Q. How can a one-person or a small recruiting firm offer blended services?
A. The loyalty you can build by offering blended services and solving your clients’ staffing problems is amazing. But a lot of recruiters prefer to stick with direct hires and shy away from offering contract staffing and temp-to-direct hire (a.k.a. temp-to-perm). They shy away from it because of all the extra work that would be required to handle the administrative tasks in-house. Research shows that it would take a recruiter between one month and six months to get everything set up to handle contract staffing issues in-house. Not only that, you would need to allow one day to two days every week to keep up with all of the time sheet, payroll, and invoicing issues. Plus, the recruiter would have to take on the responsibility of being the legal employer. But don’t walk away from all this business!
There is an EASY answer: Outsource the administrative tasks to a contract staffing back-office service. A back-office should handle all of the administrative, financial, and legal issues that are required to place any type of contractor or temp-to-direct hire candidate. They should also handle all of the weekly tasks and actually become the contractors’ legal employer.
A back-office should have a lot of experience, a well-documented history, an impeccable reputation, and positive referrals and testimonials. Remember that the back-office you choose is a reflection of you as a recruiter.
Here is a partial list of the critical tasks that should be provided by a back-office:
1. Bill rates and pay rates assistance
2. Contract generation
3. Employee paperwork
4. Payroll funding and processing
5. State and federal taxes
6. Workers’ compensation
7. Unemployment
8. Invoicing and collections
9. Background checks
10. Certificate of Insurance
11. Benefits–medical, dental, vision, 401(k), etc.
Here’s the bottom line: If you use a quality back-office, you will not have to worry about all of the administrative details tied to a blended services business model, and instead you will be able to focus on what you do best – recruiting!
