What Makes You Mad About Staffing Agencies?
It’s March Madness season, but we’re not talking about basketball—we’re talking about the madness that can happen when working with the wrong staffing agency. Whether you’re a company looking for a starting player (or a great sub) or a job seeker trying to be drafted by just the right team, we know that working with staffing agencies isn’t always a slam dunk.
At Personnel Partners, we know staffing needs to be a game where both sides actually win. That’s why we’re calling out the common fouls in the industry—and how we’ve practiced the fundamentals that have kept us at the top of our game for over 30 years.
When You’re the Client and You’d Like to Bench the Staffing Agency
🏀 Unqualified Candidates
You need an executive assistant with top-notch PowerPoint skills, but the agency sends someone who can barely format a slide.
✅ Our Play: Candidates must undergo personal screening and test their skills on eSkill, a leading software testing provider. We don’t pick them without this tryout.
🏀 Slow Response Time
You need a temp receptionist ASAP, but by the time the agency responds, you’ve already rearranged your whole office to cover the front desk.
✅ Our Play: We promise to update you within 2 hours of your call to let you know which one of our Temp Talent candidates is ready to come off the bench for you – ideally within 24 hours.
🏀 Turnover & No Follow-Up
Your temp data entry clerk quits after one day, and the agency is nowhere to be found. You have to call them.
✅ Our Play: We check in after placements and give substitutions highest priority.
🏀 Bill Rate Negotiation
You’re charged more than expected for your HR assistant, with no explanation.
✅ Our Play: Your order gets its own unique bill rate, prepared based on the parameters you give us that will make a successful placement for you. Your price represents exactly what you ordered.
🏀 Wrong Cultural Fit
You need a customer service rep who can handle high-end clients, but you get someone with a “laid-back” attitude that doesn’t fit your company’s professional environment.
✅ Our Play: We ask questions to learn about your company culture and mission and our placement team is the “visiting” team!
🏀 Lack of Industry Knowledge
You need a legal assistant with litigation experience, but the agency staffer doesn’t even know what “discovery” means.
✅ Our Play: Our Certified Staffing Professionals specialize in office staffing and understand the skills required for each role.
When You’re the Job Seeker and You’d Like to Call a Timeout
🏀 Ghosting You
You submit your resume for an office manager role and never hear back. Then, weeks later, you see the same job posted again. Or you interview with a client and never hear back - not even a rejection.
✅ Our Play: We keep all candidates in the loop, whether they get the job or not. You can get us on the phone, or by text or email during all business hours.
🏀 Wrong Job Placement
You’re an executive assistant, but the agency offers you a basic data entry job with half the pay you were expecting.
✅ Our Play: We meet you in person, so you can talk about your career goals. We won’t suggest a sport you said you didn’t want to play.
🏀 No Job Details Before an Interview
You show up to an interview for an administrative assistant role, with no job specifics, salary, or interviewer name beforehand.
✅ Our Play: We provide full job details upfront so you can be prepared. And send text reminders too.
🏀 Getting Underpaid
You were told you’d make $25/hour, but your paycheck says $22/hour—and no one told you why.
✅ Our Play: Our clients set the pay rates for their openings. You’ll get them in writing before you start, when you do an orientation with our staff member.
🏀 Long Hiring Processes
You interview for an HR coordinator role only to find that there will be a second round, or a third, and there are more hurdles you need to clear.
✅ Our Play: We ask clients to respond within 24 hours after we present a candidate. We know that one of the best ways to lose a quality hire is to delay. No one likes the slow-down game!
🏀 Flying Without a (Benefits) Net
Your temporary probationary period or assignment might pay you wages, but that’s all you get.
✅ Our Play: We offer insurance, paid holidays and vacations for which you start your eligibility on the first day you work for us.
Personnel Partners Plays to Win
If you got to know our staff, you would sense a highly competitive streak. We like to win, and winning in our line of work means that both the client and the candidate give us a 5-star rating for the experience of working with us. Don’t settle for a staffing agency that makes you mad. Let’s build a winning team together. 🏆
📩 Contact us today for an experience that makes you “mad” about staffing in the best possible way!