3 Reasons Why You Should Work With a Staffing Agency

Staffing agencies have always been the bad guys. In my mind, the industry has always had a stigma. What was the point? I could find jobs on my own, I didn’t need some hoity-toity recruiter from a staffing company to help me.

The jobs offered by agencies are not desirable, all staffing companies are an evil thing from the 1980’s, and recruiters are creepy people who just want to make money off you. At least that’s what I thought.

Until I went over to the dark side.

Okay, it’s not really the dark side (sorry I scared you, Dad, I’ll never join them). It’s the staffing industry and my perspective on it has done a complete 180. Every single stigma I believed has been dispelled since I started working in the industry. Here’s why:

The jobs staffing agencies recruit for are desirable.

It’s crazy hard to find a job these days, especially a good one. Staffing agencies are chock-full of ’em. At Corporate Brokers, we have 144 open positions. That’s 144 opportunities for you to speak with another human being whose job it is to get you a job. A direct connection.

The trick is to know what you’re looking for. Many staffing agencies specialize in specific industries, so be sure to do your research. Once you find the right agency and take a gander at their open positions, you’ll be surprised at how awesome they can be (and how much they can pay). In fact, the average hourly rate for contractors is $17, with some making more than $100 per hour, according to the American Staffing Association. Not to mention, 9 out of 10 contractors say staffing work made them more employable in the end.

Sounds good, right? I think so, too. The jobs staffing agencies have to offer aren’t the horror story gigs from the 1980’s we remember hearing about. They’re reputable positions at impressive companies, a lot of them with awesome pay, and, if taken advantage of, open up a whole world of professional development opportunities other jobs don’t offer.

Staffing agencies aren’t evil.

I promise, staffing agencies aren’t secretly run by Darth Vader (he died in 1983 during Return of the Jedi, in case you didn’t know). They’re actually pretty fantastic organizations run by people, for people.

My very wise, inspiring boss (and CEO of Corporate Brokers), Shane Ireland, once said, “Hiring is about human interaction and meaningful relationships.” He’s right. Staffing agencies are all about people. Without people, they wouldn’t exist, and let me tell you, great agencies know their people.

Getting a candidate hooked up with a new job isn’t something staffing agencies take lightly. There are tried and true processes in place for matching the perfect candidate with an awesome company. Think of them like your friendly neighborhood match-maker, they want everyone involved to come out happy and in love (with their job).

Recruiters are humans. Awesome ones.

The worst stigma of them all is probably the one people have about recruiters. Don’t worry, I had it too. Who is this creepy person calling me about some job I’ve never heard of and asking me all this personal information? Are you stealing my identity? Go away.

I have some news for you, dear friends: they’re not trying to be creepy. They want to get you a job and they’re contacting you because you have a legit set of skills they think are valuable (which makes them really excited).

If you get a call from a recruiter, you should be pumped. That means your resume passed the “six-second” test (the recruiters I know spend way more time than that on resumes, but hey) and you are extremely close to being considered for a job.

Recruiters ask you all that personal information so they can get an idea of what you really need in a job. They don’t want to throw you into a career you’re going to hate or one that won’t allow you to support yourself and your family. Which also means, they don’t just look at you as a money maker.

Recruiters need a paycheck too, but that’s not the reason they come to work every day. Recruiters come to work to positively impact the lives of others; to help you and other candidates searching for their next dream gig. Most of them are going to get you there, even if it makes them no money at all.

You may have believed all those myths people talk about, but staffing is a concept you really want to align yourself with. Let go of the stigmas and dive in. There’s a whole team of people waiting to make your job dreams come true.