Best Practices When Working With a Staffing Agency

November 17, 2021

When you need to hire healthcare professionals for your busy medical facility, it makes sense to place an ad online and in newspapers to attract suitable candidates for the role. However, there’s never any guarantee that the right people for your job will see the ad, and you may also find yourself inundated with resumes from unsuitable candidates that you don’t have time to sift through.

 That’s why many hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities are now working with employment agencies. If you’re getting ready to test the waters with one to see if they’re right for you, consider these pros, cons, tips, and best practices when working with a staffing agency

What Is a Staffing Agency?

A staffing agency or recruitment agency is a business that matches job seekers with workplaces. Job seekers can sign up with their resumes, and potential employers looking for corporate talent, temporary staffing, contract to hire, or direct hire can fill out a healthcare talent request form to put them in the running to receive applications from suitable applicants.

 Working with a staffing agency is a popular option for time-poor businesses who need help searching for, vetting, and employing the most suitable people for their vacancies. Essentially, the entire process is taken care of for them.

Best Practices When Working With a Staffing Agency

Most recruitment companies put a lot of time and effort into making sure they provide you with the most suitable applications for your open position, and it’s essential for you to do the same for them.
The more information you can provide your staffing agency of choice, the more suitable the candidates provided to you may be. It may also help to do take some of the following steps: 

Go Into Detail

Tell the staffing agency what you’re looking for. Inform them of the skills you need for your healthcare role, the personality type that will fit the best, and any goals you have. Even describing your company’s culture may help your staffing agency find the perfect person or people for the job.

Identify What You’re Looking For

Some businesses and organizations are looking for permanent staff, while others may be looking for a short-term contract hire, a temporary hire, or something else. Confirm what you’re looking for to ensure you can find employees who meet your criteria.

Be Accurate With Wages and Salaries

Don’t be vague about how much you’re willing to pay. Give the exact figure to ensure that you can appeal to candidates who fit the role and are happy with the salary. Otherwise, a staffing agency may hold multiple interviews only to have applicants pull out after learning how much the position pays.

Offer Precise Job Requirements

Don’t be afraid to go into detail about what’s required in a role. Daily tasks and requirements can help your recruitment agency choose the best people for the job.

Communicate With Your Recruiter

One of the best staffing tips is to make sure you stay in contact with the people in charge of finding suitable job candidates. Provide feedback on the job applicants they’ve provided and make sure you alert them to whether they are on track or not with who they find

How to Choose a Suitable Staffing Agency

There are likely to be many staffing agencies in your state, which means you may not always be able to find the right one for your needs straight away. Fortunately, some do stand out more than others when you compare them to set criteria.

Check out their website to learn more about them, and ensure they are a specialist in your line of work. Some recruiting agencies are generalists, but when you work in healthcare, technology, or even corporate, specialists in your field may understand your industry as well as you do and know the type of people you likely want to hire.

You may also be able to significantly narrow down your options by finding out if you will have one person to work with from start to finish. Having one point of contact can make communication between your workplace and the agency much more straightforward.

Pros and Cons of Working With a Staffing Agency

Not everyone will be convinced that aligning their healthcare business with a staffing agency is going to be the right move for them. To ensure you can make an informed decision, learn about some of the pros and cons of doing so below.

Pro: Reduced Hire Time

Rather than spending your own time reading through resumes from unqualified applicants, you can receive just those that closely align with your needs. Staffing agencies work hard to find qualified people for your roles and even take care of reference checking, screening, and shortlisting. This entire process may take place in far less time than it would take for you to hire someone without their help.

Pro: Save Your Time

You may know you need to hire someone quickly, but being short-staffed can often mean you’re overworked. Save your own time by outsourcing this task to a company that dedicates all of its time to this task. You can then focus on your own job and wait for suitable applicant resumes to be delivered.

Con: You Don’t Have Full Control Over the Hiring Process

Some people in management roles like having complete control over the hiring process, even if they don’t have time to manage it properly. Hiring a staffing agency for permanent and temporary staffing does require you to hand over some of this control.

 Fortunately, you’re able to stay in constant communication with your recruiter, which means you can find out how the applicant hunting process is going. You may not have to do the job yourself, but you don’t have to be out of the loop

Pro: Recruitment Agencies Have Talent Pools

After spending years in the industry, many recruitment businesses already have a substantial database of quality candidates for healthcare roles. They can access this information quickly to ensure that even if you only have days or weeks to fill a position, they can likely meet that target.

Quadrant Best Practices When Working With a Staffing Agency

Are you ready to request healthcare talent for your organization? Save time, frustration, and energy by outsourcing the healthcare staff recruitment process to a business that knows how staffing works inside and out. Whether you’re looking for temporary or permanent staff, you will be pleased to know you don’t have to manage this time-consuming task on your own. At Quadrant, our recruitment experts are ready to assist you. We’ll save you time by connecting your company with a variety of professionals ready to work. Learn more about our process here.