were not there on the pitch and we did not score the goals, however as the England football team lead England as a country, we all believed in the end goal – that we would, in fact, ‘bring it home!’.

The take away we believe for any recruitment agency, or any business out there is to build your team and your agency mentality so that the whole group may benefit from the success of one another.

Company culture is hugely influential in the successes of any organisation and a weak or negative one can actually slow or hinder financial growth.

Success in the workplace should be celebrated. We have spoken before of how giving praise, in various forms, can boost the workplace morale and encourage more of the same; this is no revelation, but it is not always done. However, rather than bringing success and praise, drive and pride for one individual only and encouraging the other to ‘be more like them’, this success should be shared and should sweep the whole recruitment agency along with it, as England did this summer.

Southgate’s team were given freedom and flexibility to grow and settle into their own skills, giving them confidence in not only their own but others’ abilities. When this happens in a team, the members become less assuming, less judging, less anxious in regards to each other’s abilities and potential failings which could bring the team down. In turn the broader group, in this scenario, the rest of England, also have that confidence in the competence of the whole team to succeed, it lifts us and gives us drive.

Each member has their own role within and when they are focusing in on this and not worrying about how much they are benefiting the recruitment agency, their role will be completed more effectively. When the company or team experiences success, allow them to join and relish in it equally, concentrate on building a team who can cheer one another on and feel that that achievement was not only for a specific department or one individual but that they are all on the way to the next step or the next big account.

The next time you successfully place workers into a tricky position, secure new accounts or reach a target, try celebrating yourself and sharing this joy and gratitude with all corners of the office.

For example, perhaps marketing or finance were nothing to do, directly, with the achievement; however they should still feel that the whole office’s effort has contributed to reaching that target, that this is everyone’s achievement, not just sales.

This is what England and Gareth Southgate did for their home nation, they did their work, they focused on their goals and when they found success, found that they were able to climb the ladders they were trying to climb, the whole nation felt the drive and achievement with them, it was a group victory, well… almost!

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