How to find a reliable temping agency

Finding a good temp agency can quite often be harder than you think. It is crucial that you use a company that is well-respected in the market, has a temporary division of a certain size and is used to sourcing an appropriate calibre of staff. They also need to have a sound referencing system in place and be priced competitively.

When starting your search, there are several places you can look. Type “temp agency London” into Google and it will bring up a number of agencies. Check out the relevant pages and see what they offer. They should describe how they work, which companies they recruit for and the job roles they look after. They should also give some information on their recruitment process.

In the support staff recruitment market, all candidates should be tested by the agency on their Microsoft Office and typing skills. Candidates should also have been referenced, with two references on hand – some will collect five years of references. A thorough agency will confirm a candidate’s Right to Work by taking a copy of their passport and if necessary, relevant visas.

The candidate should also have gone through an in-house screening process in the form of an interview, where they will have discussed their previous and current experience with a consultant, as well as going through their CV in some detail. A temp agency conducting these types of processes should inspire confidence in the hiring manager and indicate that they will provide you with the right candidate.

Where else can you source a reliable temping agency from?

The best source is personal recommendations – speak to one of your friends or contacts and ask who they have used to do their hiring in the past. If they have had a positive experience, it is likely that you will too.

If you don’t know of someone who has hired a temp in the past, then how about asking someone who has temped before and which agency they were most impressed with?

Another source would be industry job sites. Each market sector has two or three top job sites where temp agencies will advertise. You can use this as a directory and call companies from there.

Legalities

There is a lot of legal information that an agency has to adhere by. They need to have a contract of services agreement with each of their candidates as effectively they will be employing these individuals on your behalf.

They also need to provide paperwork to confirm that they comply with agency workers regulations. These nominate that once a candidate has worked with you for 12 weeks, they are entitled to equal holiday and any bonuses that a permanent member of staff would enjoy.

Again, if an agency is up to speed with the legal side, it shows confidence in their offering.

Speed

Hiring a temp can require a very quick turnaround – you may need staff that day, the next day or the next week. Therefore, a great temping agency needs to work fast, with an established database of suitable candidates that can fill a vacancy quickly.

A great way to see how fast they work is to see how long they take to respond to a business enquiry. Their response time to this – whether by phone or email – should indicate how fast they’ll work when a requirement comes in.

At the end of the day, a good temping agency will work in partnership with you to find the best quality candidates. If they can’t do that while remaining compliant, it’s time to look elsewhere.
—
To find out how Tiger’s team can help you, get in touch.

Author Rebecca Siciliano Tiger Recruitment Team