The document provides an overview of the staffing industry, tracing its origins to the 1940s and highlighting its growth into a $174 billion sector with over 20,000 companies in the U.S. It explains various recruiting terms and models, such as contingent, retained, and contract staffing, as well as the role of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). The document emphasizes the industry's fragmentation and varying revenue levels among staffing agencies.

1. An Introduction to the
Recruitment Industry

2. Staffing Agencies Have Been
Around a Long Time
The modern birth of the staffing industry dates back to
the 1940’s, when many employees’ positions were
vacated after they left to join the military during WWII.
The extreme lack of talent and increase of open
positions created a need for the first-ever staffing
agencies. The industry continued to grow – and those
who were around in the 1960’s will remember the iconic
“Kelly Girl” ads. The industry has evolved dramatically
since then and is no longer limited to administrative,
temporary work. Today there are staffing firms
specializing in virtually every industry, placing workers
in a wide variety of highly-skilled positions.

3. The Staffing Industry is Larger than Most People Realize, Yet it’s
Highly-Fragmented.
Staffing is a $174B industry – and one of the fastest-growing industries in B2B services. There are over 20,000
staffing and recruiting companies in the U.S., operating over 39,000 offices combined. However, most of them are
generating under $10M in annual revenue, with approximately 100 companies surpassing over $100M. There are
approximately 15 publicly traded U.S. staffing companies.

4. They Go by a Wide Variety of Names
Ever wonder what differentiates a staffing agency from a headhunter? What differentiates a recruitment firm from an
employment agency? Not much! For all intents and purposes, these terms are virtually synonymous. Though they
can go by many different names, and this can be confusing to those unfamiliar with the industry, they all fulfill the
same basic function. They all place job candidates for client companies for a fee.
Contingent Retained RPOAgency/Staffing Executive

5. What is Agency/Contract Staffing?
A contract recruiter is someone who fills positions at a company on a short-term basis.

6. What is Contingent Recruiting?
Contingency recruitment is a type of outsourced recruiting service. For this service, a hiring company only pays the recruite
Quantity over quality:
• contingent models cannot afford to invest the
resources (time, money, energy) needed to gain a
full understanding of the client’s market offering
(products, services, values and culture).
• when it comes to accessing candidates for cultural
fit for an organization, these insights can be the
difference between an average and exceptional
candidate.
‘Low hanging fruit’ prioritized:
• seek to prioritize those roles which are less
demanding of resources (time, money,
energy).
• difficult-to-fill roles may be indefinably
postponed in favor of ‘quick wins’, delivery of
shortlisted candidates might be sporadic,
and the quality of shortlisted candidates
might be inconsistent.

7. What is Executive Recruiting?
Executive search firms, as their name implies, focus on attracting highly skilled and experienced senior managers and exe
Fee Structure
1/3, 1/3, 1/3
Advantages
High Touch
High Quality
Disadvantages
Cost vs Value

8. What is Retained Recruiting?
Retained search recruiters work as consultants on executive-level roles or highly specialized positions for clients.
They are paid for the process of making a placement, and they are guaranteed payment for these higher-end
services. Unlike contingency recruiters, who are paid upon a placement win, a retainer is paid in advance to conduct
a search that usually results in a hire.

9. What is RPO?
RPO is the outsourcing of some or all of the processes and resources related to internal hiring of full time employees.
This can include advertising, sourcing, interviewing of candidates, working with hiring managers, scheduling and often
times seeing candidates through to the offer and the on-boarding processes. RPO is not a short term fix but a sustained
effort for outsourcing recruiting for the either all of the organizations recruitment needs or for a specific hiring drive for a
specified length of time.

10. They all have one thing in
common:
Price Tag on the Candidates Head