At times situations arise when your company can find itself understaffed. An investment in temp staffing can help to avoid the adverse effects of being short-staffed. But hiring the wrong temp staff can potentially be just as harmful as being understaffed.

A temp staffing agency can help with hiring the best temp staff. But even when using an agency, missteps can still be made. Let’s look at three steps that can help ensure you hire the best temp staff:

1. Know your company needs
2. Understand your company culture
3. Communicate well with your temp staffing agency

Know Your Company Needs

It is hard to hire the right temp staff if you do not know what you are looking for. Here is a sample of the types of questions that you can ask yourself:

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• What kind of skills do we need?
• What kind of experience/educational background are we looking for?
• How well did the applicant perform their tasks at their previous workplaces?

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To have a meaningful partnership with your temp staffing agency, they need to know what you are looking for. If you don’t know what you are looking for, neither will the agency.

Understand Your Company Culture

Just as important as finding temp staff who possess the right skills is finding individuals that fit in with the company culture. It doesn’t matter how skilled a temp is if they are going to disrupt the dynamics of the company.

When considering temp staff, look for answers to questions like:

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• How well do they work with others?
• How well do they interact with their superiors in taking direction/instruction?
• Do they have the ability to adapt to different work environments?

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Of course if you have done your homework with selecting the right temp staffing agency much of this work will be done for you. But you still need to know the characteristics for the best cultural fit. Your agency cannot have a clear understanding of your company culture if you don’t.

Communicate Well With Your Temp Staffing Agency

Communication is the most important step in hiring the best temp staff. That communication begins when first choosing a temp staffing agency.  You want to make sure they have the right industry experience, and that they clearly understand the needs of our company.

That communication needs to continue even after the temp agency has been selected. Your agency needs to know what your needs are ahead of time. That is not always possible, but in the case of maternity leave and seasonal increases in productivity, temp staffing needs will likely be known weeks if not months in advance.  You are more likely to hire the best temp staff when this foreknowledge is communicated to your temp staff agency as soon as you know it.

If you know your needs, understand your company culture and maintain good communication with your temp staffing agency, you will be much further ahead in being able to hire the best temp staff.

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