temp agency

Questions Employers Should be Asking Their Temp Agency

Questions Employers Should be Asking Their Temp Agency

In Southern California utilizing temporary workers can be useful in many situations:

For special projects that require more staff for a specific period of time
When trying out a new market area
When regular employees have planned or unplanned absences

When these situations occur it is extremely important for companies to have a relationship with a reliable temp agency. You will want to make sure that the people provided to you will be competent and team oriented. Before using a temp agency, employers will want to ask the following questions:

Do you specialize in my industry?

It is extremely important to find an agency that recruits workers that will be able to fill your needs. This becomes especially important when you require workers with very specific skills. You should also find out how wide a range of skills the staffing agency supplies. Knowing the agency’s capacity to source different types of help goes a long way towards developing a long-term relationship with the agency.

How do you evaluate candidates?

Temp agencies use a variety of different strategies to select their candidates. You should understand the evaluation procedure and approve of the screening process. Staffing agencies might use computer testing, psychological evaluations, personal interviews or a combination of all three.

What is your pricing structure?

It’s important to know exactly how the rate your company is being charged breaks down. You will want to find out how much is going towards the temp agency’s administrative costs and how much is actually going to the temp employee. Consider asking if the agency offers discounted rates if you plan to utilize their services regularly.

Do you offer a guarantee?

A respectable temp agency will not charge you for the time of a worker that does not fit your needs or does not perform the required work to an adequate standard. Whenever possible, choose a temp agency that gives a guarantee of satisfaction.

iStaffing Agency helps Southern California companies locate, screen and place professional candidates into Management, Senior and Executive level positions. iStaffing Agency specializes in Human Resources, Accountants, Executives, IT Professionals, Loan Officers and other professional candidates in addition to candidates in the Entertainment and Nonprofit sector. iStaffing services all areas of Orange County and Los Angeles County. For more information about how iStaffing Agency can help your company with their staffing needs, please contact us today.

Top Reasons Why Your Company Should Use a Staffing Agency to Hire Temps

Top Reasons Why Your Company Should Use a Staffing Agency to Hire Temps

Sometimes companies need to hire temporary employees on a short-term, long-term or intermittent basis. To find these employees the company might place an ad, attempt to locate employees themselves or contact a staffing agency. When temporary workers are needed, using a staffing agency offers the most benefits. Following are the top four reasons why your company should use a staffing agency to fill your next temp position:

Reduced Costs
Specialized Expertise
Reduced Training Costs and Time
Increased Productivity

The recruitment and training process can be extremely costly. In order to find and hire competent employees businesses must develop a vacancy announcement and advertise through both print and media, collect and review resumes, schedule and conduct interviews, assess applicants, check references and conduct background checks. Once the company has found the perfect candidate for the job they must then train and orientate the new employee. These activities tie up the company’s resources as existing staff is taken away from their regular duties. Additional costs involved with the hiring process include payroll processing, taxes, unemployment, workers compensation and liability claims. Using a staffing agency eliminates all of these costs.

Staffing agencies specialize in placing the right person in the right job. This is why many staffing agencies only offer candidates for certain industries. These specialized staffing firms are experts in the industries that they deal with. They have a large database of pre-screened candidates to choose from, ensuring the perfect match for even hard to fill positions.

The actual recruitment process of a staffing agency is lengthy and typically more involved than in-house recruitment processes. A staffing firm assesses the skills of applicants and provides additional training in order to strengthen those skills. When a staffing agency employee starts working at your business they should be ready to hit the ground running without needed any additional training.

Staffing agencies typically have pre-screened qualified workers that are ready and willing to work with very little notice. When a staffing firm is able to place a skilled employee in your vacant position quickly, you never have to worry about tasks not being completed on time or your current staff being burdened with other responsibilities.

iStaffing Agency helps companies in California locate, screen and place professional candidates into Management, Senior and Executive level positions. iStaffing Agency specializes in Human Resources, Accountants, Executives, IT Professionals, Loan Officers and other professional candidates in addition to candidates in the Entertainment and Nonprofit sector. For more information about how iStaffing Agency can help your company with their staffing needs, please contact us today.

Questions To Ask a Temp Employment Agency

Questions To Ask a Temp Employment Agency

Workers turn to temporary employment agencies for a variety of reasons. It might be because job seekers are having a difficult time locating permanent work, they might not be available to take on a full-time position or they are simply looking to get their foot in the door for a future permanent position. Temp employment agencies are the perfect choice for all of these situations.

When choosing a temp agency to work with, consider asking them the following questions:

Ask the agency for information about their clients. This should include what types of businesses and industries they work with and what kind of employment they seek.
Check which geographic areas the staffing agency works with to ensure that they are convenient for your current transportation situation.
Ensure that the agency is able to offer you work that meets your qualifications and needs.
It is important to find out if the temp agency offers temporary work that might one day turn into a permanent position. If you are seeking this type of employment, be sure to alert the temp agency by asking them for their “temp to hire” listings.
Ask the agency about their expectations regarding overtime and weekend work.
Find out about the temp agency’s pay rate. Figure out if the agency pays weekly or bi-weekly.
Check with the staffing agency about any job training that is offered.
Find out what sick leave policies the agency has in place and how sick leave is handled.
If your employment will be based on a particular project, you will need to find out what will happen when the project ends.
Figure out how the agency will contact you if a position opens up. Sometimes you will need to contact the agency periodically to inquire about new positions. It is also important to find out whether you can turn down a position if it doesn’t fit your skill set or schedule.
Ask the temp agency how many years they have been in business. Respectable staffing agencies will have testimonials that you can reference.

iStaffing Agency helps place professional candidates into Management, Senior and Executive level positions . iStaffing Agency specializes in Human Resources, Accountants, Executives, IT Professionals, Loan Officers and other professional candidates in addition to candidates in the Entertainment and Nonprofit sector. For more information about how iStaffing Agency can help you locate your next career opportunity in California, please contact us today.

Understanding the Difference Between a Staffing Agency and a Temp Agency

Understanding the Difference Between a Staffing Agency and a Temp Agency

Most people group the terms staffing agency and temp agency together. Both organizations have overlapping business models and sometimes provide the same services. However, staffing agencies usually offer a wider range of options with more solutions to suit their client’s labor issues and needs.

Both staffing agencies and temp agencies provide their corporate clientele with workers that match a particular skill set and experience level. Depending on the needs of the company, corporate clients might ask the agency to fill a short term position on very short notice or they might provide advance notice of an upcoming need for a long-term or permanent position. Regardless of the type of position, when a corporate client needs a worker they will contact the staffing firm and request an individual with a certain level of experience and skills. The staffing firm consults its worker database, contacts a qualified worker and sends them directly to the corporate client.

Temp agencies and staffing agencies offer temporary workers to their clients. Both types of staffing firm provides short-term labor to help companies deal with unexpected absences, busy periods, illnesses, maternity leaves and special projects. The agencies, employees and clients understand that temporary assignments do not last forever.

While temp agencies only offer temporary work, staffing agencies focus on the long term needs of their clients. For example, staffing agencies that specialize in information technology professionals frequently supply companies with programmers and hardware specialists that are needed to work on projects lasting more than one year.

Temporary labor is much more expensive for a company than permanent employees are. However, when a temporary absence creates the need for short term help, the higher cost might be the company’s only option. When companies have positions available they usually prefer to fill them in order to avoid the high hourly rate of temporary workers. Staffing agencies provide several different staffing solutions including the recruitment of qualified individuals and the permanent placement of full-time employees.

iStaffing Agency helps companies in California locate, screen and place professional candidates into Management, Senior and Executive level positions. iStaffing Agency specializes in Human Resources, Accountants, Executives, IT Professionals, Loan Officers and other professional candidates in addition to candidates in the Entertainment and Nonprofit sector. For more information about how iStaffing Agency can help your company with their staffing needs, please contact us today.

Preparing for a Temp Agency Test

Preparing for a Temp Agency Test

Today, experienced individuals have many options when looking for a job. An employment agency is an ideal place to start. Some job seekers chose to use temp agencies. Temp agencies provide short-term employment opportunities. Applying for a job with a temp agency involves completing an application, interviewing with a recruiter at the agency and taking a skills test. The test is used to evaluate certain skills, which allows the agency to match job seekers with the perfect job. Preparing for a temp agency test is not difficult and can go a long way towards finding the right opportunity.

Before you arrive at the temp agency, find out which tests will be required. Typically a temp agency will use different tests for different career fields. For example, a position as an administration assistant will include a typing test. Since the agency might require testing on specific software programs, you should also ask which software versions will be used.

If you are unfamiliar with the software or you lack skills that will be tested, consider taking a training course. Most community colleges offer one-day workshops, and the internet is full of free training courses. Even if you are familiar with the software that will be used during the testing, it is still wise to take a training course to refresh your skills.

Perhaps the most important part of preparing for a temp agency test is practice. Understanding how a program works or how to use your skills is not always enough to do well on the tests. Many temp agency tests are timed. Practicing your skills significantly improves your speed and accuracy.

The day of testing you must be both mentally and physically prepared. Make sure that you get a full night’s rest the night before the test and eat a healthy breakfast. When you arrive at the temp agency, turn off your cell phone and take a few extra minutes to refocus your mind so that you are able to properly invest your energy on the test.