10 Pitfalls New Staffing Firms Should Avoid
As a growing business, you’re bound to make mistakes and learn from them. But wouldn’t it be even better if you could learn from those who’ve made them before you? We asked staffing professionals to share some common pitfalls they’ve seen. Here’s what they had to say.
What pitfalls should new staffing firms avoid?
1) Thinking the client is only working with you and nobody else. Be aware that there are many alternatives at similar prices and the client may try them out. —Eric Lipkind
2) Failing to document candidate feedback. This feedback can be critical to future placements but often gets overlooked. —Marnie Pertsinidis
3) Commoditizing the value you bring to customers. Once that process starts, it leads to a race to the lowest possible pricing. Different strategies apply to different customer bases.
Form partnerships that help solve problems beyond employment transactions. What higher-level problems can you solve? What can you do more efficiently? What can you do more effectively at a cheaper total cost? —Billy Davis
4) Failing to follow up with candidates. It happens far too often! —Kat Thompson
5) Failing to communicate. Communication is key. Implement weekly meetings to discuss issues your team is having and brainstorm solutions to them. Your team can focus on working together, while still be competitive with each other. —Scott Yoder
6) Focusing on your own activities at the expense of your client. When we lose sight of our client’s expectations, our activities, while great, may not properly align with our client’s expected outcomes. In order to ensure your team is on the right path, you need to always have a quality metric to counterbalance it. —Royce
7) Contacting and submitting the same candidate. It can be avoided by having good notes in your ATS. —Robb Lucas
8) Telling your recruiters to mass email or mass Inmail your candidates. This is a good strategy for getting volume out, but it often results in horrible branding and doesn’t actually get you the best candidates. Recruiters should look at every point of contact they make with a person as a way to brand themselves. It’s worth the time it takes to ensure that they make a good solid first impression. —Radhika Arora
9) Relying on metrics as a gauge of employee performance without the proper context. Some reqs and much easier to work while others are very difficult, which will impact the raw numbers from a recruiter. Metrics are useful but they shouldn’t be your only method of evaluating recruiter success. —Gregory Carathimas
10) Forgetting to call candidates back! Communication is key, and keeping them informed throughout the process builds trust. —Erika
These tips originally appeared in our toolkit for growing your staffing firm. Want more insight and tips for running a successful staffing firm? Check out Toolkit: Resources to Grow Your Staffing Firm from the Ground Up for useful tools and tips you can use to better your firm.
