Due to many factors that are changing the landscape of recruiting, hiring managers are seeking the assistance of staffing firms to support their hiring efforts. In fact, after surveying over 850 hiring managers and over 650 internal staffing employees CareerBuilder recently released a study reporting an anticipated increase in the use of staffing firms within the next five years.

In the current market, hiring managers primarily rely on the utilization of staffing agencies to shorten the hiring process and gain access to candidates with specialized skills. According to Eric Gregg, CEO of Inavero, "More than 70% of leaders agree the staffing industry will be transformed by technology and automation over the next five years, yet only one in five feel that innovation is a major threat to their firms.”

So, what does the future hold for staffing agencies?

As technology evolves, it will change the way corporate recruiters do their jobs. CareerBuilder’s survey reported the most common resources used include technologies to match open jobs to potential candidates (45%), use of a single search bar to look at multiple third-party resume databases (40%), and video or online interviewing capabilities (38%). Despite the implementation of these tools, many believe that agency staffing will continue to see growth due to the looming challenges faced in today’s labor market. Organizations of all industries and varying generational leadership will rely on staffing professionals to successfully secure talent.

In the next five years those companies who will likely seek to save on hiring costs by investing in new hiring tools or technology, such as those previously mentioned. However, most will need to enlist an agency’s assistance at some point. No matter the tools, identifying talent will continue to be difficult and will require more time devoted to sourcing efforts than ever before. Staffing firms are constructed to handle hiring ebb and flow and are often prepared to handle workforce changes in order to supply specific talent. 

Additional findings from the survey conducted by CareerBuilder, Inavero, and American Staffing Association include:

• Companies partner with staffing firms to improve and streamline hiring processes, and most are not exclusively partnered with one firm.

• 54% of hiring managers plan to increase their use of staffing firms over the next five years.

• Hiring managers cite top pain points in the recruitment process as access to candidates with the right skills (52%), time to hire (40%), and budget (34%).

• 66% of hiring managers feel using a staffing firm would be very helpful in gaining access to the right candidates.

• According to hiring managers, the key reasons for working with staffing firms include that they needed to hire someone more quickly than they could do on their own (42%), access to candidates with specialized skills (41%), and they had a hard time filling the position on their own (37%).

• The main reasons hiring managers do not work with staffing firms are that they were trying to save money (4%), staffing agencies are not hiring the type of positions needed (28%), and they believe the best candidates do not work with staffing agencies (26%).

• Staffing firms must be up-to-date on the technology they use.

• 67% of hiring managers believe it is very or extremely important for their staffing firms to use up-to-date technology.

• Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are ranked as the most valuable technology used by staffing firms (31%), followed by social media sites (19%) and job boards (15%); however, both leadership and field workers at staffing firms believe that ATS technologies are in the most need of improvement.

• Hiring managers are made aware of new staffing firms through a variety of different sources including the firm's reputation within their industry (12%), proactive recommendations (12%), and through experience hiring with the firm at a previous job (12%).

• The primary resources companies use when vetting new staffing firms are similar to how they initially learn about these agencies and include asking people in their professional networks for referrals (34%), the firm's reputation within the industry (34%), and reading the staffing firm's website (27%).

• Main reasons for selecting a primary staffing firm include the firm's ability to find specific or niche skill sets (16%), strong reputations (15%), and the ability to find high quality talent (15%).

Additional ASE Resources
ASE Staffing Services – ASE offers direct-hire and contract, and contract-to-hire staffing solutions. ASE members pay only a 10% placement fee for direct hires.  For more information, please contact Shannon Reed.

Sources: Sparkhire.com, Press.careerbuilder.com