Hiring. It’s a challenge for every business. And let’s be honest: if you could pay someone to pre-screen candidates that you’d get to try out before you hire them, wouldn’t you do it? Enter the temp agency. Designed for temporary assignments, a temp agency provides short-term employees intended to bridge the gap while you’re finding the right person for the job. But all too often, small business owners try to use temp agencies as placement services or recruiters, thinking they’ll “try before they buy” and hopefully get the right employee. It rarely works out that way. Here’s why…
A Temp Agency Isn’t Designed for Hiring Full Time Staff
Despite how they might market themselves, temp agencies are designed for temporary assignments. A temp agency tends to attract people who are looking for a J-O-B, not people who are passionate about working for your company or in your industry. Usually, the people who work for temp agencies are working for temp agencies for a reason.
Just as temp agencies are designed to help you bridge the gap between full-time employees, temps are looking to bridge the gap between their own full-time positions. Just because they find a full-time position with you doesn’t mean they won’t leave as soon as they find what they were really looking for in the first place.
That Temp Didn’t Get Fired Up About Working For You
The best employees are excited about working for your company. They fit well into your corporate culture because they care about what you do and who you do it for. Temps arrive on your doorstep thinking they’re there for a brief period of time. There’s no time for them to love your company, and you’ll likely hire them on before they do. Big mistake.
The Result of Not Being Excited About Working For You
While there is a rare breed of employee who will always work hard at whatever job they have, if a team member isn’t excited about your company or their role in it, s/he won’t feel connected to being there, and ultimately won’t do his or her best. And when a more appealing or interesting option comes along, s/he’ll take it. Quickly.
What Happens When You Put in the Time and Effort Into Hiring Well
When you take the time to draft a careful and useful job description, screen out completely inappropriate candidates, and interview those applicants who demonstrate an understanding of your brand and an interest in your company, when you ask the right questions and ultimately find the best person for the position, you’ll be much more likely to have someone who fits your corporate culture, who is excited to participate in what you do, and wants to help your business flourish.
It’s not easy. As many companies have discovered, hiring is more art than science. It’s not about how many keywords are on a resume, and shame on every business that employs these absurd tactics that yield people who can use the right keywords over finding the right people. Finding the right person for the job is a blend of asking the right questions, being able to assess authenticity in a candidate, and seeing through carefully-prepared, canned responses. In fact, hiring is often about finding the best questions to ask to get to the heart of what your corporate culture is all about, without being obvious or predictable.
Hiring well is something that happens through a complete understanding of your business, what you stand for, and the characteristics of the type of team members you want working with you. It doesn’t come easily, but the payoff is tremendous.
Latest posts by Susan Baroncini-Moe (see all)
- Sponsored Post: Minimizing Miscommunication in the Workplace - November 28, 2017
- Sponsored Post: 5 Ways Business Owners and Office Managers Can Be More Efficient - October 16, 2017
- Guest Post: I Started Sending My Team a Weekly Inspirational Email. Something Extraordinary Happened, by Robert Glazer - October 13, 2017
Great post, thanks for sharing!