The Recruiter’s Contract Staffing Blog

(This is the seventh and final entry in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting.  It includes a quote from a direct-hire recruiter who has successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)

(This is the sixth in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting.  It includes a quote from a direct-hire recruiter who has successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)

Fifth Fear—It’s too difficult to find contract candidates.

You won’t know which of the candidates in your database would be willing to work on a contract basis—and which would not—unless you ask them.  You might be surprised to discover how many candidates are choosing this option.  In fact, more and more workers in IT and Engineering are opting for the contract route.  Plus, there’s a new trend called “executive temping.”  It’s hot right now in the areas of Healthcare and Finance and is currently expanding to other industries, as well.

(This is the fifth in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting.  It includes a quote from a direct-hire recruiter who has successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)

Fourth Fear—It’s too difficult to get contract job orders from clients.

Between 70% and 80% of all companies in the United States utilize contract workers in one fashion or another, and that percentage has been rising steadily for the past several years.  The reasons that companies use contractors are almost endless—to complete projects, to meet deadlines, to see if the candidate will work out before committing to them on a full-time basis, to reduce employment costs, to maintain budget controls or headcount, etc.

(This is the fourth in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting.  It includes quotes from two direct-hire recruiters who have successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)

Third Fear—You won’t make as much money with contracting as you will with direct hire.

In many cases, you’ll make more money.  In essence, the only difference is the way in which recruiters receive their money from contract placements.  Instead of receiving it in one, big lump sum, you get paid for every hour the contractor works.  Because of that disparity, it’s often perceived that there’s less money in contracting than in direct hire.  However, that perception is just that—a perception.  In reality, contract placements are the type of placements that keep on giving, week after week and month after month.

(This is the third in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting.  It includes a quote from a direct-hire recruiter who has successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)Second Fear—Your direct-hire business will suffer as a result of contracting.

The interesting aspect of this fear is that not only isn’t it true, but exactly the opposite is true.  As difficult as it may be to believe, adding contracting to your business model can actually enhance your direct-hire efforts.  Why is that?  Because hiring managers are looking for solutions to their staffing challenges, and not all of those challenges are direct hire in nature.  If they have a need for a contractor, and you’re able to meet that need, they will be more likely to come back to you for their direct-hire job orders, as well.

(This is the second in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting.  It includes a quote from a direct-hire recruiter who has successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)First Fear—Contracting is too difficult to do.

This is perhaps the most common fear that recruiters harbor, and while it’s true that the administrative and legal issues associated with contracting can be daunting, many recruiters are unfazed by those issues and make contract placements, anyway.  There’s also a solution for recruiters who wish to avoid these issues altogether—and that’s to enlist a contract staffing service provider to take care of the issues for them.  This service provider is essentially the back-office, assuming responsibility for a wide range of tasks that must be handled properly, while the recruiter remains the front-office, continuing to close deals and make placements.

The fact of the matter is that there’s a lot of fear involved when it comes to contract staffing.  More specifically, there are many direct-hire recruiters who don’t offer contracting services to their client companies because they’re afraid.  What, exactly, they’re afraid of varies from person to person, but there are some common fears.

Of course, in order to conquer fears, you must face them.  With that in mind, I intend to address the fears that some recruiters harbor in regards to contract staffing.

You’ve heard of the age-old debate: quantity vs. quality.  That debate has been applied to a great many things, not the least of which is the amount of time people spend on the planet.  (“Yeah, he lived to be 90 years old, but were they 90 quality years?”)  As you can imagine, it can also be applied to recruiting, as a way in which to gauge whether or not the intangibles of the profession are taking their toll.

Problem #4 (Burnout)—With all of the compounded stress and frustration that the recruiting profession can dish out, it’s little wonder that some recruiters burn out.  And the scary part is that it doesn’t only happen to relatively new recruiters, either.  It can happen to anyone, regardless of whether it’s your first year in the business or you’re a 20-year veteran.  Recruiting is not a kind profession, to say the least, and it can wear down even the most hardened of search professionals.

Problem #3 (Uncertainty)—The U.S. economy isn’t in the greatest shape right now.  Depending on what industry and niche you work, there might not be that many direct-hire job orders at the moment.  That’s more than enough to make a recruiter jittery.  Will your clients institute a hiring freeze?  If they do, should you tough it out or try another niche?  How do you prepare for the worst-case scenario, should it transpire?  And just what the heck would the worst-case scenario entail?  The questions just never seem to end.

Problem #2 (Frustration)—Fall-offs, counter-offers, slumps, slow-moving decision makers, slow-paying clients, etc., etc.  You could write a book about the things that recruiters face on a daily basis.  Once all of that stress reaches a certain point, it evolves into frustration. Whatever happened to loving what you do for a living?  Sometimes, it’s easy to lose sight of that.

Contracting Solution—As I chronicled in a previous blog post, there are typically no fall-offs, counter-offers, or slow-moving decision makers with contract placements.  Consequently, there are far fewer reasons to experience frustration—at any stage of the process.  And there’s just no feeling quite like the one you get when a contract placement goes off without a hitch.  It’s like hitting a tennis ball on the “sweet spot” of your racket.  Contracting can help you find your recruiting “sweet spot.”

Problem #1 (Stress)—As a direct-hire recruiter, what’s typically the number-one source of your business-related stress?  Not knowing when your next placement check will be arriving in your mailbox, that’s what.  No matter how many placements you made the previous month, you always start the next month back at “square one.”  And all it takes is a few dry months for your stress-ometer to erupt into full-blown panic mode.

What are some of the aspects of your recruiting desk or business that you’d like to outsource to someone else?

Stress?  How about frustration?  Surely you could let somebody else deal with that.  What about uncertainty?

C’mon, now, you say.  Knock it off.  There’s no way to outsource that stuff.  Well, maybe not all of it.  But it is possible to get rid of some of it, and when you do, you’ll be glad it’s gone.

(This is the seventh and final blog in a series that examines the parts of the direct-hire placement process that differ from contract placement  and how contracting can be simpler, easier, and less stressful.)

As we’ve discussed during the past week, there are five aspects of direct-hire recruiting that you could probably do without—and we’re willing to bet there are probably more.  Of course, there is something that direct-hire placements provide that contracting placements do not, mainly a rather large check . . . as opposed to smaller amounts of money streaming in every month.

(This is the sixth in a series of blogs that examines the parts of the direct-hire placement process that differ from contract placement  and how contracting can be simpler, easier, and less stressful.)

5—The resistance movement

Direct-hire placement—Trying to get paid for making a permanent placement is often like trying to find a needle in a haystack . . . a really small needle.  As recruiters watch 30-day payments become 60 and 90 days, they must be wondering if one day they’ll have to wait six months until they see their check.  Plus, think about all of the valuable “recruiting” time that they’re spending on collections.