Effective staffing demands more than throwing bodies at problems
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThese days, when you think about staffing services, it’s no surprise if you don’t have much in the way of expectations. Companies reach out to staffing services when they have immediate needs for qualified people. Whether they’re trying to find help for a temporary project or just don’t have the time to go through the hiring process, they hope for a quick resolution.
And, all too often, they end up disappointed. Few staffing services have access to a ready supply of qualified people — especially in key IT or technical roles — so they recruit aggressively and send as many candidates as possible, hoping some will work out. It takes time to find people, time to place them with the company, and time to see whether they’re truly capable of addressing the need. The more names they send, the more likely you’ll get lucky. At least that’s the plan.
Our approach to specialized staffing is more than a little different. Knowing the companies we work with prefer quality over quantity, we built our staffing services upon tapping into our own roster of people with proven skills and the right attitudes. When those companies have a need, we can quickly identify the people who can fulfill it. We have complete confidence in anyone we recommend, because we’ve vetted them carefully and know they’ve performed outstanding work for our clients.
Whether a company’s need is for a field services technician or an experienced help desk staffer, this approach delivers someone who’s performance has been proven (and documented) in less time than it takes a traditional staffing company to generate a list of potential candidates. That individual’s experience and direct familiarity with the task at hand means faster onboarding, too.
Suppose your company is preparing to deploy a major update to devices you’ve already installed at customer locations. The update involves accessing an internal control card and swapping out two chips, so it must be performed in person. With no complications, each installation and testing takes no more than 30 minutes, but with customers throughout North America, you anticipate it will take about 120 days to perform all the updates.
Our staffing team is able to identify individuals with the exact skills and schedule flexibility needed to accomplish the process on time. Best of all, these technicians are already familiar with your devices, as they have been sent out in the past for service needs. Your team has rated their performance highly. That means you have help you can trust for the entire project without the hassles of direct hire.
Or suppose you’re about to roll out a significant software patch, and your past experience tells you help desk calls will likely soar in the month after you send it. So we assign two people to augment your internal help desk during the peak. Both not only understand the technical complexity, but are true customer service professionals who put your company’s customers at ease.
This staffing model is effective not only for temporary assignments, but also for permanent placements and contract-to-hire situations. Whether an employer is after one skilled individual or an entire team, part-time or full-time, our team’s extensive experience in these highly specialized, highly technical roles ensure you get the right people in far less time.
And because we’ve worked with these individuals before, we’re able to guarantee they’ll meet the client’s expectations. We have performance evaluations for every service call or help desk request they’ve handled, so we can place them with complete confidence.
Companies like yours don’t have time to wait while traditional staffing companies try to understand your needs, find the keywords that will generate big numbers of candidates, and send you a huge stack of resumes in the hopes you’ll uncover a gem. The approach I’m outlining here allows employers to get the people they need with minimal onboarding and without having to crawl through the hiring process. That means fewer delays and significantly less frustration for everyone.
Jeff Medley is the CEO and founder of Netfor, https://www.netfor.com/