The LandaJob Blog:
Expert Perspectives and Industry Trends

Brilliant uses of temp staffing

Of course we think all of our clients are brilliant…but currently there are three who are making especially clever uses of temp staffing to improve their short-term business outcomes. As the new year starts, we thought we’d show you their examples of how it’s done:

1. Establish an on-call roster for ongoing or repeat needs. One of our clients, who works as a solo entrepreneur, knows that she periodically needs someone for quick-turnaround presentations graphics and also for proposal documents. Sometimes it’s a lot of hours, and sometimes not. So, rather than struggle with finding freelancers who will always be available, she has pre-screened a short roster of temp associates who meet her criteria, and then she can solve even an emergency need with one phone call or email. Bonus: she doesn’t have to hassle with 1099s at the end of year, as the associates are paid through the temp staffing firm (in this case, us).

2. Build the plane while you’re flying it. Another client, who leads an in-house marketing communications department, has an established team serving a rapidly-changing set of corporate needs. If he were to wait until all his internal clients have complete clarity, the year might be half-done and his team all-the-way burned out. Instead, he brought in a temporary associate which met his best-guess profile, and if his needs change in another 30 days, he can simply make a change for a person with a different kind of specialty. Bonus: no extra angst with having to lay someone off from a full-time job while the department is in evolution.

3. Be bold enough to create new capacity. A third client, who runs a successful small agency, has aggressive goals for 2014. As she rolls into executing her clients’ plans for the year, she has strong signals (but no guarantees) that the agency’s billing will significantly shift into some new practice areas and split the focus of some key staffers. In addition, she has a need for some new expertise, which she hopes will eventually justify full-time hire. So, she’s brought in a temp employee with the knowledge and skills the agency now needs to offer, and by the end of the first quarter will be able to determine if the full-time hire of that person makes sense financially. Bonus: this person is also able to share knowledge and bring existing staff to a higher level of best practices.

So, was I right? Our clients are brilliant! Here’s to a fabulous 2014.

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