Position your company to provide solutions for your clients’ hiring needs. Become the go-to source so that your clients see that you have their best interests at heart. With unemployment at an all-time low, there is tremendous competition for labor. This condition is not likely to change any time soon, given a continued healthy and growing economy and key trends in the workplace. These workplace trends are in the direction of contract jobs, flex-time jobs, “gig” engagements, and other non-traditional arrangements. The up-coming presidential election is an additional complicating factor with may cause a significant number of firms to defer direct hire placements because of political uncertainty. The effect of these elements is to increase temp and contract placements to provide staff to keep businesses going.
Just posting a job opening is not going to be enough to be productive in the face of these trends. To ease the pain, more effort will be required to keep up with clients’ labor requirements. Get set up to offer temp and contract placements as a means of satisfying clients’ labor needs if direct hires are not available or if your client’s strategy is to defer them until after the presidential election. Finding a short-term labor solution for your client will enable them to continue their operations unimpeded at minimum risk. Finding the optimal direct hire often takes significant time, and the time required may lengthen in the face of the current trends. Temp and contract placements can fill the void and may even result in a good fit for a direct hire. A beneficial side-effect of the vetting process for direct hires is that you will develop an inventory of potential temp or contract candidates. Keep these candidates in mind and propose them when appropriate as surrogates or provisional workers. You will earn an income stream throughout the assignment duration and earn a conversion fee should the temp or contract hire go direct.
Your relationship with your client is critical to your continued success and you can cement that relationship by offering a spectrum of solutions for their labor needs. Being prepared to furnish them with candidates via direct hire, or contract, or temp-to-hire will enable you to be there first, ahead of the competition. You will establish yourself as the go-to source for solutions. Once established in this positive role, inertia, and providing a valuable service, will help ensure that the client will be coming back to you for their hiring needs. Keep in mind that if you don’t provide this service, your competition will!
You can prepare yourself now by having a contract in place which includes temp and contract as well as temp-to-hire options as a supplement to your direct hire offerings. With a back-office provider, you can be ready to provide these services immediately, if you are set up in advance and can be in POSITION FOR SOLUTIONS.
