Someone once told me that being a recruiter is the most rewarding job in the world because every day, they get to put people to work. Furthermore, they continued, the effort I put into finding candidates a job helps them put food on the table and a roof over their heads. That kind of perspective is what sets one staffing company apart from another.
What should you look for in a Temp-to-Hire staffing provider to help guarantee success?
As we usually mention, our point of view will be skewed towards skilled trades (shameless plug to use us for all your skilled trade staffing needs, LOL). However, just in case you are not familiar with temp-to-hire staffing positions, a customer will usually have a staffing company search and identify candidates based on a job description provided by the customer, agreeing to the pay and bill rates, and the length of time required before the applicant can be hired without additional fees.
Get your pen and paper ready because one of the first questions you should ask is, “How many hours does the applicant need to work before I can hire them without additional fees?” Think of this as your try before you buy. It can vary, but most skilled trades positions will fall in the 500-600 hours range. That means for the first 500-600 hours, the staffing company is taking on the risk of worker’s compensation, onboarding them, I-9 verifications, W-4s, verifications, etc. And after those hours, you can hire them with little to no additional costs beyond what you have already paid. Low risk, high reward.
“At Superior Skilled Trades, we provide an 8-hour guarantee, and our standard length of term for temp-to-hire is 512 hours.”
Get that pen and paper ready. The next question you should ask is, “How strong is your pool of candidates for my need?”. Of course, you will get some fluff with any sales effort, but the idea is to get comfortable with the company you are talking with about your staffing needs, especially if you haven’t worked with them before. The key is to feel comfortable that the staffing company has “done this before” you don’t want to have a staffing company fill your jobs with day labor if you have a long-term need. Ask questions like, “Do you have a pool of people who meet my needs?” or “How quickly will it take to fill them?”.
“At Superior Skilled Trades we are constantly building pools of candidates to deploy at a moment’s notice. We have even filled jobs the same day the order was received in some cases.”
The next question is the one that sets the contenders from the pretenders in the staffing world, “What type of conversion rate, from temp to hire, can we expect from you?”. I will digress here and say, coming from a company that relies heavily on data, I don’t have exact figures just lying around, but we do have white papers highlighting specific scenarios. Temp-to-hire positions are like snowflakes. No two are exactly alike. But suppose your account manager can come back with actual data outlining a successfully executed temp-to-hire plan. In that case, your staffing company search is probably coming to an end, and we have a winner.
“Superior Skilled Trades has customers we have worked with for years, with temp-to-hire position conversion rates where 2 out every 3 temp-to-hire candidates get hired on full-time. Our experience and dedication have made us an integral part of their business model.”
Temp-to-hire labor is essential to many businesses and industries. Finding a staffing company that your synergies align with and has the dedicated mindset required to fill YOUR NEEDS can be the difference in your business exceeding your expectations or just being good enough. For most industries, a company’s greatest resource is the people that work for them, so taking the time to find the best of the best is crucial.
Superior Skilled Trades is a National Skilled Trades Staffing Provider. Visit our website at www.SuperiorSkilledTrades.com or call us at (888) 316-0692.
