Labor Shortage Solutions: Choosing the Right Recruiting Partner

With ongoing labor shortages, adding a staffing agency to your hiring strategy is an idea worth considering. An experienced recruiting partner can remove much of the hiring burden from your internal Human Resources team, allowing HR to devote more attention to onboarding, learning and development, and employee retention efforts. If you’ve never worked with a recruiting agency before, you may not know how to go about choosing the right HR partner.

Begin by clarifying your company’s needs. Conduct a thorough examination of your current staffing situation, and make a list of goals and expectations for your ideal partner agency.

What problems need solving?

Recruiting and hiring are always challenging, and the post-pandemic job market is exacerbating the problem for HR departments in every major industry. The sheer number of open positions are a large piece of the current staffing puzzle. Most companies need more people. But is that the whole picture for your business?

Minding the gaps

Consider the skills and knowledge gaps you’ve encountered since the Great Resignation began. Are they concentrated in certain areas that require immediate attention? Some industries have been hit harder than others by ongoing labor shortages, most notably skilled construction, manufacturing, and industrial positions, such as machinists, mechanics, and welders. Partnering with an experienced recruiter is a sound strategy for filling multiple open positions at once.

Finding a good fit

Before you select a staffing partner, it’s essential to make sure its services fit your company’s needs. Each agency comes with its own benefits, strengths, and specialties. Ask yourself the following questions before making a final decision. Does your potential staffing partner:

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of your brand? The agency you choose acts as an extension of your organization and sets the tone for how talent views your business. Make sure your partner agency can represent your company, mission, and values.
• Have experience hiring in your industry? Pay attention to each agency’s history of candidate and industry placement for similar positions. Your agency partner will be the first point of contact for candidates, so its industry reputation is paramount.
• Engage with your HR department? Your chosen agency needs a solid understanding of your company culture and the knowledge and patience necessary to find candidates you can develop into long-term team members. An invested agency will take the time to visit your site and engage extensively with your HR team to learn and understand your recruiting needs.
• Prioritize diversity and inclusion in its talent pool? Ensure your own diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are respected and implemented in hiring. Every new employee will affect your workplace dynamic and culture, and it is essential to ensure your partner agency understands and honors your company values and DEI policies.
• Know enough about your company to answer candidate questions? A comprehensive understanding of your business, how it works, and what you expect from your employees is a critical recruiting tool. The ability to answer questions competently and completely builds your company’s credibility with talent. The staffing agency you choose must know enough about your business to vet candidates.

Built to last

Finding the right fit is essential to the success of any business partnership. With an HR partner, good results will contribute to a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship. Invest as much time as it takes to make sure you find the right match. Your ideal staffing partner may differ from other companies. To meet the specific needs of your business, the recruiting agency you choose should be:

• An industry specialist. Look for an agency with specialists dedicated to recruiting talent for your industry. Specialty partners already have a pool of candidates from which to draw and can offer valuable insight about steps you can take to attract the talent you need.
• Accessible. The agency you choose should be reliably available to your hiring staff. If you are filling multiple positions, you will need regular progress updates. Make sure your agency provides a point of contact for addressing questions and concerns from your HR department.
• Up to date. A positive staffing agency experience relies on the agency’s ability to stay current on the trends and concerns affecting your industry and potential talent. Ask questions and look for thorough responses that indicate understanding of your industry’s current staffing issues.
• Invested in your success. Your partner agency should demonstrate its commitment to helping your company overcome any recruiting or hiring obstacles.
• Transparent. Partnering with a recruiting agency is an investment. Potential partners should provide data to support your decision to invest in a long-term relationship. Ensure all contracts and documents are clear and concise, and ask for more clarification if anything remains unclear.

Partnering with a staffing agency is a strategic solution for recruiting talent during today’s persistent labor shortages, and building a long-term relationship ensures the expert guidance your company needs to meet tomorrow’s workforce challenges.

For more HR success strategies, and a partner ready to help resolve your company’s recruiting problems — today and tomorrow — visit terrastaffinggroup.com.