For accountants, the New Year means the start of the “busy season”. The busy season means opportunities for temporary contractors hired to fill holes and support corporate accounting teams, and with little time to fill those roles the responsibility mainly falls to temporary employment agencies.
The big question is whether they really have your best interest at hand. Unlike VouchedIn where you can view, select and hire candidates directly, you lack that opportunity with temporary staffing agencies. Often times, adding a third party into the mix can lead to miscommunication about the available position, skills sets and timeline.
If you’re a company who regularly adds temporary accounting contractors to your staff, you might want to take heed to these tips to ensure you find the right candidates, reduce turnover, stay on hiring budget and ensure you meet deadlines – the three things that increase costs during accounting season.
1. Do you rely solely on the staffing agency’s referrals? It’s important that you know who you are hiring and feel comfortable with them. You need more than a body to fill a post, you need a skilled professional who can do the job.
2. References are one of the best ways to know whether you are hiring the right professional with the right ethics, and more importantly is the right fit for your team. Before just hiring someone based on a staffing agency’s selection, make the time to find out more and you will save your company, and department, time and money.
3. Double check their background. It never hurts to take a few moments to review a candidate’s resume to make sure they can do the job.
4. Ensure they meet skill demands and time commitment. Your staffing agency should ensure that your candidate meets all of your needs, but it never hurts to ask the candidate yourself to confirm they are truly aware of the position’s demands. Many times contractors will apply for a job and be recommended to you without actually having all the skills and availability required.
5. Fee equals higher quality and motivation. The primary reason many contractors go through staffing agencies because they have no choice. Their reluctance comes from the fact that staffing agencies take a majority of the fee you’re willing to pay a contractor for their own coffers. In turn, you get fewer qualified, experienced candidates willing to take lower pay for a project, leading to problems down the line for your team. Better pay not only leads to higher quality candidates but happier candidates who do better work.
6. Make them feel part of the team. It may seem as if you have no time to on board your temporary staff members, but it can be one of the most important things that you do, aside of everything above. Even though they are not full-time employees, it is just as important to make them feel welcome and part of your team and company culture. After all, they are just as interested in you hiring them again in the future as you are interested in having the ease of knowing you already have solid and tested people you can count on.
Overall, the better experience your contractors have with your company and department can turn them into brand ambassadors. The alternative is one that many companies fail to consider as an important part of company reputation as fodder at a weekend BBQ.
In turn, relinquishing all control to a staffing agency is not in your best interest and can cause more stress than necessary during an already stressful time. it only takes a a short amount of time to take the power back to verify and certify you are getting the right talent.
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