Should you use temporary staff for special projects?

You may associate temporary staffing agencies with low-paid, low-skill jobs – but this just isn't true. In today's expansive employment market, they can help you to secure some of the most skilled workers – especially if you have a special but short-term project on the cards, which is outside your existing employees' skillsets but too important to outsource.

Debunking the myth

Temporary staffing can provide solutions that extend far beyond mere secretarial support and seasonal labour. Nowadays, temporary staffing agencies can help link very specific skillsets to very special projects.

In fact, CareerBuilder predicts increased use of temporary staffing across all industries between 2014 and 2019. The fastest riser in the US, increasing 19 per cent over the period, is predicted to be computer systems analysts. Close runners-up are Accountants and Auditors, Management Analysts, as well as various advanced IT positions.

Find the right person for any need

But it isn't just skilled workers using these services. A 2012 Statistics New Zealand report revealed that temporary agencies provided workers to a huge variety of both skilled and unskilled jobs, with a quarter falling under the 'professional' category and another quarter falling into general labour.

Over 60 per cent of temporary agency workers are younger than 35, while over 90 per cent are younger than 55, according to the study. The top six industries which utilised temp agencies in New Zealand are: education, retail/hospitality, manufacturing, professional services, agriculture, and health care respectively. Interestingly, the first five mentioned actually employed more temporary employees than permanent staff.

Many temporary staffing agencies provide highly skilled and high-quality candidates.Many temporary staffing agencies provide highly skilled and high-quality candidates.

Finding the right recruitment agency

It is important to remember that, like other areas of business outsourcing, temporary staffing agencies are experts at what they do. They go through a series of processes to ensure the candidates they provide are exceptional and on-point, thoroughly pre-screening and even pretraining individuals to ensure a high skill level.

Entrepreneur.com prepared the e-book, "Start Your Own Business", providing some points of reference to check before selecting any old temping agency. Ensure that the agency is:

  • Abiding by good practices.
  • An experienced business.
  • Aware of industry trends.

If you want to find the best candidate for your specific need, talk to an expert today.