How Staffing Agencies Save Companies Time and Money

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Finding the right talent for your business can be a daunting and time-consuming process. Employers often face challenges such as difficulty in attracting qualified candidates, reviewing resumes and conducting reference checks, facilitating a complicated interview process, and managing the legal and administrative aspects of employment. Partnering with an experienced staffing agency can alleviate this stress. Let’s explore why employers should consider leveraging the services of staffing agencies for their hiring needs.

What is a Staffing Agency?

A staffing agency serves as a bridge between businesses seeking to fill vacant positions and qualified job seekers. These agencies specialize in recruiting candidates for various types of employment, including temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct hire positions. They utilize their expertise and resources to match the right candidates with the right job opportunities.

The Staffing Agency Process

To fully understand the benefits of using a staffing agency, you’ll need to become familiar with their process.

  1. Job Qualification: Once an employer reaches out to a staffing agency with their hiring needs, the agency will typically request a “qualification call” with the hiring manager and other stakeholders to learn about the company’s mission and culture, the job requirements and responsibilities, the personality of the team or department, position compensation and benefit parameters, hiring timeline and interview process, and more. If needed, the agency can help craft a job description and advertise the position while keeping the employer confidential. 
  1. Candidate Sourcing & Vetting: Next, the agency will source high-quality candidates through many channels, most notably from their exclusive database of candidates with whom they have built long-term connections. A recruiter will screen the candidates to determine if their skills, personality, and job search parameters align with the role. As requested, the agency can also administer skill assessments, reference checks, certification verifications, and social media audits. 
  1. Candidate Presentation: Only the most qualified candidates are presented to the employer for review. The agency will provide the hiring manager with a shortlist of candidates, along with cleanly formatted resumes, a brief explanation of why the candidate aligns so well with the position, and any additional vetting documentation.
  1. Interview Management: Once a manager has narrowed down which candidates they would like to get to know further, the staffing agency can manage the entire interview process. They will coordinate schedules and communicate details, provide access to video interviewing technology, help determine interview questions and structure, and handle sharing feedback between the interviews and candidates.
  1. Offer & Onboarding: When a candidate is selected to fill the role, the staffing agency can manage as much of the offer and onboarding stage as the manager prefers. If the employer is hiring a temporary worker, the agency handles all the administrative tasks associated with hiring, such as contracts, background checks, payroll, benefits, and taxes.

Advantages of Using a Staffing Agency

Now that you know what to expect, here’s what you stand to benefit from partnering with a staffing agency.

  • Fast Hiring: Staffing agencies streamline the hiring process, saving time and effort for employers. The primary goal of the qualification call is to get a holistic understanding of the company and job so that recruiters can quickly match a candidate’s skill set and personality to the role and facilitate a great connection. The top candidates that get presented to the client for review have already been vetted to ensure their hard and soft skills, location and commute, compensation expectations, and lifestyle and personality all align with the position. This means when the manager selects an individual to interview, they are spending their time getting to know a highly engaged and well-qualified candidate who is prepared to move quickly should they earn an offer.
  • Reduced Workload & Risk: By outsourcing hiring responsibilities to a staffing agency, employers can free up their internal resources to focus on core business activities. This reduces the burden on existing staff and increases overall productivity. The staffing agency handles the brunt of hiring tasks, including sourcing and recruiting, reviewing all candidate resumes and applications, performing pre-screening calls, coordinating interviews, and managing the flow of communication and feedback loop. For contractors, the agency will handle all new hire paperwork, background checks and related compliance, and timecard management. They also assume many legal and financial responsibilities, reducing the risk for employers. From payroll tasks to compliance with employment laws, agencies handle various aspects of employment, mitigating risks for employers.
  • Flexible & Specialized Hiring: Staffing agencies provide flexibility in hiring, allowing employers to adjust their workforce according to fluctuating business demands. Whether it’s short-term projects or seasonal peaks, agencies can quickly provide qualified temporary staff. For niche roles requiring specific skills, staffing agencies offer specialized expertise. They have access to talent pools with niche skills and can efficiently match candidates with specialized job requirements.

Top Stack offers valuable resources for employers seeking efficient and effective hiring solutions. By leveraging our expertise and resources, you can streamline the hiring processes, access specialized talent, and reduce administrative burdens. Top Stack specializes in connecting employers with a vast network of pre-qualified talent in Finance & Accounting, Technology, Marketing, and Supply Chain positions.

Contact us now to see how we can elevate your team!

Why Your Job Post Isn’t Attracting Qualified Applicants

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In today’s competitive job market, attracting qualified talent is no easy feat. If you find yourself scratching your head wondering why your job opening isn’t getting the attention it deserves, you’re not alone. Let’s take a look at four of the reasons behind this common challenge and explore strategies to optimize your recruitment efforts.

1. Ineffective Job Description

A primary reason your job opening may be falling flat is an unclear or unappealing job description. Candidates want to clearly understand the role, responsibilities, and expectations. Be sure to also highlight the benefits and perks that the job or the company offers, such as growth opportunities, travel and meal stipends, and insurance and retirement plans.

2. Lack of Competitive Compensation

In today’s job market, compensation is a significant factor influencing a candidate’s decision to apply for a position. If your job opening offers below-market compensation, you’re likely losing qualified candidates to your competition. If you can’t compete with salary alone, consider marketing your total compensation package comprising of all forms of pay and benefits, including base salary, overtime pay, bonuses, commissions, the value of benefits, and any other cash or non-monetary compensation.

3. Limited Visibility

Even if you have the first two common challenges covered, if your job can’t be found by your target audience, you won’t attract qualified candidates. Maximize reach by listing your job on a variety of platforms, including job boards and social media. If your position is niche, consider where your audience typically spends time, either in real life or on the internet; attend industry-specific networking events and join online forums to authentically connect with talent.

4. Lengthy or Complicated Application Process

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 92% of applicants do not finish online applications. A cumbersome application process is a significant deterrent for potential candidates. Consider applying to your own job to learn the candidate experience, and then streamline your application process to make it more user-friendly and efficient. Avoid unnecessary steps such as having to create an account or requiring redundant information to be entered that can be found on the applicants’ resumes.

Attracting qualified talent is a multifaceted challenge that requires a strategic approach. Leveraging the expertise of a reputable staffing firm to determine why you’re not seeing results can be a game changer for your recruitment strategy. Top Stack specializes in connecting employers with a vast network of pre-qualified talent in Finance & Accounting, Technology, Marketing, and Supply Chain positions. Our team of recruitment experts will help you craft an attractive job description, provide market research to ensure your salary and benefits packages are competitive, and get your job in front of the right talent—fast and efficiently.

Contact us now to see how we can elevate your team!

Learn How to Attract Finance & Accounting Talent

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Attracting and recruiting highly qualified finance and accounting professionals is crucial for an organization to grow and thrive in today’s fast-changing economic environment. Strong candidates within this sector can get upwards of thirty recruitment messages a week, so it’s critical that your company can stand out from your competition. Let’s explore what factors influence a candidate’s decision-making process and effective strategies to appeal to top-tier talent.

Compensation, Perks & Benefits

If your company hasn’t reviewed its compensation packages lately, you may be losing in-demand talent to your competition. Offering top applicants an above-market salary and adding 5 percent to 15 percent for graduate degrees and professional certifications will help you attract and retain quality hires which saves you money in the long run. Performance bonuses are also common in these positions.

Competitive compensation is crucial, but additional perks and benefits can set your organization apart. As a standard, your company will want to offer medical insurance and a retirement plan. Consider other perks such as flexible work arrangements, and generous vacation policies, tuition reimbursement or continued learning stipends, gym and wellness memberships, employee discounts, and employer-sponsored charitable gift-giving.

Keep in mind that if you’re recruiting talent out of public industry, these individuals often earn high base salaries early in their careers, as well as earn annual bonuses. Attracting these candidates may require a different strategy.

Work-Life Balance

Creating a culture that embodies a healthy balance between personal and professional lives will always be attractive, especially to younger generations who are often seeking a more well-rounded lifestyle. Cultivating a work-life balance can be done by offering a combination of a hybrid work schedule, flexible work hours, and floating holidays.

For the finance and accounting sector, an increased work-life balance is most often sought after by those leaving public accounting for industry accounting. Public accounting is known for being a higher-stress environment with limited flexibility. By contrast, private industry is typically considered to have a lower-stress environment with flexible working conditions, especially compared to the high travel requirements that often comes with public accounting jobs. If you’re seeking candidates with a public accounting background, consider highlighting your company’s work-life balance and flexibility to attract high-quality talent.

Opportunities for Growth and Advancement

Highly qualified finance and accounting professionals are known to be ambitious and often seek opportunities for continuous growth in their careers. To attract these types of candidates, organizations need to emphasize professional development programs, mentorship initiatives, and defined career paths.

To appeal to growth-oriented individuals, communicate how the role contributes to the organization at large and how they can make a meaningful impact on the company’s success. Highlighting success stories of employees who have advanced within the company can be a powerful recruitment tool.

Technology and Innovation

Demonstrating a commitment to innovation by investing in cutting-edge financial technologies and providing training opportunities for employees can attract finance and accounting professionals looking to work with the latest tools and methodologies.

Fintech has given rise to many new roles that are now in high demand. These professionals thrive in environments that encourage experimentation, collaboration, and quick decision-making. Employers looking to invest in these emerging roles should emphasize that their culture values creativity and adaptability. A willingness to embrace change is an attractive factor to young talent who are looking for professional opportunities to use their skills for progress.

Attracting and recruiting highly qualified finance and accounting professionals requires a strategic approach. To assess your competitive advantage, source talent, and reduce time to hire, consider leveraging the expertise of a reputable staffing firm. Top Stack specializes in connecting employers with a vast network of pre-qualified finance and accounting talent. We prioritize building long-term relationships with our candidates, so we can connect you with not only active job seekers but also passive candidates who are waiting for the perfect job to find them.

Contact us now to see how we can elevate your team!

Using The STAR Method in a Job Interview

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Responding to behavioral questions during an interview may be one of the biggest challenges you will face. Behavioral interviews require you to share your skills by telling the hiring team about a time when you exhibited those traits. How you tell those stories will help land the job. But concise, compelling storytelling is a difficult thing to master. Fortunately, there is the STAR approach to help you nail the interview.

What is the STAR Job Interview Technique?

The STAR interview format can help guide your response to behavioral questions during the interview process. Following this framework will help you illustrate your skills by telling a real-life story about your work or life. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. When telling a story in response to an interview question, try to lay it out in the following manner:

  • Set the situation with the details of the work environment, team size, and responsibilities. Share the complexities of the scenario and the challenges your team faced.
  • Describe the tasks you were required to accomplish versus what your team handled. Be careful not to touch upon too much detail, or you’ll lose your audience.
  • Explain the action you took to change the course of the project. What steps did you take to achieve your goals or solve the problem?
  • Describe the result of your action, what you learned, and what outcomes occurred. How did the actions you took affect the overall outcomes of the project, your team, and the organization as a whole?

While you won’t be able to anticipate the interviewer’s exact question, think about some of your biggest accomplishments and the skills they illustrate. Have a few of these go-to responses in your back pocket in preparation for your next interview.

It’s very easy to go into a rambling monologue when asked a behavioral question. The STAR method helps you organize your thoughts and your response to an interviewer concisely and effectively.

When To Use STAR

Using STAR in response to behavioral questions is a great way to nail even the most challenging interview questions. You can spot these questions easily because they often follow a specific format that invites you to tell your story. For example:

  • Tell me about a time when you…
  • Describe a…
  • What do you do when…
  • Have you ever…
  • Can you give me an example of…

The last thing you want to do is get caught during the stress of an interview with no idea how to answer behavioral questions. The STAR method can help you practice your response before the interview so you can perform well under pressure.

Practicing the STAR Technique

Before going to your next interview, it’s a good idea to look at the company values if they’re posted on their website. Those values may be the kinds of examples you’ll need to answer questions during the interview. You can also think about the job you’re applying for and consider the kinds of skills you’ll need to exhibit to do the job well. Then use the STAR method to come up with a few concise stories that will illustrate you have the skills it takes to do the job well.

The best way to practice STAR is to get out there and interview. Top Stack can help you land your next interview. Contact our team today to explore your options.