Should I Work With a Staffing Agency in Colorado? An Examination
Should I Work With a Staffing Agency in Colorado? An Examination
Working with a staffing agency in Colorado gives you access to something of a “one-stop shop” on your journey towards a better and more efficient hiring process. Most agencies tend to do it all – from screening resumes to checking references to shortlisting potential candidates for available positions and more.
Once they know exactly what you need in terms of new hires, they tap into their experience – not to mention their local connections – to help make that a reality.
Yet at the same time, there are many businesses that are successful with handling the hiring process themselves via their human resources department. That’s a totally valid approach – it’s just one that might not make sense for every type of business, if it’s even realistic at all.
In fact, there are 15 core reasons why you should consider working with a staffing agency in Colorado that are absolutely worth a closer look.
1. Fill Positions Quickly
For many organizations, the number one reason to partner with a staffing agency in Colorado comes down to the ability to fill vacant positions faster than ever.
When a business tries to handle all aspects of the hiring process in-house, they’re casting the widest possible net by design. It takes time to collect and review resumes, call people in for interviews, etc. That is the time that those positions remain vacant, which ultimately hurts productivity and costs money.
A top staffing agency in Colorado can fill those positions quickly, making sure that important work is capable of getting done without delay.
2. Streamlining Hiring Across the Board
Similarly, the best staffing agencies in Colorado can help you significantly streamline your hiring process. You don’t have to set up the infrastructure yourself, managing job postings, callbacks, etc. A staffing firm already comes with optimized processes for sourcing, screening candidates, interviewing applicants, and even onboarding.
3. Access to Top Tier Talent
Working with a staffing agency in Colorado also gives you access to high quality candidates that you may otherwise not be able to reach. This increases the chances of not only finding the right person for an available job, but finding someone who can achieve peak productivity with minimal training required.
4. It’s a Better Way to Keep Up With Your Needs
As your business grows, constantly going through the hiring process takes resources away from more important matters. A staffing agency can devote their time and attention to making sure you always have new employees so that you can focus on other tasks.
5. Offload Work to Professionals
Reviewing resumes is important, yes – but organizational leadership isn’t necessarily adept at it in the way that a staffing agency would be. There are certain red flags that a manager might miss simply because hiring isn’t the main focus of their job. A staffing agency would not miss those same red flags, however.
6. Quickly Mitigate Risk From Talent Shortages
If you’re dealing with an unexpected talent shortage in your industry, even beginning the process of looking for new candidates takes time. It also becomes harder to attract high quality applicants. A staffing agency in Colorado can get things done quickly for you so that you don’t have to worry about hiring and can instead focus on running the most successful business that you can.
7. A Staffing Agency Can Handle Temporary Hires
Another major reason to work with a staffing agency is that they are better equipped to handle things like temporary or contract staffing needs. If yours is a business that goes through seasonal fluctuations where you need high volumes of employees during particular months, a staffing agency can make sure these needs are met on a temporary basis.
8. Embracing the Temporary-to-Hire Process
Working with a staffing agency also makes it easier to try out employees on a temporary basis to see if they’re a good fit, at which point you can then bring them on permanently if you so choose. It’s simply easier to do if they’re going through a staffing agency as opposed to being hired directly. It’s also more straightforward to get rid of those candidates who are deemed to be a poor fit, too.
9. A Major Cost Reduction
Regardless of your industry, most businesses benefit from the almost immediate cost-savings that come from working with a staffing agency in Colorado. A temporary employee won’t get sick days, vacation pay, access to healthcare, or other benefits like a permanent staff member would.
This is a great way to quickly free up valuable funds that can be used elsewhere in the business where they can make an immediate impact.
10. Access to a Wealth of Knowledge
Keep in mind that those who work with a staffing agency are also bringing with them years of industry-specific experience when it comes to hiring that you may not have. Especially if you’re a young organization, they can help with things like acceptable salary ranges, local market trends, and more to help you remain as competitive as possible.
11. Help Avoid Worker Burnout
One of the tell-tale signs that you should consider working with a staffing agency has to do with the state of your current employees. Even if you don’t realize it, your existing workers may be feeling overloaded.This can not only lead to diminishing returns as far as productivity is concerned, but it can actually hurt morale and create a negative culture in the long run.
Partnering with a staffing agency to find some temporary hires can relieve the stress that others are feeling before it creates a negative impact across the organization.
12. Organic Help For Your Specific Hiring Needs
Naturally, you’ll need to tailor your approach to hiring based on why a position is vacant in the first place. Finding workers to help with a seasonal surge is a lot different from filling the position of someone who was recently promoted. A staffing agency will understand the context surrounding your needs to help hire quickly, no matter what.
13. Improving Employee Retention
Partnering with the best staffing agencies in Colorado is also a way to help eliminate any employee retention issues you’ve been having. People who are a less-than-ideal fit for a position don’t tend to stay with a business for very long. If they’re not outright terminated, they recognize the disconnect and choose to work elsewhere – thus leaving the organization itself in a bind.
A top staffing agency can help avoid this type of situation entirely by tapping into the best talent pool of qualified candidates to begin with.
14. Assistance With Unexpected Staffing Needs
Even organizations that handle the entirety of their hiring in-house can still find themselves in an unexpectedly unfortunate situation. Maybe an employee has gotten sick and will suddenly need to be away for an indefinite period of time. Maybe they’re taking parental leave at the worst possible moment.
Regardless, partnering with a staffing agency can help make sure that their position is filled and that essential work is getting done until the situation resolves itself.
15. Get Access to Skills You Don’t Have
Finally, for many organizations one of the most pressing reasons to partner with a top staffing agency in Colorado has to do with getting access to skills you simply do not have. This is especially true if you’re looking to fill positions where highly specialized skills are a requirement, with IT being a top example. All you need to do is tell your staffing agency partners exactly what you’re looking for and why it’s so important. They’ll be able to leverage their own connections to take care of the rest.
Since its inception in 2000, Innovar Group is proud of the reputation it’s been able to earn as a leading IT staffing agency for organizations in Colorado. Whether you need permanent placement, contract staffing, or something else entirely, they bring with them a team of forward-thinking IT recruiters who can find the right candidate for the right position at exactly the right time.
If you’d like to find out more information about why you should consider working with a staffing agency in Colorado, or if you’d just like to discuss your organization’s own needs with a team of passionate hiring experts in a bit more detail, please don’t delay – contact Innovar Group today.
The Rise of Remote Work: Adapting IT Recruitment Strategies for a Remote Workforce
The Rise of Remote Work: Adapting IT Recruitment Strategies for a Remote Workforce
A remote work setup can also offer opportunities that would not be available to companies that don’t allow employees to work from home. With remote work, you can tap talent outside your city, state, or even country. This enables you to find specialized, talented workers even as the IT industry faces a talent shortage. Furthermore, allowing workers to work from home can boost your employee retention rate. Statistics show that allowing employees to work from home can decrease your attrition rate by 50%. What’s more, over 80% of workers who have flexible work options are more loyal to a company than workers who aren’t allowed to work outside the office.
At the same time, the rise of remote work requires IT companies to not only adjust their work methods but also their recruitment strategies. Knowing how to reach and attract the right IT employees can spell the difference between a successful company that’s able to grow by leaps and bounds and one that struggles with chronic IT staffing issues. Following are some tried and proven ways to recruit the right remote workforce.
Know Who You Want to Reach
With remote recruitment, you can hire anyone, in any part of the world. However, you still need to word your job advertisement carefully to ensure you’re reaching the right people. Is a degree important, or are you looking for someone with X amount of experience? Do you need someone who has used a particular program before, or are you open to training someone who has some experience but needs to expand his or her skill set? You don’t want to make your ad too narrow, as you could discourage potentially great employees from responding to your job advertisement. At the same time, if you have some definite requirements, spell these out so you don’t get applications from people you aren’t interested in considering.
It’s also important to take time zones into account if employees need to meet virtually on a regular basis. Overcoming a three to five-hour time difference may not be too hard, but trying to arrange a virtual meeting or discussion with employees who are ten to twelve hours apart isn’t realistic.
Ask for a Video Recording
Ask candidates to record a short video of themselves and send it in along with a written resume. The recording doesn’t take the place of a video interview, but it does give you and other decision-makers in your company the chance to get to know clients before deciding on which ones to consider. Are potential job applicants dressed appropriately and sitting in an organized office area, or are they in pajamas, sitting on a bed and sipping coffee as they talk about their work ethic? Does the applicant show specific interest in your firm and its goals or does the video look like a generic response that’s been sent to multiple other firms? These clues give valuable insight into what you can expect from a potential applicant.
Prepare in Advance for a Virtual Interview
Once you have a shortlist of candidates to interview live, it’s time to prepare for a virtual interview. Bear in mind that this isn’t only about ensuring you have a list of questions to ask potential applicants. Naturally, you do need a list of questions, information about your business, and a clear job proposal if you determine the applicant is the right one for the position. At the same time, job applicants are using the interview to find out if they want to work with you. Thus, you need to make sure your interview is designed to attract people to your firm and make them want to work with you.
If you’re the only person interviewing the client, explain who you are, what your title is in the company, and what they can expect from the interview. If others will join in on the interview, explain this in advance and give the applicant the name and title of each additional individual. If you’re administering a skills test during the interview, give the applicant information about this test in advance. Your communications should be professional but also engaging and friendly so potential candidates will look forward to meeting and working with you.
Make sure your office has a professional appeal, even if you work from home. You want to show people that they’re joining a successful venture and can expect the best from you. Dress appropriately; you don’t need to be wearing a three-piece suit, but business attire is advisable as it shows people you’re serious about your firm’s success. Check equipment in advance to ensure everything is working well. Clear sound and video are a must if you want to attract top talent.
Ask the Right Questions During the Interview
It can be challenging to get to know someone online rather than in person. You won’t be able to see body language that can offer clues about the person’s ability to be a good fit for your firm. However, if you ask the right questions, you should be able to get to know potential applicants well enough to choose the right ones.
Ask scenario-based questions to see how potential job applicants would solve challenges and problems particular to your company. Doing so helps you gauge an applicant’s experience and training. It also enables you to see if the applicant has valuable soft skills such as creativity, innovation, and good communication skills. If the job position requires employees to work with others on your team regularly, ask questions about the applicant’s experience working with people in other countries and from other backgrounds.
If the applicant has prior work experience or is currently working at another company, ask specific questions about his or her on-the-job experience. First, you want to find out what the applicant does at the company and the ways he or she has contributed to the company’s growth and progress. Next, you want to find out why the applicant is looking for another job. In many cases, there are legitimate reasons why a person may want to switch jobs. These can include a desire for professional growth, the opportunity to work from home, or even a higher salary/more benefits. However, beware of applicants who are only switching jobs to make more money. Such applicants likely won’t be loyal to your company long-term. You also want to avoid candidates who badmouth a current boss and/or colleagues. Backbiting employees can ruin employee morale even if they’re not in physical contact with other employees in your company.
Offer a Trial Period
Once you’ve found what appears to be the ideal employee, you may want to hire him or her immediately. In some instances, this is a wise move, especially if the interview shows the individual would be the perfect fit for your firm. An immediate job offer is also advisable if you’re looking for someone with an uncommon, specialized skill set. On the other hand, if you’re almost sure you have the right people but want to get to know them better before making a final decision, you can always offer a trial period. Write up a clear contract defining job responsibilities, duration of the trial period, pay, benefits, etc. Not all great job applicants will be a good fit for your company. A trial period helps you see if hiring a person long-term is a good idea.
Partner with Professional Recruiters
Developing the right virtual IT recruitment strategy can be challenging. The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. The Innovar Group is a Denver IT recruitment firm with more than twenty years of experience matching companies with the right IT employees. We offer access to unique candidates to help you find specialized talent faster and easier than would otherwise be possible. We provide market data to make it easy for you to create a pay/benefits offer for potential employees that will attract top talent without busting your budget. We also provide professional guidance during the hiring process to help you connect with the people who would be the best fit for your company. Get in touch with us to find out more about our professional services or to start the process of hiring the remote employees your company needs to reach its business goals.
Technical Recruiting: The Ultimate Guide to IT Recruiting
Technical Recruiting: The Ultimate Guide to IT Recruiting
Top talent is the driving force behind innovation. Few things are as important as that in information technology (IT). According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review, only 13 percent of employers say they can find the IT talent they need.
Hiring is a complex issue, and even more so for technical recruiting. So, what becomes the priority when you hire for IT? Consider 20 areas of focus that should stand out.
1. Effective and Accurate Job Descriptions
Part of recruiting is developing job descriptions that accurately detail responsibilities and qualifications for employment. Accuracy saves you and potential candidates a lot of time during the hiring process.
An effective job description will organically filter out some unqualified candidates, giving you access to better options. A poor description will be more work.
2. Sourcing Candidates
Where you list your jobs is just as important as how you describe them. Think about where the top talent might look for a job lead. Some possibilities might be:
- College and universities – Many have job boards that help graduates find employment.
- Professional social media sites – LinkedIn is the top choice.
- Job posting platforms focusing on IT – Such as DIce and Crunchboard.
- Popular job posting platforms – Don’t ignore the ones at the top of search engine rankings, such as Indeed and CareerPlacer.
- Professional organizations – CompTIA and ACM are some general IT organizations. There are also some that are sub-industry-specific, such as for gamers or healthcare. Many professional organizations accept job postings. If nothing else, you can use the directories to get leads.
- Community Platforms –These would include GitHub and Stack Overflow.
Anything that serves as a professional resource could be a place that allows for IT job postings.
3. Create an Interactive Job Posting and Application Process
The posting should do more than just explain the details of a job. It should act as a filter to ensure you spend time on the talent best suited to your needs. One way to do that is to make your initial job application process as interactive as possible.
Your goal for the initial application is to learn enough about a candidate to decide if you should advance them to the next stage. You can ask some questions at this level to help you determine that. For example:
- What is your favorite piece of software?
- What professional organizations do you belong to and why?
- What is your biggest professional challenge?
- What is your top skill, and why does it make you a fit for this job?
Asking a few strategic questions at this hiring stage can be a timesaver. It allows you to bubble up the best IT professionals for the job.
4. Ask Questions That Improve the Recruitment Process
IT staffing companies should also ask a few questions that help improve the recruitment strategy. For example, what tech communities do you participate in or forums do you follow? This not only tells you something about the applicant, but it also gives you information about where talent spends their time. You may be able to use that next time you post a job.
Another practical question “Where did you see this job posting?” This provides insight into what posting platforms are the most successful for this job type.
5. Plan to Build Relationships
Creating interactive postings also allows you to see if the candidate might be a good fit for another role. Approach the recruiting process as a chance to build relationships with IT talent so you can contact them if another job is better suited for them.
6. Develop a Rubric for Each Stage of Hiring
Your initial rubric is the questions you ask as part of the application process. Create something like this for each stage to help filter out the candidates. For instance, if the next step is a remote or phone interview, set up a strategic rubric to help judge whether the candidate has the necessary hard and soft skills.
The rubric doesn’t have to be questions you ask the applicant. Maybe you rate each one after the interview or check boxes for ideal qualities. Knowing if this candidate should advance to the next hiring level is whatever it takes.
7. Do a Little Reputation Research on the Brand Before Hiring
Hiring is a two-way street. While you are assessing the qualifications of an applicant, they are giving the employer a deep look, too. Before posting, you should look at reviews about the brand and address anything negative.
You don’t need to worry about major brands like Google or Apple, but most small to midsize companies require a reputation checkup. See what current and past employees say about them. Is there is anything negative? Consider how you will address that issue with a candidate if it comes up in conversation.
8. Use Each Job Recruitment as a Learning Opportunity
Take the time to assess how things went after each recruitment. What worked and what didn’t? What job posting provided the best candidates? What did you learn from this recruitment?
9. Use Metrics to Improve the Process
Simple metrics like time-to-fill can help IT staffing companies be more efficient for subsequent recruitments.
10. Map Out the Interview Process
Some candidates may go through several interviews before getting hired. Figure out how to do those interviews. The easiest method is remotely, but what platform will you use? Is it necessary to have an in-person interview?
11. Be Clear About Notifications
Be upfront with candidates on how you will notify them if they can move to the next level or are not the right fit for this job. If you can’t send notifications, tell them that.
12. Follow the Trends
IT recruitment is an industry that is constantly changing. You want to stay on top of those changes as a recruiter to ensure you get the top talent.
13. Have a Plan in Case a Candidate Turns Down an Offer
Ideally, you will already have a second and third-place candidate ready if your first pick rejects the job.
14. Create an IT Recruitment Playbook
Map out your recruitment process step-by-step. This will allow you to review it often and make tweaks as needed. It is also something you can show clients or hiring managers to give them a better understanding of how you recruit.
15. Have a Plan in Place to Organize Your Candidate Pool
This is important if you hire for several jobs at once. It gives you a central place in case someone who applies for one position is a good fit for another.
16. Keep Candidate Information for a Set time
If a new technical recruiting job comes up within that time, you already have a pool of candidates to consider.
17. Understand the Hiring Company’s Selling Points
As the recruiter, it is up to you to put this employer’s best foot forward. Find out what is unique and use it when doing job postings. Are they known for promoting within? Do they have a fun and easy company culture?
18. Understand What Each Applicant Wants
If you understand the company’s selling points, you can match them with the candidate’s goals.
19. Look at Exit Interviews If Possible
This can give you insights into the company. Not all companies use exit interviews or will let you read them, but it is worth asking them about it.
20. Learn to Think Like a Marketer
IT recruitment is all about marketing. You have to market the job in a way that top talent wants to apply. You also have to sell the candidate to the hiring manager. If you learn to think like a marketer, it will help you do both.
Since 2000, Innovar Group has developed a proven record for finding the right IT talent. We specialize in Denver IT recruitment. Whether hiring or looking for a career, learn more about Innovar Group today.