The ‘Fear Factor’ Series: Finding Candidates

(This is the sixth in a series of blogs that debunks the perceived fears associated with contracting. It includes a quote from a direct-hire recruiter who has successfully added contract staffing to their business model.)Fifth Fear—It’s too difficult to find contract candidates.You won’t know which of the candidates in your database would be willing to work on a contract basis—and which would not—unless you ask them. You might be surprised to discover how many candidates are choosing this option. In fact, more and more workers in IT and Engineering are opting for the contract route. Plus, there’s a new trend called “executive temping”. It’s hot right now in the areas of Healthcare and Finance and is currently expanding to other industries, as well.Another way to unearth contract candidates is through a formal network, such as FoxHire's recruiting network, a Preferred Vendor of FoxHire. A contract placement can be split between two recruiters in the same fashion that a direct-hire placement is split, and firms like First Search in Park Ridge, Ill., actively seek to fill the contract job orders of other recruiters. The willingness of the recruiters at First Search to first, make contract placements and second, make split fee recruiting placements, has been instrumental to their success.“We are very willing to recruit on other recruiters’ contract assignments,” said Chuck Szajkovics of First Search. “We have tremendous resources here that can be applied to filling other’s job orders. I have a theory that money left on the table from unfilled contract assignments is tremendous.”