Companies choose you because you save them time and money, and give them easy access to qualified candidates. Right? You also support flexible hiring arrangements – companies use temporary, contract, temp-to-hire, or direct hire services based on their needs. Critically, this flexibility allows them to scale their workforce up or down as needed without the long-term commitment associated with traditional hiring.
What people might not understand is that your work isn’t just about filling job vacancies, but about aligning staffing with overall business goals – this positions staffing as a key part of organizational planning and success.
But who’s out there making sure you save time and money and gain efficiency through flexibility?
This is where I believe Certn can help.
In this blog post, I cover the best background checks for staffing agencies based on emerging trends and what I’ve observed among our user base of over 20,000 clients, including many staffing agencies and professional recruiters. I also explore automated screening best practices, in case there’s more we can automate to speed up your hiring.
Challenges in Staffing Agency Hiring
Over the years, I’ve seen how workforce shortages have created hiring challenges, especially for those recruiting for specialized skills. It can be difficult to find candidates with the requisite skills and experience who are also interested in your job. Though, at the end of last year, Richard Wahlquist, CEO at the American Staffing Association, told the HR Daily Advisor: “As we look to 2024, staffing firms are reporting that labor market demand is normalizing following the volatile swings down and up that have impacted the staffing industry over the past few years.”
Regardless of how much of a struggle it is for you to fill roles, or whether you’re dealing with industry-specific talent attraction challenges (e.g., retail, health care, education, etc.), there are other challenges in staffing agency hiring:
- Skills Gaps: Some industries are facing challenges due to a widening gap between the skills employers need and those available in the workforce. Upskilling initiatives help address this gap by providing training and development opportunities to existing employees or potential candidates. Hunt Personnel/Temporarily Yours has information on how to conduct a skills gap analysis while the Harvard Business Review article “How to Build a Successful Upskilling Program” lists three considerations to enhance the effectiveness of such programs. In response to this evolving landscape, some agencies are honing their services to offer a suite of staffing solutions from temporary services, to temp-to-hire services, to direct hire and employer of record services. These services are still designed to fill immediate needs but also provide a strategic, long-term approach to talent management and workforce planning.
- Meeting Demands for Greater Flexibility: Competing for top talent is always a challenge. Though, the old expectation that employees fit their personal lives around the needs and priorities of their work life is being replaced by greater work-life integration and desire for flexibility. According to an ASA Workforce Monitor survey, 44% of workers are willing to accept lower pay for increased job flexibility. McKinsey suggests that retailers and others who employ frontline workers think more creatively about how to offer flexibility for workers on the front lines, such as through more flexible scheduling, the ability to work at other locations, and giving them more control over how their work gets done.
- Resource Drain: Researchers publishing in the Harvard Business Review found that the average employee toggles between different apps and windows more than 3,600 times a day. Manual recruitment processes are time-consuming and resource-intensive and minimizing this type of task switching saves time that can be better spent on other tasks. Let’s talk about background screening API integrations so I can help you get rid of your screening inefficiencies.
A Key Staffing Trend to Watch in 2024
In 2024, I expect that staffing agencies will continue to be impacted by upskilling and the desire for flexible working options, though technology as a means to streamline work will continue to make the biggest impact. With over 90% of CHROs predicting significant changes to HR models in the coming years according to a survey of leaders from some of the biggest organizations in the United States and Europe, automation keeps emerging as a key driver of change.
Companies are investing in recruitment technologies that streamline administrative tasks and improve efficiency and the candidate experience. These technologies encompass a wide range of tools and platforms, including applicant tracking systems (ATS), candidate relationship management (CRM) software, video interviewing platforms, and AI-powered résumé screening tools. These automated hiring tools offer several advantages such as:
- Résumé Screening: Quickly sift through large volumes of applications to more easily identify potential candidates
- Automated Emails: Streamline communication with candidates, saving time and effort
- Certification Management: Automatically track and manage candidate certifications and licences
- Online Background Checks: Expedite the screening process, while ensuring quick and accurate results
By automating routine administrative tasks, these technologies enable recruiters to focus their time and energy on high-value activities like building relationships with candidates and conducting strategic talent assessments. Moreover, by offering intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, these tools enhance the candidate experience by simplifying the application process, providing timely communication and feedback, and fostering a positive impression of the employer brand. This is where online background checks can also play a pivotal role for staffing agencies – the best background checks for staffing agencies are definitely online checks.
The Case for Automated Background Checks
Outdated, manual workflows not only diminish profitability, but also heighten liabilities. The transition to automated hiring solutions like Certn’s online background checks is one effective way to streamline your operations and reduce costs.
The old way, background checks are lengthy and exhausting. Without Certn, a candidate completing a background check might have to show up in-person to a police station to verify their identity and pay to have their records mailed to them. The “best case scenario” for job seekers and recruiters involves a lot of confusing paperwork, trying to find a scanner, and endless email chains. Can you believe employers still ask candidates to do this in 2024?
Don’t wait to explore the possibilities. You can schedule a demo today to discover how our ATS integrations can elevate your recruitment efforts. You deserve the fastest, easiest background checks for staffing agencies.
Background Checks for Staffing Agencies
Your agency should use a variety of background checks to ensure you’re recommending qualified and trustworthy candidates. Here are common background checks for staffing agencies that I recommend along with why they’re important:
Criminal Record Checks – These are a standard pre-employment check for good reason. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 73% of employers conduct criminal background checks on all job candidates. Criminal background checks help identify any past criminal history that may pose a risk to the workplace or clients.
Employment and Education Verifications – Employment verification confirms the accuracy of a candidate’s work history and ensures they have the experience they claim. Education verification ensures that candidates have the educational qualifications they claim, helping to verify their skills and knowledge. A survey by HireRight revealed that 86% of employers have uncovered lies or misrepresentations on resumes or applications, with educational qualifications being one of the top areas for discrepancies.
Reference Checks – Conducting reference checks by phone or email (I can help you customize the list of questions) alongside employment and education verification goes an extra step in validating a candidate’s skills and experience, character, and work style.
Driver’s Abstracts – Prove that the drivers you bring forward have a clean record. Not only is this good due diligence, but it’s crucial should the candidate be required to use a company vehicle belonging to your client.
Finally, we can also talk about whether social media screening or our Softcheck public records search, to check online habits and other public records, might help in your quest to find qualified candidates.
By incorporating background checks for staffing agencies into your hiring process, you can make more informed hiring decisions, mitigate risks, and solidify your reputation as a source of qualified candidates.
Certn’s Leading Background Checks for Staffing Agencies
By leveraging the research-backed insights and screening best practices I discussed above, you can tailor your hiring strategies to meet the evolving needs and expectations of both clients and candidates in 2024.
How can Certn help with your background checks for staffing agencies? I’m glad you asked!
Certn has designed an online workflow for background checks for staffing agencies where quick screening is important for an on-demand workforce and seasonal hiring peaks. Personnel you place who should undergo background checks include:
- Reception personnel
- Drivers
- Housekeeping staff
- Food service positions
- Management
- Site supervisors
Fast Turnaround Times
Staffing agencies need fast hires. Certn’s background screening and pre-employment background checks provide quick results – ideal for people like you. Depending on the check you run, Certn can have the background check completed in mere minutes or hours instead of days. This means you can meet hiring quotes and staffing requirements with more ease.
Seamless, Integrated Screening
Our automated screening allows you to request background checks in several easy ways. We can integrate our background checks into the hiring software you already use. That way, the candidates you’re working with can complete the background check step as part of the onboarding process. Integration to platforms such as Workday, Workable, Fountain, and Greenhouse helps your business stay on top of screening. Certn can also white-label the screening step for your company so you can email an invitation to a candidate that matches your company’s signature candidate experience.
A Better Candidate Experience
Our online Applicant Portal improves the candidate experience through seamless capabilities and easy navigation. The mobile-responsive design keeps candidates engaged throughout the process while reducing time spent on screening inputs. Candidates are invited to use the portal via email or SMS at the same time their background check invite is sent out. Our portal allows users to manage all their background check and screening tasks in a centralized place with check status, required actions, and compliance-enabled features.
Bulk Hiring Capabilities
Certn’s platform is built to handle high volumes and can support large hiring events such as seasonal job fairs and store expansions so you can stay ready to meet all your clients’ needs. Certn clients can also combine checks into “Packages” and request industry-specific screening, like the recommended checks above, with the click of one button.
Mobile Functionality
With our easy-to-use platform, you can perform all the checks you need to make – in whatever location – to get the full picture and find the best employee for the job. According to recruitment benchmarks, mobile apply rates (job applications submitted on a mobile device versus a desktop) are 76.9% for hospitality jobs, 76.5% for warehousing and logistics, and 69.3% for retail jobs. If you place candidates in these industries, why not extend the screening step to a smartphone as well to reduce candidate drop-off? 80% of candidates complete their Certn background checks from a mobile device, so we consider it a perfect match!
Get Started Today
I hope you found this useful. With my help, you can get background checks for staffing agencies that help you make informed decisions at cost-effective prices, so you can place qualified candidates while working smarter, not harder.
If you’re not sure which products or services fit your firm’s hiring needs best, request a demo and I’ll get back to you.
