Secrets to Successful Staffing and Search Agency Placements

As we closed the year here at The Lee Group, an article from November 2017 caught the eye of a few of our staffing managers, reinforcing the importance of how The Lee Group works to keep our clients and employees happy.

The article touched on some of the road bumps of using a staffing agency and addressed how those challenges can be managed – citing several practices that The Lee Group has used for more than 45 years.

The Lee Group long ago recognized that it’s our job to deliver a win-win scenario for both client and employee, so we put in place best practices to overcome any perceived staffing agency snags. Those best practices have become The Lee Group credo and help us to shine brightly among staffing agencies and executive search firms.

The advice in the article to minimize problems is solid, but The Lee Group takes its way of operating a step further to ensure both clients and employees are matched for a win-win scenario. Here’s how we take good standard operating procedure and make it great.

Perfecting the Basic

The article says to ensure HR is involved and communicate clearly. The Lee Group agrees, but we combine that philosophy and practice into a critical requirement: Know your client and your employees. This is how The Lee Group can make the best matches of employer and employee – which helps avoids snags such as employees not showing up or leaving after a short period of time on the job.

The Lee Group knows that the wrong fit of employee and employer will end badly. That’s why we spend time getting to know our clients and employees.

For example, we spend extra time getting to know the client company, not just the job description. This means site visits, communication with the hiring manager as well as HR. It means understanding the business objective of our clients. When we know how you intend to grow, we can be continually watching for “perfect matches.”

In one case, we had a top-notch programmer seeking employment. Although we knew a client didn’t have a current position available, we knew their business well and wanted to share top talent with them. The client agreed to meet with the employee for an informational interview and ended up hiring him on the spot for a position. Eighteen year later, that employee is now a vice president at the company.

Getting Under the Surface

Getting quality time to get to know the client is easier than getting to know the habits, predilections and work ethic of an employee. There are laws that prohibit asking certain questions that reveal details about a person and his or her style and beliefs. But there are ways to get underneath the surface.

For example, when employees come via referrals, you can base their character on the person who referred them. Do you trust that person? Are they themselves someone you’d want to work for you? Do they have sound people skills and perceptions? Referrals from prior successful employees are often the best employees.

Another tool for getting insight beyond interview questions is to watch for non-verbals. What an employee does, how he reacts, how she appears, and their facial expressions can communicate more than their answers to questions and what’s on their resume.

For example, by simply walking an employee to their car after a first interview, you can see if they are neat or sloppy in their own “space.” And by watching an employee’s reaction to how you describe the position can tell you if they’re truly interested or not.

As the demand for employees grows, staffing agencies can be excellent partners for finding the right employee for your company – whether temporary, temp-to-perm, or full-time. You just have to find The Lee Group difference.