Call center's using Staffing Services

[elredman]

Can anyone give me advice on using a staffing service to outsource your employment needs. Any suggestions or current programs you can offer up would be a great help. Thanks!

[ChasSC]

To be honest, I have had many more poor experiences with Staffing Agencies than good experiences. The ONLY good experience I have had is when the Staffing Agency put a Staff member (that worked at the Staffing Agency) in our building (they had their own office) and they did the sourcing, interviewing, selection, etc. from our office.

The main gap you have to worry about is the staffing Agency not understanding the skills of Agents to be successful in call centers and/or the Employee will leave a few weeks after training is complete. Even though the Agency will tell you they have done this for years, beware because after 60 days of employment they will leave and you will be stuck with the bill for Training and the bill to the Staffing Agency.

One idea that you can implement with the Agency, is to do a 90-day guarentee - whereas if the Staffing Agency employee stopped working at the Center before 90-days, they would pay for the initial training and the Center would not be charged any fee.

[jp2time]

We are using a staffing firm for our new hires. We usually hire them on perm after 90 days if they are meeting certain performance criteria.

[alwayslooking]

I tried the "national chain" agencies but never found anyone that stayed. I have used one local staffing agency for years with success. They do the pre-employment testing and screening for me. I do a phone interview and in person interview with every candidate. We do a temp to perm arrangement. I never consider hiring anyone on a permanent basis until they have worked 90 days as a temp.

[johsen]

You can take on line interview.

[Testlab22]

What line of business are you in?

[Frank A. Engle]

I have used agencies in many call center development and launch projects with a great deal of success. I have used "temps" in high level customer support and in the most basic of outbound activity.

A few key points apply for success in using agencies:

1. Have a very detailed job description along with a feel for the personality "type" required for success in the position. For example--If you are filling an inbound high tech support and you have a candidate that has 15 years in an infomercial call center, even though they may type 80 wpm, their personality may not fit the troubleshooting requirement for high tech. Make sure the agency is clear on the "ideal" candidate. Many times agencies will fill the "on paper" experience and miss the personality requirement completely.

2. Negotiate a contract with the agency that gives you credit for billed hours against the temp to hire expense. This allows you to cut poor candidates quickly if they do not fit and still hire good candidates quicker using those hours from the poor candidates.

3. Ask to speak to other clients that use the agency for similar placements. Agencies are notorious for trying to be a "jack of al trades and a master of none." Pick an agency with a good track record in your specific industry to the point of calling your local competitors to see what agency they use.

Hope this helps, please feel free to contact me directly with any other questions--