Smaller Staffing Agencies can play in the Big Leagues

What is the difference between a small staffing agency and a big staffing agency? Well, how much time do you have? Obviously the larger the company, the bigger the profits, the impact, and the notoriety.

However, a the list of pros comes a list of cons. Cons may include lack of senior level involvement on the staffing agency side and a possible lack of quality when it comes to candidates submitted.

A smaller staffing agency has the ability to offer more personalized attention to their clients. Smaller agencies may also have a better overall experience in working with recruiters.

With a smaller more intimate agency, there is the possibility of a more targeted search based on team requirements and preferences. At the end of their process, there may be an easier interview and hiring process due to the thoroughness that has been complete.

Company Culture

In today’s world, company culture is a big deal. If your team is looking looking to hire a candidate who is a good fit for your culture, it’s probably a good plan for you to view the culture of the recruiting agency you are hiring.

Company culture may be easier to define and sustain with a smaller staff.  Expectations sometimes are set based on individual employee preferences and not necessarily company policy. For example, we recently celebrated a birthday in our office and since we know our staff on a personal level we were able to bake a cake to the person’s liking and celebrate in a simple fun way that they appreciated. When someone else’s birthday comes up, the cake, decorations, and specifics will be changed to fit them. We care about the small things because we believe they impact the bigger things.

Little things like a birthday allow our employees to be truly happy and motivated in their role. Ultimately, a motivated employee will push themselves in their recruiting and ultimately find higher caliber candidates to provide superior services for our clients.

If a company is able to create a strong internal culture, it should, in turn, create an atmosphere company’s and candidates will want to do business with. Strong company culture allows staffing agencies to attract more talented and experienced recruiters who can ad value and experience to the team.

small staffing companies 1 on 1 Training for Recruiters

The larger the company the less involvement senior level managers have in the day to day recruiting process and training of new recruiters.  A staffing agency with 200+ recruiters will make an impressive amount of phone calls per day, but how effective are those phone calls? A smaller staff allows for new recruiters to go through intensive training on recruiting methods, industry learning, and best practices. Typically your staff is all in one room it is easier to learn from their peers.

For a new recruiter there is a learning curve; despite whether you are new to recruiting overall or just new to a specific industry. Recruiters need to learn everything from how to talk to people on the phone to industry specific terms.

As with any new position, there are quite a few tangible and intangible areas to work through when starting. A few intangibles are:

  • How to judge someone’s intelligence and capabilities over the phone
  • Behavioral interviewing techniques
  • How a candidates social skills will translate to the working environment
  • Industry terms
  • Gauge whether a candidate is being truthful over the phone

These intangibles take time to learn, but having the right peers and environment in place to communicate and tailor learning to new recruiters is pivotal.

Senior Level Management Involvement with Clients

One selling piece of a smaller staffing company is direct contact with the CEO or VP. Small recruiting firms don’t have hoops or HR to jump through. We make sure to put you directly through to the top people in the company for personal attention. Also, upon on-boarding onto the team, the hiring manager will integrate a new recruiter onto the team. This includes the necessities to fill open positions.

In a larger company, the manager may simply provide job descriptions with location and salary range for a “throw people over the wall” approach. Conversely, in a smaller company, the hiring managers can have 1 on 1 conversations with recruiters regarding:

  • Company History
  • Culture
  • Job Responsibilities
  • Types of Candidates to Target

This exercise allows recruiters to start their search five steps ahead of other staffing agencies and to thoroughly skim the pool of candidates. Overall, the process will be more effective and less frustrating for the client.

There are plenty of options on the type of staffing agency to work with. At Kane Staffing, we believe that ours is superior because we care. We care about our people, your people, and we care about making sure we do our job to the best of our abilities.

If you are looking for a new experience when it comes to a staffing agency, give us a call today at 215-699-5500.  Ask for Gary Kane, the company President, he loves talking to clients to determine how to assist them with their staffing solutions!