Loyal temps, impressed clients and a great reputation all contribute to growth when running a temp agency; could reaching these goals be as simple as looking after your candidates?
Once you get off the ground, running a temp agency is usually a fast paced, demanding environment. Dealing on a day-to-day basis with people, and having the responsibility of providing their work and their salary is an important assignment, and it’s your duty to ensure things run smoothly and your temps are kept happy. If you’re in a position where business is good and you’re ready to think about growing your temporary recruitment agency, a strategy that puts your temps at the forefront of your business and ensures they feel valued and looked after, is the way you should be running your temp agency.
According to REC research employers are increasingly appreciating the importance of the temporary worker. A huge 90% of the businesses they surveyed said that they needed temporary workers to provide key strategic skills, while 58% said they needed temps to respond to growth. In Singapore one in four employees are temporary workers. The shift in focus over the last few of years in Asia has been to concentrate on the way people want to work, which includes more of a work-life balance, flexible hours and leave options. For hiring organisations, offering this kind of flexibility through temporary positions can be a real selling point and allows the organisation to stand out from its crowd of competitors.
Great Communication Leads to Temp Loyalty
It may seem obvious to suggest that good communication with your temporary workers is so important when running a temp agency, but even if as a business your communication is good, there will always be a way to improve or add to your offering. Could it be true that your attention, and best customer service is often saved for your paying clients? Yet without your temps you have no paying clients, so your customer service is just as necessary and significant candidate side.
From the very beginning when a candidate is applying for a role, ensure you keep them up to date every step of the way. This way they will feel valued and respected and it also keeps the chance of any misunderstandings to a minimum, as you have the chance to explain procedures or email through important updates.
Asking your temps plenty of questions gives you insight, and gives them an opportunity to be heard. From more personal questions about their working preferences and experience, to job feedback once they’re established in a role. This will give you a better understanding and an insider’s view into the employing company, but will also teach you about each individual worker, helping you to make more educated placements in the future.
Running a temp agency, particularly a niche or startup agency, means you’re in a great position to offer a first-rate candidate experience. With strong two-way communication and by establishing a genuine relationship with your temps you not only keep your clients happy by placing the most well suited candidates, but you also keep your temps loyal to your agency. If they know you, trust you and you’re placing them in great roles, why wouldn’t your temps keep coming back?
Understanding Your Temps Leads to Impressing Your Clients
So you’re building a strong army of loyal temp workers by keeping them in the loop, communicating regularly and listening to their feedback. There’s no doubt there’ll be occasions where your candidates are feeling frustrated, stressed or run down, so a little kindness, consideration and understanding goes along way, when running a temp agency in particular.
Good recruitment is all about placing the right candidate in the right job, with quality in mind and thought for both the employee and employers needs. Unfortunately it’s not always the case with temporary recruitment agencies and some candidates may have had bad experiences of being ‘dumped’ in the first available but probably unsuitable role. It is through good communication that you’ll gain a true understanding of your candidates needs, and it’s through this relationship that you can really impress your clients. The big players in the industry may have endless databases but they lack the insight about their temps meaning they can’t always make great quality placements. It can be a case of quantity over quality. Larger agencies are well known for not staying in touch or holding out of date, incorrect information. Running a temp agency that’s smaller and more niche gives you insight about your temps; you know who’s available to work when and exactly who would be the best fit for a role. Happy clients will be more inclined to choose you to fill new roles, allowing your business to grow organically.
Reliable Logistics Lead to Recommendations and a Great Reputation
You won’t have to go far to speak to a temp who has had problems getting paid on time. It’s a frustrating fact for temporary workers that poor or unorganised admin can leave them waiting to be paid or experiencing problems with incorrect pay. As a temporary recruitment agency we know things move fast, and a consultant’s day can easily be swallowed by admin tasks and paperwork. Luckily, if you’re not quite at the stage of hiring your own personal PA, there are other options to help you out with the paperwork and payroll that can easily cause headaches for you and your temps. New Millennia offer an online platform for SME recruitment agencies allowing the management of all your payroll, timesheets, P45s and contracts. Our funding and back office systems will set you up with everything you need for a consistent, timesaving and organised structure that will keep both your temps and your clients happy and loyal.
Happy customers will be happy to spread the word about your temp agency. Building a great reputation for your temporary recruitment agency will allow your company to grow organically. Developing the right back-office systems gives you the peace of mind and free time you need to focus on your business development and growth. As a startup you are agile and have the opportunity to be an early adopter of new technology and innovative systems. The great thing about New Millennia’s services and funding is that there’s no risk, no set-up costs and plenty of flexibility. If you want to find out more give one of our team a call on 0161 337 9882 or contact us here.
