5 Signs It's Time to Partner with a Staffing Agency

When you notice friction in your everyday operations or processes paired with a need for more staff, it could be time to partner with a staffing agency. At DeLong Staffing Specialists, we work hard to understand client needs and to find their ideal candidates. We’ve identified some common reasons why clients turn to us for help - what are these staffing challenges, and what advice can we offer to companies navigating them right now?

What Is A Staffing Agency?

A staffing agency is a company that serves as a middleman between employers looking for qualified candidates to fill open positions, and the job seekers they’re searching for. Staffing agency recruitment specialists are trained and experienced professionals who recruit, screen, onboard, and place candidates with open positions that match their qualifications. This takes the strain off businesses and helps them to fill their staffing needs quickly and efficiently.

DeLong Staffing Specialists is just such an expert staffing agency, with a combined experience of over 125 years among staffing agencies in Cleveland, Ohio. Our experience and local focus help us to provide skilled placement for positions in the industrial and professional sectors.

When To Turn To A Staffing Agency

It can be easy to think that you can handle your staffing needs yourself, in-house. But even if you have an HR department or hiring manager, they can quickly become overwhelmed if the company's needs outpace their ability or capacity. Here’s what to keep an eye out for: 

1. Lengthy Hiring Process

If your time-to-hire numbers are slipping and the hiring process is becoming more prolonged, this could be a sign that your team needs help. Top talent looking for open positions could fade away if your team isn’t able to move quickly. In tight markets, speed is one of your greatest allies in finding the best job seekers.

Staffing agencies operate at a higher volume and have the processes in place to ensure quick turnaround, reducing downtime, preventing missed deadlines, and narrowing your productivity gap.

2. Qualified Candidate Shortage

If your organization has highly specialized roles, then suitable candidates need to have corresponding skill sets. If you’re finding that the job seekers you attract don’t have the experience or qualifications you require, it could be time to work with a staffing agency that specializes in your industry. Otherwise, you could risk hiring folks without the needed skills and end up fueling an increased turnover rate.

If the quality of the candidates you’re interviewing continues to decline, it’s time to act. Pre-screened and fully vetted candidates are just one of the many perks of working with a staffing agency. When your old methods aren’t working and you don’t have the bandwidth to expand your efforts, a staffing agency can help.

3. Employee Overwhelm

From teams missing deadlines, to hiring managers letting communications and candidates slip through the cracks, there are many signs that can indicate that your staff is overwhelmed and headed toward burnout. This is especially true if your HR manager has a long list of other duties to handle - finding that just-right candidate just might not take priority, as hard as they try.

Why does this happen? Generally, it’s due to a lack of capacity and resources. But that’s exactly what a staffing agency makes available. With a network of candidates and the processes in place to find a perfect match, there’s no need to ask employees to stretch beyond their capacity. You want to retain the good team you already have in place.

4. Scalability Needs

In this case, your company is growing and roles are expanding or developing in real time. Or maybe you have seasonal projects that require additional hands and minds to get the work done. It could also be that sudden, unexpected absences by key team members threaten important projects. Increased employee turnover could also prompt rapid-fire hiring.

Whatever the case, when you quickly need to hire additional talent and need to trust that they are quality, experienced candidates, a staffing agency is the only sure way forward. Look for an employment agency with a range of offerings–temp-to-hire jobs, contract employment, direct hire employment–to trust that they’ll be able to find the person you’re searching for.

5. Increasing Costs

High turnover that is the result of imprecise hiring is a loss of the resources and assets put into recruitment, onboarding, and training. And if your team is currently too lean, you could also end up paying far too much for extra overtime hours. This could lead to a stressed staff on their way to burnout. Even your hiring process could lead to hidden expenses from advertising costs, time spent on the hiring process, and additional resources for your hiring staff.

Outsourcing hiring to a staffing agency means that all your resources are consolidated and concentrated in a tried-and-true recruitment method. This is what a staffing agency specializes in. They’ve perfected the process, now it’s time to benefit from their expertise.

How Can A Staffing Agency Help?

Trying to find your ideal candidate can feel harder than ever–the hiring pool has widened and deepened, and it takes an expert to navigate those waters. Professional staffing firms do this day in and out and have developed the connections, processes, and methods to find ideal job seekers to fill employers’ open positions. The collection of skilled candidates is constantly updated, and every candidate is fully vetted for compatibility and key qualifications.

Whether you need temp-to-hire jobs or are interested in contract employment or direct hire employment, all of your solutions are in the same place when you work with an experienced staffing agency. It’s the best way to eliminate hiring risk and ensure that every recommended candidate has the qualifications you require. A staffing agency also handles legal legwork and onboarding, and can help to ensure that your next hire fits right in with your existing team. When your capacity is outpaced by demand, bringing in a remote staffing partner is a way to assert control over the hiring process while also regaining invaluable speed

How Do I Choose the Right Staffing Agency for My Company?

Once you’ve decided that a staffing agency sounds like the ideal solution to your staffing problems, you could stall out due to indecision–how can you find the right staffing agency for your needs?

Above all else, you want to look for a staffing agency that is experienced in their field, and has meaningful ties to the community–that’s where the candidates come from, after all. Their strong networks should be matched by an equally strong transparency and positive track record.

A staffing agency that deserves your business should also be ready to communicate and quick to listen to your needs. They should spend the time necessary to get to know your business, company culture, and unique requirements. This helps to ensure that the valuable time spent on recruitment isn’t a waste.

Your Local Cleveland Staffing Agency

If you are facing challenges such as a lengthy hiring process that doesn’t yield ideal candidates and your hiring team is getting overwhelmed and unable to keep up with fluctuating staffing needs, you might also see increased costs as a result of turnover or unfruitful hiring efforts. These are key signs that it’s time to try a new approach.

Outsourcing hiring efforts to a staffing agency, like the expert team at DeLong Staffing Specialists, is a good direction to take. As one of the most experienced staffing agencies in Cleveland, we are well-established in the community and have a deep pool of highly qualified applicants to choose from. Our goal is to find and secure top-tier talent, prepare them for your business, and ultimately, to help you stay competitive. If you’re ready to consider outsourcing your recruitment efforts, choose one of the premier employment agencies in Cleveland - call DeLong Staffing Specialists or submit a request for more information today!