When you need to fill a position quickly, and want to make sure that you find a candidate with the right background and experience, working with a temp agency can help you make the right choice. With the assistance of a temporary recruitment agency, you can find both short-term and long-term positions for your company. A temporary recruitment agency will interview, screen, and test applicants to ensure that they are the right fit for you. By following the simple steps listed below, you can easily hire a qualified candidate.
Determine the Position You’re Looking For
When employees are on annual leave, sick leave, or maternity leave, there may be a range of positions that you’re looking to fill on a short-term or long-term basis. Getting a long-term employee can be helpful if you’re looking to fill an open position, but you’re not ready to commit to hiring a permanent employee. The best way to get started with working with a temporary recruitment agency is to make a list of the positions that you’ll need to be filled, with the names of the relevant departments. This will give the temp agency an overview of your staffing needs.
Find a Temp Agency That Matches Your Needs
If your company works in the medical field, you probably won’t get much help from a temporary recruitment agency that focuses on temp staff for day labourers. Ensure that the agency you choose to work with has the right background and understanding for the field you are looking to fill. We'd always recommend partnering with an agency that specialises in the field that you're wishing to recruit in, as they will be experts in their field - meaning that not only will they have the highest calibre of relevant candidates at their fingertips, but they'll be able to provide you with market intelligence and accurate information regarding salaries within the given sector.
Ask About The Temp Agency’s Hiring Process
Many temp agencies will already have a list of potential hires that they keep on file for specific fields that they focus on, to provide temp staff to companies quickly. There are also temp agencies that will complete the process of screening, interviewing, testing, and even training temp staff, to make sure that your company doesn’t miss a beat when vacancies arise. When selecting a temp agency, it's imperative that you partner with an agency whose hiring process reflects your company’s needs and timescales.
Understand the Temp Agency’s Training Process
It’s crucial that you also understand how the temporary recruitment agency does their training and skill verification with their hires. Ask detailed questions about how the temp agency tests the skills, whether they have designed multiple-choice tests or require potential hires to write material in a timed setting. You should also find out how the temp agency will train temp staff in cases where your company uses specific software.
Agree a Fee
Once you’ve determined that the temp agency fits your needs, and has a concrete hiring process, liaise with them to agree temp rates, or a fixed fee, for the positions needed. In most cases, this will be an hourly rate, which will include provisions for National Insurance, tax and holiday pay. Some agencies will have negotiable rates or will provide a discount if you work exclusively with them, while others may have fixed fees. It will also depend on the position, length of placement and location.
The process of hiring from a temp agency shouldn’t be complicated, once you have gone through these steps. Specialist agencies, such as Lily Shippen, will provide you and your company with comprehensive support throughout the hiring and onboarding process, helping you to keep things moving.
Lily Shippen are experts in recruiting top business support talent, including PAs, EAs, Receptionists, Private PAs and Office Managers, on a temporary, permanent and fixed-term contract basis. We work with clients across the UK from our offices in London and Manchester, as well as servicing international and remote roles.
