What Does a Staffing Company Do?
Staffing companies exist to fill gaps in the employment market. Their job is to find candidates when a company needs to execute a one-time project, or if a company wants to try out an employee before bringing them on permanently.
Many hiring managers simply cannot be bothered with sifting through stacks of unqualified candidates. Therefore, they outsource this task to the best staffing agencies.
So, Who Am I Working For?
In most cases, when you get a job working through a staffing agency, you’ll be an employee of the staffing firm. You’ll receive a paycheck from them, but you’ll work on behalf of the staffing firm at their client company.
In many scenarios, getting a job through a staffing agency means that the job is not permanent. Therefore, contractors like yourself are hired on as temporary employees, usually to work on a large short-term project.
Despite this downside, lots of jobs offered through a staffing agency, especially for mid-level roles where several years of experience are required, offer salaries higher than the going rate.
What’s the Catch? Why Is My Salary High?
The catch is that working for a staffing agency often means that you’ll have no benefits to speak of. Though some of the larger and more established agencies have begun to offer benefits in recent years, this is still rare.
You’ll also be responsible for paying your own taxes, because in many cases you’ll be working as a 1099 employee. You’ll need to take that into consideration as well.
How Do Staffing Agencies Make Money?
In the majority of roles offered through staffing agencies, you’ll be paid an hourly wage by the staffing firm while they charge the client company a higher hourly rate and keep the difference. This is the way staffing agencies get people jobs every day.
Don’t take this as an insult—paying for a huge staff of recruiters along with enterprise-level access to all the best job boards and resume databases costs a lot of money.
Additionally, a staffing agency is taking all of the risks legally. Because you become their employee, this can lead to costs to them down the road, such as unemployment benefits.
Are Staffing Agencies My Friend?
It may seem as if the staffing agencies are only out for money, and to an extent, that is true. However, they offer you an opportunity to see what types of jobs are out there and who is looking for employees.
Rather than thinking of staffing agencies as something to be avoided due to the sometimes temporary nature of the work, you should see it as a chance to interview for a position in your field of work. You might find out about new initiatives in your field or gain insight into what the current rate is for your position.
For those who are unemployed, going to interviews lined up through staffing agencies can be excellent practice. There’s no harm in attending an interview to see what they have to offer, and you just might like what they have to say.
Taking a temporary position while looking for a more stable and permanent role is perfectly acceptable. It also helps fill potential gaps in your resume so that you can show you’ve been working consistently.
Wrapping Up
At the end of the day, it’s up to you to evaluate jobs offered by staffing agencies. Don’t hesitate to ask questions of both the staffing agency recruiter and the hiring manager.
If you get a good feeling about the role or like where it could take your career, it may be worth pursuing. If you don’t feel the role is right for you, you can always make up any number of last-minute excuses!
Title: What Does a Staffing Company Do?
Category: Career Resources
Co-Author: Becky is a contributor for theJub. She’s a writing and talent acquisition specialist who loves to apply her skills through creative writing and editing.
