When you have a need for temp labor, you already know that finding the right people can be a challenge, let alone hiring, onboarding, and eventually disbanding them. You could of course post to job boards, place ads on your website and even place flyers around at local work centers. While these aren’t bad options, there is one solution that takes everything off of your plate and handles it all - a staffing agency.
There are several things to consider when choosing the right method for you, this guide will walk you through how find the best fit.
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The world of manufacturing is changing, and companies are finding that they need more temporary workers than ever before. A certain amount of unpredictability has always been a reality for any manufacturing company; trying to come as close to balancing supply and demand as possible. As the previous ways to predict need become less accurate, between recessions and shrinking workforces, there is an ever-growing demand for flexible labor to fill in those gaps.
Temp workers can provide that needed flexibility to companies. Whether it’s filling in seasonal peak periods, strike staffing, project-based roles or needing more specialized skills for a period of time, temp labor allows a company to be flexible, save money and avoid costly drops in production.
As great as temp labor can be, it isn’t without its own challenges. The biggest hurdles typically come when it comes to finding and managing this temporary staff.
Right out of the gate, finding the right people can be a huge task, the biggest challenge you likely have to overcome when hiring temp labor. You need people that are reliable, potentially skilled, and can adapt quickly to new environments and work. Not only do you have to figure out where to find these great people, but you also have to go through resumes, conduct interviews, and select them from among many possible candidates.
Once you’ve managed to find those candidates, now you’ll be looking at the investment of time and energy in onboarding them. Between the knowledge to complete their work, company policies and becoming familiar with the workplace, you can be looking at a significant amount of time and resources that you may not have available.
These challenges can seem daunting at first, luckily by partnering with a staffing agency, you don’t have to worry about any of these issues as it is all handled for you.
There are several options to consider when it comes to hiring temporary labor services.
Let’s take a quick look at what you could do:
| Option | Pros | Cons |
| Posting on a job board | Reach a wider audience | Time-consuming and may not yield qualified candidates |
| Placing roles on your website | Target those already familiar with your company | Very narrow pool of candidates and may not overlap with temp roles. |
| Placing ads in local areas | Ensure you are reaching a nearby candidate pool and involve local businesses | Potential to provide few applicants and miss skilled roles entirely |
| Using a Staffing Agency | Handle every part of the process for you, including an existing pool of candidates | Additional financial cost |
When considering the challenges we outlined above, finding the right people is the first big problem to overcome. Staffing agencies are experts in finding the right talent, not only in recruiting new staff to meet your specific needs, but agencies like ours maintain a wide pool of qualified candidates and know how to identify and secure the best possible fit.
You know how much time can go into developing and then running an onboarding process. Staffing agencies handle the initial screening process, conducting interviews, checking references, and verifying qualifications. Once hired, the agency will take care of the entire onboarding process, ensuring your work continues as soon as possible with minimal disruptions to production.
Partnering with a staffing agency allows you to focus on your core operations, taking away to need to manage recruiting, onboarding, and at the end of your staffing needs, disbanding. Especially if you are newer to having a temporary workforce, the expertise that a staffing agency can bring is invaluable. You can avoid costly downtime when you have a dedicated agency handling every part of the process and stay on schedule regardless of strikes, sudden demand increases, or short-term projects.
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Your staffing needs can change, sometimes on a weekly or monthly basis, and utilizing a staffing agency gives you the flexibility to scale your stuff up or down as needed. With a large and diverse pool of candidates at the ready, a staffing agency can quickly provide you with the reliable and skilled workforce you need to meet your ever-changing demands without the cost and commitments of permanent hires.
While many roles for temporary staffing are those that require primarily on-the-job training, there are still a fair number that require specialized skills, training, or certifications. Finding these skilled laborers, especially those willing to work in temporary situations can be a major challenge for many companies - a challenge that staffing agencies regularly solve by maintaining a pool of providing pre-qualified candidates that can meet the skillsets you require to get the job done effectively and efficiently.
When considering which option is right for your organization (Hint: It’s almost certainly a Staffing Agency), it’s important to truly map out all of the costs that will be associated with this decision.
At the end of the day, you have several options to fill your temporary staffing roles, from ad sites to Staffing Agencies, and selecting the best option can be tough. To help you figure out where a staffing agency can be the right fit for you, speak with our team.
Strom Engineering is a national staffing and recruitment agency, with a particular focus on manufacturing, engineering, assembly, and other trade positions. We match skilled candidates to temporary or project staffing positions. Learn more about how it works and check out our case studies for more information.