The demand for IT talent has made professional contractors essential in organizations’ talent strategies. With many staffing agencies to choose from, prioritizing the attributes you need is a critical step when selecting the recruiting agencies to invest the time and resources into for your future on demand hiring.
After two decades in this industry, and with 23 acquisitions to compare operating models, we at S.i. Systems have gained an objective insight on what good, bad, and ugly practices look like. This is our advice to clients on what to look for in a proven staffing partner.
Placing the right person is 99% of the Job
The only job at hand is to assure that the client gets what they need, when they need it. Period. Contractors participate in creating millions in increased revenue, profit, and productivity for our clients. They are high-value resources and need precision placement.
Precision is a key function for staffing firms. Reliable precision comes from a reliable and consistent process inside the staffing company. A proven process prescribes how things are done, keeps teams aligned in the interests of the client, is measurable, and provides objectively successful outcomes.
Here are three key elements of a strong staffing process:
1. High Value Talent Pools
Good agencies pre-qualify their talent pool well in anticipation of client demand. The best agencies have their own proprietary database of high-value candidates. The talent pools available for the client must be accurately screened, interviewed, and reference checked prior to presentation. The data on each candidate must be deep, up to date, and well curated. This level of quality is essential for precise and meaningful placements.
Ask your staffing partner:
- What strategies do you use to build your company database of talent? Are you reliant on common job boards, LinkedIn or other low grade publicly available information?
- How many new candidates do you interview each month in high value specializations?
- How deep are your talent pools in the areas I will need the most?
2. The Recruiting Team is Highly Trained
Navy Seals are elite, highly trained, qualified, and reliable. The recruiting team finding the next high value candidate for your organization should be the same. Recruiters working on technical roles need to know that frameworks are as important as the programming languages. In new areas like Cyber Security, recruiters need to be able to differentiate the multiple nuances in each distinct role. A match is only a match if the recruiter can verify that the candidate is exactly what the client requested, has solved the same or similar problem before, and has real references that say the candidate did good work.
Ask your staffing partner:
- What is your curriculum to train your recruiters?
- Do you have dedicated trainers?
- How many hours a year are your recruiters trained?
3. The Staffing Agency Specializes in your Industry
For functional roles such as Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Management Consultants, specific industry experience is essential. A Business Analyst for a new billing system at a telecommunication company will need different industry experience than a Business Analyst for a Capital Markets trading project. In order to find the right person your agency must have deep talent pools in your industry, and they must understand the language and jobs in your industry to be effective.
Ask your staffing partner:
- How many years have they been staffing in your industry?
- How many positions have they filled in your industry in the last twelve months?
- Does my Account Executive have a strong understanding of my industry?
At S.i. Systems, we’ve built our proven success based on a consistent, repeatable, dependable process. Our teams are well trained to steward our clients through the experience. We know what good looks like, and we are the only staffing partner to provide a money back guarantee on each candidate we propose to you.
If you’re looking for a reliable IT staffing firm that understands your industry, we’d love to talk. Reach out. We’re open to walk you through our approach and experience staffing for the IT roles you need for your organization.
