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Whenever your company needs to add talent, the staffing process remains a risk-prone and costly proposition. Your HR team spends an inordinate amount of time perusing candidate résumés as well as scheduling and conducting interviews. You also might make the wrong decision between candidates, transforming the resources spent on that hire into sunk costs. There just has to be a better way!
Partnering with a managed service provider in staffing offers your business many significant benefits. These include making the staffing process more efficient while also reducing its inherent risk. Your company quickly hires the talent it needs at a fraction of the cost. It’s the right approach for any business looking to add professionals to its team.
When vetting a potential managed staffing services provider as a partner, asking the right questions becomes critical. Check out these insightful queries and leverage them when vetting different staffing MSPs. As a result, expect to make a more informed and ultimately better decision on an agency partner.
#1 What is Your Experience Providing Staffing MSP Services?
Working with a managed staffing service provider in operation for only a year or two needs to be avoided. Your business ultimately wants to work with an agency with significant experience as an MSP in staffing. Experienced firms have the connections among talent vendors to maintain a robust candidate pipeline to meet your hiring needs.
Considering the critical importance of their background, make sure to take a deep dive into each staffing MSP’s history. Beyond the interview, also spend significant time researching each potential agency’s client and vendor lists. Reach out to colleagues from your professional network to see if anyone worked with them in the past. A recommendation from a trusted network connection might help in making the right decision on a staffing MSP.
#2 What are Your Areas of Expertise as a Staffing MSP?
In addition to significant experience, your business benefits from working with a staffing MSP with relevant areas of expertise. For example, if your company uses a contingent workforce, choose an MSP with a history of providing temporary talent. Rest assured they understand the unique nature of sourcing professionals interested in temporary contract work.
At the same time, you also want an MSP in staffing with experience in your company’s industry sector. This background ensures they understand the specific skills and history identifying the top candidates in this market. They also know the specific jargon and business processes typical of your industry sector. This remains an important factor when deciding on a staffing agency partner.
#3 What Technology Do You Use to Manage Staffing and Streamline Hiring?
The best managed staffing service providers boast efficient processes to handle all parts of the hiring process. Notably, these firms rely on the latest technology innovations to optimize the staffing process, especially AI and machine learning. Using both technologies allows these firms to automate aspects of this effort, including résumé analysis and candidate communication.
As such, be sure to ask a few pointed questions about a staffing MSP’s use of technology when vetting agencies. Your business ultimately wants to partner with an agency known for state of the art technology and high efficiency. Proactive adoption of technology serves to identify the managed staffing providers with an optimized staffing process.
#4 What is Your Process for Vetting and Onboarding New Candidates?
Speaking of efficient staffing processes, your company needs to ask a few questions on candidate vetting when interviewing agencies. After all, a robust candidate pool filled with talented professionals serves to identify any preeminent staffing agency. This includes the processes used when recruiting candidates as well as when onboarding them.
Answers to this line of questioning also reflect previously discussed areas worth exploring when researching potential staffing agency partners. Simply stated, a staffing MSP with mature and well-honed processes identifies an organization known for efficiency. Once again, reach out to colleagues and any offered references for an unbiased take on an agency’s onboarding process.
#5 How Does Your Staffing MSP Handle Background Checks and Credential Verification?
Any candidate vetting process includes background checks and verifying they possess the skills and experience detailed on their résumé. This obviously remains an important point worthy of exploration when vetting potential staffing MSP partners. Your company doesn’t want the embarrassment and risk of onboarding a new worker with a deep criminal history. Additionally, if they lack the ability detailed on their CV, expect your business’s productivity to suffer as a result.
When researching managed staffing services providers deeply explore their approach to candidate background checks and résumé verification. Also inquire whether or not they check all references. Once again, you want to partner with an MSP in staffing that takes these important tasks very seriously.
#6 What is Your Approach to Understanding Our Contingent Staffing Needs?
Any staffing agency partner needs a deep knowledge of your business and its contingent staffing needs. Beyond your hiring plans, this information also includes your operational structure, company culture, and technology stack, if relevant. One of the biggest advantages of a long-term partnership with an agency involves them getting to know your business. These types of B2B relationships are built over time.
During your meeting with potential staffing MSP partners, ask about their approach to learning about business clients. Of course, this is another area where opinions and reviews from colleagues and other agency clients provide useful insights. Use their insights to choose an agency that makes an effort to learn about each client. It ensures your staffing needs are met quickly and efficiently.
#7 How Do You Handle Urgent Staffing Needs?
Your business might need to close a skills gap on a project or add talent to handle crunch time. Meeting these urgent hiring needs remains an important competitive differentiator between managed staffing service providers. As such, you need to ask each potential agency about their ability to find talented candidates as quickly as possible.
The staffing MSPs able to quickly handle critical staffing needs typically boast large candidate pools filled with talented professionals. They also maintain strong relationships with a variety of talent vendors. At the same time, leveraging the latest in AI-powered applicant tracking systems improves the efficiency of their staffing process. Pay attention to all three of these points when vetting an agency’s ability to quickly find talent.
#8 Can You Provide References or Case Studies of Similar Organizations You’ve Worked With?
We continue to mention the importance of querying your professional network to find information about potential staffing MSP partners. After all, an opinion from a trusted colleague provides useful insights as your business makes its final decision. However, you also need to ask each agency to provide references and case studies detailing work for other clients.
All this information matters when determining which managed staffing services provider is the right one for your business. Be sure to cross-reference any case studies or references against what you found from your professional network. A detailed analysis of both information sources ensures your business makes the right choice!
#9 Are You a Vendor Neutral Staffing MSP?
As noted earlier, maintaining a large supply of talent vendors helps a staffing MSP build a robust candidate pool. Vendor neutrality also allows these staffing agencies to partner with a diverse collection of talent providers. This vendor strategy ensures your business is able to access the professionals it needs, no matter the specific requirements. It also contributes to an agency’s ability to source talent as quickly as possible.
When meeting with potential managed service providers in staffing, ask to see a list of their vendors. Compare the size and diversity of their vendor pools to determine which agency remains the best option for your company. Also consider reaching out to vendors for their opinions on each staffing MSP.
#10 What is Your Staffing MSP’s Compliance Understanding?
One of the major advantages of partnering with staffing MSP for your contingent workforce hiring needs involves regulatory compliance. If your business has multiple branches in different legal jurisdictions, staying in compliance becomes challenging. Companies with a small HR team might struggle keeping up with changing laws and other related complexities. A managed staffing service provider handles all these issues, freeing up the HR team to focus on internal employees.
Definitely ask a few questions about a staffing MSP’s experience with regulatory issues. It’s another area where an experienced agency likely has a significant background in this area. Additionally, look for agencies with operational experience across different states or even countries. This broad regional support ensures they boast experience with a wide variety of laws and regulations.
Partner with a Leading Managed Service Provider in Staffing Today
When looking for a staffing MSP as a partner, be sure to consider the experts at Anserteam. As a preeminent managed staffing service provider, we provide a robust supply of talented professionals looking to make a positive impact. Schedule some time with us to discuss how we can manage your workforce supply needs.
