In the era of the “Great Resignation,” as millions of American workers leave their current jobs for potentially higher pay and career satisfaction, hiring can be a challenge for employers. But one option is to go with a temp to hire staffing solution.
Sifting through candidates can be daunting and the job you’re filling is important to your company. It can also be costly to hire the wrong person and find yourself starting over sooner than you’d prefer.
Many times, workers are looking for a fresh start, and you rightly believe your company is a great place to welcome new talent. How can an employer truly know if a potential long-term hire will be a successful fit? One way of gaining popularity is to bring a prospect onboard for a trial run – called temp to hire – to evaluate how they handle the expectations of the job, the culture of the office, and the rough-and-tumble of the daily demands.
What does temp to hire mean?
A company can do an employment ‘trial run’ through temporary staffing agencies that provide qualified candidates for a tryout period, which is called temp to hire. This allows both parties to learn about each other and decide if the job works for each side. By cutting out the job boards, you won’t receive a flood of unqualified resumes, saving you time and aggravation.
Staffing agencies have a pool of qualified candidates and a relationship with your company. Immediately you have potential long-term employees that have already been vetted. The final hire can then be based on experience without tying the hands of a worker or employer. A good staffing agency spends years building up their talent network through referrals, networking, and speaking with candidates daily. An employer usually doesn’t have the resources to constantly engage talent.
Training new employees requires a significant investment of time and money. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost of hiring a new employee – including interviews, travel, testing, training and orientation – is about $4,100. As the expenses to onboard a new employee continue to increase, so does the pressure to get every hire right the first time, so a short-term look can pay long-term dividends.
In a contract-to-hire agreement, an employer and staffing firm agree to terms on a predetermined length of employment before a full-time offer can be made to the candidate by the employer.
Once the contract period has been completed the employer has several options. They can bring the candidate on to their payroll as a full-time employee, continue the contract if both parties agree, or end the contract.
What are the benefits of a temp to hire solution?
Job tryouts or a mutually agreed upon trial period are an innovative way to get a sense of a candidate’s on-the-job skills and how they may behave in certain situations. Job tryouts allow the recruiter and those making the hiring decision to further gauge the applicant’s character, competence, and chemistry. A job tryout also gives the candidate another opportunity to better understand the company and the expectations of the position they’re considering.
In many cases, several candidates appear to be evenly matched on paper and perform well through the job interview. However, during the scenarios presented throughout the job tryout, an obvious fit for the role will emerge.
During tryouts, candidates perform job-related work for a period of time (typically weeks or months) in organizations before having the chance to become regular, full-time employees. The value of a staffing agency is providing candidates who have been screened for their skills before they start their role. Both parties understand the temporary employment is an opportunity of discovery from which either may determine if the job truly is best for both.
Millions of people in the U.S. have performed temp to hire tryouts over the last few decades. Many studies indicate firms use temporary/contingent positions to hire stable employees. The last several decades have seen strong shifts in the workforce’s gender, racial, and ethnic diversity, as well as the diversity of the skills and knowledge-sets workers possess.
These changes have increased the social complexity with which organizations must contend. You can give your company a leg up by using a staffing agency to help fill important roles more efficiently, and thus, more economically, with qualified employees and long-term success stories. Try out a temp to hire solution to meet your staffing needs today.
About LGC
LGC partners with candidates across the country and connects them to our clients who have a range of great opportunities. We offer temporary, temp to hire, and permanent placement staffing solutions in multiple industries. Contact us today to learn how we can help you accomplish your hiring goals.