9 Questions to Determine if Outsource Staffing Is Right For You

Wondering if outsource staffing might be the solution you've been looking for? Click here for questions to determine if outsource staffing is right for you!

Did you know that as much as 50% of HR managers can't find qualified candidates for open positions? That's quite a surprise because thousands of people can't even find a job; what happens to these open positions?
Hiring anyone to fill the position isn't a better course of action because you risk a high turnover rate and low productivity. A better thing to do is to let the professionals handle it.
By professionals, we mean dedicated recruitment firms. They have dedicated resources, skills, and tools to find the right candidate for the job.
However, is outsource staffing right for you? Find that out by answering the questions below.

1. How Much are You Spending on Recruiting?
Recruiting activities cost companies a lot of money. It involves posting on job boards, looking for the right people on LinkedIn, background screening, using applicant tracking systems, and so on. We haven't even mentioned the development and management of a recruiting campaign.
With all this, do you know your exact recruitment costs?
When you outsource staffing and recruitment, these costs are all rolled into one. You know how much you're paying for each hire, and it often costs less. 
The reduced costs are because of a staffing company having dedicated recruiting resources. Their hiring staff doesn't have anything else to do, unlike your HR staff. They have simplified their processes, eliminating unnecessary steps.

2. Do You Have Enough Resources for Recruiting?
It's not advisable to cut costs on in-house recruiting. Hiring the right people is crucial to your company. However, small companies don't often have many resources to run effective recruitment campaigns.
In that case, they may outsource this to a dedicated staffing and recruitment company. Like we said above, the costs are much less, but the efficiency is the same. It can even be better than that of a small company.

3. Do You Want to Level the Playing Field?
Because larger companies have a bigger budget, they're the most effective at finding the right people. It helps that these people want to land a job in large companies in the first place. Nonetheless, having the right team to get these people is also a huge part of it.
For smaller companies, this might become a disadvantage. The talents are going to larger companies because of ineffective hiring campaign.
This is one reason why they may not be able to keep up with bigger competitors. However, outsourcing allows such companies to somehow level the playing field.

4. Are You Focusing on the Right Things?
If you're focusing too much on recruitment, do you have time to focus on your core business? Unless you're a recruitment company, any recruiting tasks are outside the core function of your business. Focusing on it may take away resources from your core activities.
Your HR department, for instance, may become inefficient when it comes to their other HR work. Having overwhelming recruitment work may cause a dip in HR staff productivity.
This then causes a ripple effect throughout the whole company. After all, they're the ones who handle all employee concerns.

5. How High Are Your Turnover Rates?
Are you noticing that a position has high turnover rates? This can be due to several reasons, one of which is an underlying hiring issue. It could be that the employees you've been hiring aren't the right fit for the job.
You can fix this by outsourcing to a recruitment firm. With their specialized skills, they can give you better-qualified candidates. These candidates are a better match for the position and the company's culture.
It also saves you money because high turnover rates mean loss of productivity, lower employee engagement, and such.

6. Why is Employee Productivity Low?
Even if you don't have high turnover rates, a dip in productivity might mean the same thing – that you don't have the right person for the job. The job responsibilities might be beyond the employee's current level of skills. 
This could also be a result of an inefficient HR department. As we said above, what happens in that department causes a ripple effect. If they're too overwhelmed with hiring, this might cause a dip in their productivity and everybody else's because no one's attending to their issues fast enough.

7. Are You Lacking Employees with Real Talents?
A staffing company's specialization is hiring the right people with the right skills. But this might not be a specialization of yours.
In that sense, they're more effective at bringing in people with real talents – the ones you're looking for. They may have more effective tools and better technology, like virtual recruiter jobs.
If you're serious about finding these people, then outsource recruitment instead. This allows you to reach a bigger pool of candidates. It also improves the branding of the company and the position. 

8. Do You Experience Seasonal Spikes?
Certain events in a company can make recruiting more difficult. One example is when it's experiencing rapid growth. Fluctuations in recruiting needs also make it harder for the existing staff.
In these scenarios, it's better to outsource your recruiting needs. This gives you better control over the hiring process even if it isn't your internal staff who's doing the work.
You give your staff a more stable environment. More importantly, you let the professionals handle the unusual growth patterns. 

9. Does Your Company Need a Simplified Process?
Recruitment doesn't end with finding the right person. After recruiting, the onboarding starts.
This means added workload for your HR staff. The different processes handled by different people can cause interruptions not only to the department but to the candidate, as well.
You can outsource onboarding, too, so the whole experience is seamless. While you still have to brief the employee once they're hired, you don't have to spend too many resources on the process.
Outsource Staffing and Recruitment to the Right Company
If you want to outsource staffing, though, spend some time vetting recruiting firms. Look for one with a track record of finding some top talents for the right positions. Otherwise, you'll still have the same issues above.

If you need more tips, read our other articles on our blog.