Opportunities In Staffing Executive Summary

A Comprehensive Guide to Clients and Candidates
2010
presented by
Staffing
Opportunities IN
COPYRIGHT © 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAREERBUILDER & Inavero

2 COPYRIGHT © 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAREERBUILDER & INAVERO INSTITUTE
staffing firms are uniquely positioned to
establish and define themselves as an indespensible
partner to the clients and job seekers they serve.
The industry’s fragmentation (no single firm was used by more than 29
percentofstaffingclientsor11percentofjobseekers)meansopportunity
to the ambitious staffing leader. The fact that 83 percent of staffing
clients are on LinkedIn or Facebook, but only 16 percent are engaged
with a staffing firm online represents untapped potential as well.
The 2010 Opportunities in Staffing research guide, published by
CareerBuilder and Inavero, is your roadmap to unique and differentiated
success in the staffing industry. From social media and brand-building
strategies to ways to improve your client and candidate retention,
the Opportunities in Staffing guide is designed to help you grow your
staffing firm with information and suggestions that can directly impact
your bottom line.
The 2010 study, which includes more than 3,200 client and nearly 60,000
job candidate survey responses across five years of research, is the
most comprehensive study of its kind in the industry today.
As the United States economy emerges
from the difficult recession of a year ago,
summary
Executive

3COPYRIGHT © 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAREERBUILDER & INAVERO INSTITUTE
name more than one. With unemployment still high, there
is a unique opportunity to reach job candidates with highly
targeted, brand-building messages. While job seekers search
for opportunities, your staffing firm can do more to become
a destination for qualified talent.
Many job seekers reported they have had a negative
experience with their staffing firm (only 15 percent rate the
experience a 9 or 10 out of 10) which could have a significant
impact on future job candidate selection and retention.
However, with great challenge comes great opportunity.
This opportunity is identified and discussed throughout the
rest of the Opportunities in Staffing guide.
KEYS TO AN EFFECTIVE
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Your clients and job candidates are engaging with social
media – they just might not be engaging with you. Facebook,
LinkedIn and Twitter are the clear leaders among social
media outlets, yet very few staffing firms have found ways
to effectively reach and communicate with their client and
job seeker audiences through these mediums (Figure 2).
Awareness of the largest staffing firms has risen for the
third consecutive year with clients, albeit only slightly. The
average staffing client can now name between two and three
staffing firms from memory, up from only two firms a year
ago. This increased awareness has led to an increase in
utilization of staffing firms by clients as well.
STAFFING SLIPS WITH JOB CANDIDATES
The percentage of job candidates who use staffing firms as
a part of their job search slipped in 2010 from 22 percent to
19 percent. A mere 2 percent of job seekers indicated that a
staffing firm was the first resource they used when starting
a job search. These two statistics represent a great challenge
to your staffing firm. How can you get the top talent, when
more than 80 percent of job seekers are not engaging with
you, and those that do are often only doing so once other
resources have failed them?
Awareness of staffing firms by job candidates dropped
as well in 2010, with 35 percent unable to name a single
staffing firm from memory, and nearly 60 percent unable to
2010: REASONS FOR OPTIMISM
As the U.S. economy emerges from one of the most difficult recessions in its history, staffing
firms are leading the way to job creation. Simply put – staffing firms work. Based on this
research, job candidates who work with a staffing firm submitted 51% more resumes and had
45% percent more interviews in a 90 day period than those who did not.” (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Staffing Firms Work: Resumes Submitted and
Interviews Received per 90 Days of Job Searching
Resumes submitted Interviews granted
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
32.5
1.61.1
21.5
Working with a staffing firm
Facebook
Twitter
Not working with a staffing firm
LinkedIn
Figure 2: Staffing Firms are Failing to Engage Clients
and Job Candidates through Social Media
Use: Follow a
staffing firm on:
Follow a staffing
firm employee on:
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
45%
6% 4%
76%
7% 8%
42%
6%
9%

The Opportunities in Staffing data is clear on this topic:
A well-designed, informative and simple to use mobile
application would likely be well received by both clients
and job candidates.
Engaging clients and job candidates in new and unique
ways can be an effective strategy for your staffing
firm, but only if you offer engagement that is truly
valued by those very audiences. Every process within
your firm impacts the very nature of these engagement
points. From your marketing and business development
process to your recruiting and placement practices;
every interaction matters and further defines your firm.
Through Opportunities in Staffing, you will be able to use
relevant data to benchmark your firm in order to refine
and optimize your own strategies as you strive towards
short and long term success.
When attempting to build an online community through
social media sites, many staffing firms make one of two
common, yet costly mistakes; they communicate too
generally, and they focus too much on their staffing firm
instead of the client or candidate. The 2010 study found
that clients and candidates engage with staffing firms for
two primary reasons – to gain updates on their search or
order, and to access content and trends that affect them
in their career and professional lives. While some people
indicate they are interested in engaging with individual
employees at the staffing firm, only 2 percent believed
interacting with other job seekers was the most important
reason to interact via social media.
It is also important to note that regardless of how good
your strategy is, 65 percent of clients and over half of
job seekers report no interest in interacting with their
staffing firm through social media. This means that to
build a robust online community, you must overcome the
initial perception of a large portion of your audience. The
Opportunities in Staffing research showed consistently
that both clients and candidates look for individual
connections and content in their social media interactions.
Your strategy must provide them considerable value and
a relationship they are personally, not just professionally
invested in.
MOBILE MARKETING –
THE KILLER APP FOR STAFFING?
Data-enabled smartphone ownership is increasing each
year and staffing firms need to be exploring this trend as
a potential opportunity. As job seekers and clients engage
more and more frequently through their mobile devices,
what is your staffing firm doing to provide tools and
resources in the mobile arena?
Sixty percent of staffing industry clients and 41 percent
of job seekers report owning a data-enabled smartphone
(Figure 3). These owners interact with their smartphones
in a number of ways. While the most common use of the
smartphone found in the survey was email, a significant
portion had also used mobile apps on their phone, with
nearly half of those having done so to help interact with
a supplier.
Executive summary
Have a smartphone
Downloaded an
app for your phone
Interacted with
a mobile ad
Read emails on
your phone
Used a mobile app to
work with a supplier
Figure 3: Data-Enabled Smartphone Usage
and Interaction are Significant Among
Clients and Job Seekers
Of those with Smartphones
60%
41%
80%
45%
90%
72%
39%
23%
47%
15%
0%
0%
20%
20%
60%
60%
100%
100%
80%
80%
40%
40%
Job Seekers
Clients

Staffing clients from each sector and a wide variety of
industries participated in the 2010 Opportunities in Staffing
survey. As in past waves of this study, both “buyers” (those
with direct decision-making authority) and “users” (those
who influence decisions and manage employees placed
by staffing and recruiting firms) were included to ensure
the broadest assessment of client experiences possible.
Participants reported making placements in a wide variety
of sectors (Figure 4).
AWARENESS AND
UTILIZATION BOTH UP IN 2010
Awareness and utilization of staffing firms increased
slightly in 2010 compared to prior years in the United
States. In 2010, the average client was able to name between
two and three staffing firms from memory, including
the primary staffing firm their organization works with.
While still low, this represents a significant increase
over last year when the average recall was just over two
staffing firms. Nearly 60 percent of survey participants
couldn’t name more than two firms, and 27 percent could
only name their primary staffing firm. While this still
represents a serious lack of awareness, it is encouraging
that staffing firm clients are becoming increasingly more
aware of additional staffing firms and the services they
provide.
When shown a list of the 35 largest staffing firms in the
United States, the average survey participant recognized
just over 6 of the brands. The two most recognized names
in staffing garnered just under 70 percent recognition,
meanwhile no other staffing firm brand was recognized
by more than 40 percent of current industry clients. Figure
5 shows the 10 U.S. brands most recognized by buyers and
users of staffing services.
THE CLIENT PERSPECTIVE
More than 3,300 clients have given their feedback since 2006, with 1,298 clients from the
United States, Canada and the United Kingdom participating in the 2010 wave of the survey.
In the United States, 525 responses were analyzed in 2010 across all industries and job
sectors. A wide range of participants were included to ensure a broad perspective of the
client experience. Nearly half of the 2010 participants are from organizations with more than
100 employees and 38 percent are senior leaders within their organization. On average, the
organizationsinthestudyuse2.4differenttypesofstaffingplacementswithtemporarystaffing,
direct hire and retained search the most common services listed. All responses are from
people who indicated they play an active role in their organization’s staffing firm decisions or
management. In addition, all organizations in the study have utilized a staffing or recruiting
firm within the past 12 months.
Executive
Office/Clerical
Professional
Industrial
Technical, IT
and Scientific
Healthcare
Figure 4: Staffing Clients made
Placements In the Following Sectors
48%
38%
24%
40%
0% 60%40%20%
11%
11%

With increases in awareness, utilization of staffing firms
by U.S. organizations is up in 2010 as well. In past years,
between 15 and 25 percent of U.S. organizations reported
using a staffing or recruiting firm in the past 12 months.
This year, 31 percent of potential survey respondents
had used a staffing or recruiting firm within the past 12
months; a significant improvement. This increase is good
news for the staffing industry, and perhaps highlights the
important role that staffing and recruiting firms play in the
U.S. economy as it emerges from a difficult recession.
SATISFACTION DECLINES AS STAFFING
INDUSTRY EMERGES FROM RECESSION
After three straight years of improved client satisfaction
scores within the staffing industry, 2010 showed a slight
step backwards in client experience. The average staffing
client rated their experience an 8.0 (out of 10). While still
higher than in 2008, the score represents a minor drop
from last year’s average score of 8.2. The industry’s Net
Promoter Score® with clients dropped from 41 percent
in 2009 to 30 percent in 2010. The Net Promoter Score is
calculated by subtracting the percentage of people who
rate their experience a 0-6 (detractors) from those who
rate their experience a 9 or 10 out of 10 (promoters). The
industry’s client promoters and detractors are shown in
figure 7 below.
Referrals and direct sales contact remain the two most
common ways to introduce prospective clients to your
brand (Figure 6). Similar to past years, there are many
different avenues that first lead people to their staffing
and recruiting firm of choice. While referrals are the most
trusted form of awareness, it is important as a staffing
firm to recognize that there are many ways in which to
create a strong, well recognized brand. To be effective
most firms will need to tightly target their brand message
and outreach.
Executive summary
Figure 5: 10 Brands Most Recognized
by U.S. Staffing Industry Clients
Accountemps
Adecco
Aerotek
AppleOne
Kelly Services
Labor Ready
Manpower
Robert Half
Snelling
Staffmark
Brands listed in alphabetical order
Event sponsorship
Referral
Contracted
by a salesperson
Traditional
media advertising
Industry or
HR-focused event
Online
advertisement
Figure 6: Change in Sources of Initial
Awareness for Staffing Industry Clients
25%
27%
18%
20%
7%
4%
4%
0% 10% 30% 40%20%
13%
13%
16%
16%
16%
Figure 7: U.S. Staffing Industry
Client Satisfaction Change over Time
2009
2010
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
35%
40%
42%
56%
45%
15% 15%
18%
23%22%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
% Detractors % Promoters

and prospective clients. Thirty percent of staffing industry
clients had taken part in a live or on-demand webinar in the
past 3 months, significantly higher than those who leveraged
blogs, online videos or social media sites. As the cost of
webinar platforms declines and the technology supporting
these platforms improves, webinars are quickly becoming
a very economical and effective method of reaching large
audiences to deliver valuable content.
Content is a lead acquisition and nurturing exercise – not a
direct sales opportunity. If clients and prospects feel they are
being sold to, they will not participate. Clients are asking to
be educated and that is what you must provide if you want to
engage with them consistently outside of strictly job orders.
Study participants rated industry-specific staffing trends
and current salary information as the two most valuable
pieces of content staffing firms could provide. What
new information have you brought to your current and
prospective clients? If that question isn’t easily answered,
you may be missing a significant piece of your marketing,
business development and retention strategy. Use the data in
this study to ensure you have the most effective strategy in
place that will help you connect and provide value to your
clients and prospective clients for the long-term.
While 2009 represented a significant gain in client
satisfaction, 2010 saw the percentage of staffing industry
promoters drop by more than 10 percent. This change is
likely due to staffing firms’ inability to maintain the same
level of service or focus as the economy (and thus staffing
orders) started to pick up in 2010.
Satisfied and loyal clients point to things such as the staffing
firm’s consistency, responsiveness and knowledge of their
business and culture as factors in their high ratings. As one
client put it, “They seem to be able to read my mind. Its
quick, efficient and a pleasure to work with them.”
However, 15 percent of the time, U.S. clients rated their
experience with a staffing firm a 6 or less. Why? Typically
it is a perception of low quality candidates or placing a
candidate that doesn’t fit with the company’s culture. Often
key service areas such as communication, setting reasonable
expectations or not delivering quality candidates within
a defined timeframecome to the forefront when service
failures occur.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: CONTENT IS KING
Staffing industry clients are actively pursuing educational
content. Staffing firms strive to be a valued partner and
consultant that cannot easily be commoditized or replaced.
At the intersection of these two desires is an opportunity for
staffing firms to deliver targeted, highly valued content to
their clients (and job candidates, for that matter).
The 2010 CareerBuilder and Inavero survey identified two
key strategies for branding your staffing firm as a knowledge
expert and thought leader within the field of staffing and
human resource management. The first lesson is effective
utilization of your company’s website. Many websites within
the industry are “brochure-ware” or word-heavy descriptions
of the staffing firm’s abilities and expertise. If this describes
your website, you are missing a significant opportunity.
Company websites were the most common resource used
by staffing industry clients to get information for their jobs
or careers in the past three months, nearly double the next
closest source of information (Figure 8).
The second lesson is to leverage educational webinars or
other more interactive forms of technology to reach current
Podcasts
Company Websites
Trade Association
Events
Online Video
Blogs
White Papers 0r
Case Studies
Supplier Presentations
or Events
Webinars
Social Media Sites
Figure 8: Most Common Sources of Information used
by U.S. Staffing Industry Clients in past 3 Months
61%
35%
30%
29%
25%
19%
15%
0% 80%60%40%20%
23%
23%

ATTRACTING THE BEST JOB CANDIDATES:
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS THEY VALUE
In 2010, job candidates were asked which benefits they would
value most from a staffing or recruiting firm. Their answers
were somewhat surprising. While health insurance is the
most valued benefit, flexible work schedules, training and
resume reviews were all considered to be the most valuable
benefit by at least 10 percent of job seekers (figure 11).
firms as a component of their job search strategies, and 35
percent could not name a single staffing firm from memory.
When provided a list of the largest U.S. staffing firms, the
average job candidate recognized nearly 5 firms, however no
single staffing firm brand was recognized by more than two-
thirds of the job candidates surveyed. A list of the 10 U.S.
staffing firms most often recognized by the job candidates
surveyed is shown in figure 10.
Jobseekersparticipatinginthe2010OpportunitiesinStaffing
survey represent the vast diversity of candidates within
reach of staffing firms. More than 1,200 had been placed
on a temporary or permanent assignment through a staffing
firm, while another 1,015 were working as an independent
contractor. Half were unemployed, while another 25 percent
worked full-time while searching for other job opportunities.
Of those who report being unemployed, 56 percent indicated
it was due to a layoff during the recent recession. Job seeker
survey participants were seeking employment in a wide
variety of sectors (Figure 9).
JOB SEEKER AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION
OF STAFFING FIRMS DROPS IN 2010
After increasing both awareness and utilization in 2009,
both of the key branding measures dropped for the staffing
industry in 2010. Only 19 percent of job seekers used staffing
THE JOB CANDIDATE PERSPECTIVE
23,632 active job seekers participated in the 2010 survey of job candidates. The research
included 16,356 U.S. responses from CareerBuilder’s internal database, with an additional
1,438 U.S. responses from an independent, 3rd party online sample provider to ensure
the validity of the CareerBuilder data and accurately reflect the overall pool of U.S. job
candidates. All participants were either actively engaged in a job search, or had completed
a search within the past 12 months. The median job seeker has been active in their job
search for nearly 6 months, with those laid off by the recession having been in the search for
close to 8 months. Job seekers were searching in a variety of sectors, and actively sought
out 4 sources to aid in their job search, on average.
Executive summary
Executive
Office/Clerical
Professional
Industrial
Technical, IT
and Scientific
Healthcare
Figure 9: Staffing Clients made Placements
in the Following Sectors
0% 40%20% 30%10%
28%
17%
14%
22%
13%
5%
Figure 10: 10 Brands Most Recognized
by U.S. Staffing Industry Job candidates
Accountemps
Adecco
Aerotek
Kelly Services
Labor Ready
Manpower
Randstad
Robert Half
Snelling
Volt
Brands listed in alphabetical order

9COPYRIGHT © 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAREERBUILDER & Inavero
Job candidates look to staffing firms to help them improve
themselves and the more your firm can provide avenues to
improve a candidate’s opportunities, the more loyalty you
will be able to build.
A ROADMAP TO IMPROVING CANDIDATE
SATISFACTION–GOING BEYOND OUTCOMES
After a drop in satisfaction a year ago, in 2010 the overall
experience with staffing firms remained essentially
unchanged for job seekers. Job candidates were more likely
to rate the experience they had with a staffing firm a 2 or
lower (19 percent) than a 9 or 10 (15 percent). The overall
Net Promoter Score for the job candidate experience was a
-48 percent.
While this score is very low, the scores for those who are
placed in an assignment (or within a permanent position) are
much higher. Figure 12 shows how satisfaction changes as
candidates make their way through the employment process
with a staffing firm.
But it’s not just the outcome that matters to job candidates. In
fact, given the difficult economic conditions, many staffing
firm leaders assume that satisfaction is impossible to achieve
when open job orders are so sparse. However, job candidates
were more pragmatic in 2010 than they were a year earlier
and many understood that finding a job would be difficult.
In fact, only 25 percent of the time when candidates gave
their staffing firm a low score was it due to not finding a
job. Nearly half the time the reason for the dissatisfaction
was based on a lack of responsiveness – far and away the
most prevalent complaint registered by candidates in 2010.
A strong process of communication with and empathy for
job candidates working with your staffing firm can be a true
point of differentiation as you strive to become a destination
for the top talent available.
The job candidate experience is vital to the long-term success
of your staffing firm for a variety of reasons. Clearly, more
satisfied job candidates tend to do a better job while on
assignment and are less likely to leave an assignment prior to
completion. In addition, with a high ratio of job candidates to
clients, dissatisfied candidates can create a significant word-
of-mouth issue and hurt your stream of candidate referrals.
Perhaps most importantly – candidates also become client
buyers and influencers. In the 2010 study, nearly half (46
percent) of U.S. clients surveyed indicated they had also
worked with a staffing firm as a job seeker, up significantly
from a year ago. Staffing firms who believe they can
become exceptional in client service without developing a
strong candidate experience are failing to see how strong the
connection between the two really is.
The job candidate experience with staffing firms begins
the moment they see their first ad, make their first phone
call to the firm or engage with a recruiter for the first time.
Every interaction is an opportunity to build the candidate’s
perception of your staffing brand, and once they go on
assignment with you they, in fact, become an extension of
that very brand. To deliver an exceptional experience to job
candidates, you must have the right people with the right
training and a process designed to exceed expectations.
Leveragetheinformationpresentedinthe2010Opportunities
in Staffing Guide to identify opportunities where you can
make stronger connections with your candidates that will
lead to long-term loyalty.
Figure 12: U.S. Job Seeker Satisfaction Improves Dramatically
as Interaction with the Staffing Firm Increases
Submitted
resume
Interviewed,
no position
Placed on temporary
assignment
Found full-time
position
10%
26%
47%
53%
24%29%
49%
73%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
% Detractors % Promoters
Prescription Drug
Insurance
Health Insurance
Flexible Work
Schedule
Inteview Training
Paid Time Off
Career Coaching
Resume Review
Skills Training
and Certification
Ability to
Telecommute
Figure 11: Most Valued
Potential Staffing Firm Benefits
0% 40%30%20%10%
32%
13%
12%
10%
8%
5%
1%
7%
6%

Historically, as the U.S. economy emerges from a recession,
staffing firms lead the way for overall employment, playing a critical role by providing flexible
hiring solutions for organizations attempting to grow. 2010 has proved to be no different. Staffing
firms are well placed to grow quickly and establish themselves as trusted advisors to the
audiences they serve.
Whileclientscontinuetoembracestaffingfirmsasaviablehiringoption,loyaltytoasinglestaffing
firm has declined compared to a year ago. The key to long-term, profitable client relationships is
becoming indispensible to their business. A staffing firm who views their commitment starting
andendingwiththesourcingandacquisitionofqualifiedjobcandidatesisincreasinglybecoming
vulnerable to being replaced by another firm. Clients are open to opportunities to engage with
staffing firms – but on their terms. They want education, information and trends directly related
to them and their organizations. In exchange for that material, a significant portion (35 percent)
are willing to engage more deeply with your firm through social media or mobile applications.
Effectively delivering the educational content and information clients need and desire is a key
factor in client retention and protection of eroding margins.
The job candidate experience with staffing firms is highly variable depending on the firm they
work with and the depth of that relationship. For job candidates who submit a resume but are
never interviewed, only 10 percent rate their experience a 9 or 10. Those who end up placed on
an assignment give their experience a 9 or 10 nearly 5 times as often. As more job candidates
entered the market during the economic downturn, staffing firm awareness with job seekers
declined, and utilization dropped to 19 percent from 21 percent a year ago. Candidates who do
accept positions working on behalf of your firm value more than just the salary they receive.
They also view health benefits, flexibility and the opportunity to acquire additional skills and
certifications as valuable aspects of their working arrangement with you. The suite of services
and benefits your staffing firm offers helps you become a cherished resource for job seekers,
assisting in the creation and maintenance of satisfaction, loyalty and referrals.
Interested in taking the next step deeper into the information and what it means for your
staffing firm? Contact your CareerBuilder or Inavero representative to gain access to the full
report and supporting PowerPoint materials for use in your client presentations and proposals.
Staffing
Opportunities IN

Opportunities In Staffing Executive Summary

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (17)

Similar to Opportunities In Staffing Executive Summary

Similar to Opportunities In Staffing Executive Summary (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Opportunities In Staffing Executive Summary