Make sure you’ve read Part 1 before continuing on for more unique challenges independent staffing firms face, and how to go about solving them!
4. Making Time for It All
You got into the staffing industry because you had a passion for helping others, working with clients, and helping candidates find jobs; yet, you’re spending most of your time on administrative tasks and mitigating risks. As an independent staffing company, you don’t have a large team of HR professionals, recruiters, sales reps, marketers, payroll administrators, and compliance experts on staff. You likely spend more than 40 hours a week trying to make payroll on time, replying to all candidate inquiries, and staying on top of your books, the trends, and paperwork on your own.
While you might feel like you’re going to burn out soon, the good news is you don’t have to do it all on your own. Even if you’re a one-person team, you can get the help you need by outsourcing non-revenue-generating tasks, including HR, payroll, bookkeeping, and compliance. Once you send these tasks out of house, you’ll have the time you need to get back to the work you love: servicing clients and customers.
5. Lack of Experience In-House
As an exceptional salesperson or recruiter, you know how to build and maintain solid relationships with clients and candidates—and you love doing it. What you might not be so good at, however, are the other tasks you’re required to manage as an independent staffing firm. Human resources, compliance, payroll, and bookkeeping, for example, are critical aspects of running a staffing firm, but they require a certain level of expertise.
You may do your best, but do you know all the intricacies of payroll and taxes? Do you keep up to date on changing legislation to ensure you’re in compliance at all times? Do you know which business expenses you can claim? Can you create legal documents that can stand up in court? If not, you’re not alone, and there’s no shame in that; we all have our strengths and weaknesses. What’s important is to get the support for these tasks to ensure you don’t face penalties and audits, make costly legal mistakes, or put your agency at risk. Again, outsourcing these tasks is the best option for independent staffing companies.
6. Lack of Technology
National firms may be able to afford top-of-the-line technology for applicant tracking, client relationship management, payroll, bookkeeping, and more, but as a one-person operation, you may not have the budget. Unfortunately, without the right technology, you will end up spending more time on administrative tasks, face more human error, and reduce the productivity and efficiency of your agency. Investing in staffing-agency software is a must today, but if you don’t have the funds to do so, consider partnering with a back-office services provider, so you can gain access to the tech you need to succeed.
As an independent staffing firm, you’ll face many challenges that larger firms don’t need to worry about. Though it may seem overwhelming when so many hurdles stand between you and your goals, there are solutions available to overcome the obstacles in your way.
Remember, even the most successful, larger firms of today had to start somewhere! By choosing a third-party provider to handle the back-office and administrative duties your organization needs to operate efficiently, you can focus on growing your business and reaching the same caliber of success!