Is Hiring a Staffing Partner Worth the Money?

Marcianne Kuethen

February 25, 2013

We all know money doesn’t grow on trees, but is hiring a staffing partner worth the money? As a business owner with a small budget for recruiting, Vanessa Merit Nornberg felt that she could do better than a staffing partner in advertising for and choosing the right employee–and save a significant amount of money while doing so. But as many business owners have discovered, it was taking her nearly half a year to find the right kind of hire. Figuring she had nothing to lose, she decided to try using a recruiter on a contingent basis.

To Vanessa’s surprise, “The recruiter sent me the resumes of 10 entry-level candidates. I screened six by phone, met three in person, and found the right hire–all in a month. The cost suddenly became much less, because I saved so much time in the process, and because I got a pool of applicants who were decidedly better to choose from than in the past.” Plus, she discovered that the candidate she ultimately chose had not posted her resume on any job boards, so she could only have been found through her recruiter. The new hire told Vanessa that recruiters help a resume to get seen, unlike submitting via the Internet where it disappears into oblivion.

Is hiring a staffing partner worth the money? It is when you’re missing out on the best candidates by doing all your hiring internally–a likely result, especially in a tight labor market. Plus, consider what an empty desk is costing you in lost productivity. An even more compelling reason to use a staffing partner is the time that doing it yourself takes away from your regular responsibilities–five months, in Vanessa’s case, according to Inc.com.

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