Temporary Staffing Placements Opens Doors
From the Employers’ Perspective
The current job market is challenging enough. According to the American Staffing Association, current estimates show 13.6 million workers in temporary contracting positions. Temporary positions comprise 27% of the total workforce cumulatively but range as high as 41% in Healthcare, 32% in Engineering, IT & Scientific, and 33% in Professional/Managerial fields. All these temporary positions, naturally limit the number of full-time positions.
This trend has grown steadily over the last decade. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the reliance on temporary staffing is expected to increase through 2023. This anticipated growth is due to the rising costs associated with onboarding employees. Some estimates are as high as $6,000.00 minimum for each hire due to various benefits plans’ enrollment fees.
Temporary hires and project contracting allow businesses to avoid these costs, but more importantly allows the business to get to know the employee’s actual productivity and personality in detail that cannot be provided through a series of interviews. There is no substitute for day-to-day hands-on performance and rubbing elbows together in the workplace.
From the Job Seeker’s Perspective
Current job seekers cannot let their bias about a “temp job” limit their opportunities. In fact, a temporary position has its advantages.
Temporary assignments allow the prospective employee opportunities to start cash flow, test the job fit, and actually know the business culture and company leadership. Once in the door, your productivity and dependability become a known quantity to the operations and company decision-makers. Companies almost always prefer to promote from within rather than the exhaustive process of bringing in anyone from the outside.
Advice
The moral of the story, look to temporary staffing companies to jump-start your actual employment, learn the company and industry from the inside, develop your civilian body of work and avoid the laborious external search process. Due to the current demand and growing needs by staffing agencies, job seekers will start much quicker and already have their foot in the proverbial door. In fact, most companies upon seeing an employee’s productivity write job descriptions and create jobs based on having that person (who’s already doing the job) fill it.
Advice offered by: Charlie Livings, Regional Director for Community Outreach & Engagement, 866.778.4645, clivings@ssv.org
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