The Recruiter’s Contract Staffing Blog

Sometimes, companies who hire a worker on a contract basis decide that they want to bring that person on staff full-time. This is known as a temp-to-direct (or temp-to-hire) situation. This beneficial for recruiters in a number of different ways.

First, they were able to make an initial placement with the company. Regardless of whether this was a current client or a new one, that’s a huge positive, not just because of the money earned from the placement, but also because of the potential it creates for future business. Temp-to-direct placements offer companies the ultimate in flexibility because officials can see how the contractor will work out before extending an offer of full-time employment. Those same officials are likely to remember recruiters who provided them with such flexibility.

We’re going to hi-jack our “Hiring Manager Series” for just a moment to introduce a new series of blogs that will revolve around some of the fundamental aspects of contract staffing for recruiters. We realize that contracting, despite the fact it can be very profitable for direct-hire recruiters, can also be very daunting because of its perceived complexity. Contract staffing is nowhere near as complex as it’s often made out to be.

What’s just as important to hiring managers and companies these days as flexibility?  Time, that’s what.

These days, time is just as much of a precious commodity as cash flow or other valuable resources.  Companies can’t afford to waste time in any of their various endeavors, and this includes the hiring of important personnel.  The hiring process is often wrought with time drains, which serve to severely hinder productivity in a number of different ways.

In business, as in life, you’re often limited by what options you have available to you.  This is especially the case for companies when they’re attempting to secure the best and brightest people.  The goal, of course, is to recruit and then hire the best candidates and then transition them so they can put their skills to work and make the company more profitable.

Unfortunately, hiring workers on a direct-hire basis only often limits the options.  In other words, it prohibits companies from benefitting fully from what the workforce has to offer in terms of personnel and human capital.  However, by hiring contractors to supplement their full-time workforce, companies can effectively create more options and take full advantage of the talent that’s available.

Since between 70% and 80% of all companies in the United States use contractors to some degree, there’s often not a whole lot of convincing that recruiters have to do if they want to place contractors at their clients.  In fact, in many cases, it’s the hiring manager who has to convince the recruiter to find contract candidates for them. Think about that for a second. The recruiter asks the hiring manager if they have any direct-hire job orders. The manager says no, but that they’re looking to fill some contract positions and they’d like help with them. The recruiter is wary . . . after all, they were looking forward to a direct-hire search.

Before discussing the benefits associated with alternative solutions in a more detailed fashion, let’s list them in their entirety.  They include the following:

1. Contract staffing
2. Temp-to-direct conversions
3. Retiree re-staffing
4. Internships/co-ops

Although all of the above are unique and vary depending upon situations and circumstances, all four are similar in the fact that they can provide needed flexibility during seemingly inflexible economic conditions.  This is not to suggest that they replace hiring employees on a full-time basis.  Instead, these staffing solutions complement a company’s direct-hire efforts in order to produce a diverse, comprehensive, and ultimately, more effective hiring strategy.  Below are specific ways in which this strategy can benefit you.

In today’s ever-challenging business environment, flexibility can be difficult to come by, and ironically, it’s just when you need it the most that it seems to be in the shortest supply.

Hiring is no different.  When certain conditions arise, it’s often difficult to utilize traditional avenues for solving hiring problems.  As a result, it’s critical that companies remain open to alternative staffing solutions, ones that can not only meet a need, but also provide a measure of flexibility in the process.

Do your clients currently find themselves in one of the following situations (or have so in the past)?

How, exactly, does contracting provide flexibility?  There are three main ways.

First of all, contractors can be brought on board quickly, often to meet short-term deadlines.  Second, companies can reduce layoffs by using contractors to meet increased workloads.  Third, contractors can offer a fresh perspective on the various issues that companies face.  Fourth, companies have the option of hiring contractors on a direct-hire basis . . . or just letting them go at the end of their contract assignment.  Flexibility is the key.

In order to maximize your productivity and keep your pipeline as full as possible throughout all of 2010, it’s critical that you accurately assess your clients’ needs.  The easiest way in which to accomplish that, of course, would be to ask them.  However, depending upon the type of relationship you have with each one (including the length of time they’ve been a client), that might not be a feasible option.

Considering what has happened in the U.S. economy over the course of the past 15 months, what are your clients’ workforce planning needs for 2010? Will they differ from what they were last year . . . or remain the same?  In my next series of blogs, I’m going to explore the importance of your clients’ workforce planning and how you can make yourself more a part of that planning this year.

First and foremost, workforce planning can be defined as a company’s efforts to accurately analyze its current staffing situation and then determine what adjustments should be made in order to meet any needs or challenges it might be facing.  There are a few major components of workforce planning, which are listed below:

While direct-hire recruiting took a hit in 2009, contracting continued its steady climb. Money paid to recruiters for contract placements made through Top Echelon Contracting rose for the fourth straight year.  Not only that, but contract staffing continued to expand into more industries and specialties last year.  This growth substantiates the popularity of contract staffing with client companies across the country.

The four disciplines that experienced growth based on the number of contractors placed in 2009 included the following:

1. Information Technology (18%)
2. Engineering & Manufacturing (13%)
3. Business Professionals & Support Staff (16%)
4. Finance & Accounting (10%)