The U.S. economy has been expanding for more than six years, since the end of the Great Recession, and during this time the American Staffing Association notes that the staffing and recruiting industry has been growing at a sustained, unprecedented rate[1]. Now in its 10^th year, CareerBuilder and Inavero’s 2015 Opportunities in Staffing Study identified key behaviors and opportunities that can increase loyalty from clients, candidates and internal staff to maintain this growth.

“Opportunities in Staffing is one of the longest running and most comprehensive studies on the staffing industry, extending beyond U.S. borders,” said Eric Gilpin, president of vertical sales at CareerBuilder. “While this year’s study identifies opportunities to improve client satisfaction, it also highlights an increase in client utilization – underscoring the heightened need for companies to have a scalable, flexible and skilled workforce that staffing firms provide. Staffing firms will continue to play a critical part in how companies expand and manage their human capital.”

The survey results were based on responses from 3,020 staffing industry clients, 9,525 job candidates and 864 internal staffing firm employees across the U.K., U.S. and Canada.

Based on the study, the following are nine things every staffing firm should know as they invest in enhancing their services for clients and candidates.

# 1 Client utilization is on the rise: More companies across industries are turning to staffing firms to support and help grow their business. One in three clients (32 percent) have hired a temporary employee through a staffing firm in the past year, an increase from 26 percent last year.

#2 While utilization is up, client satisfaction is on a decline: The Net Promoter Score for client satisfaction, an index that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others, dipped to -3 percent – which means, for the first time, there are more client detractors than promoters. After remaining at 8 percent in 2013 and 2014, the decline shows there is now more opportunity than ever to use world-class client experience as a differentiator in the marketplace.

#3 Clients are mobile – and expect you to be too: More than one in four corporate clients (27 percent) interact with staffing firms via a mobile device, and 57 percent develop a negative perception of a firm if site is not mobile-ready. Moreover, 73 percent of job candidates will leave a site if it is not mobile-optimized and 1 and 5 will not return.

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#4 Potential clients are reading your online reviews more than you think: While referrals remain a trusted source for choosing which staffing firm to work with, more clients – especially younger buyers – reported that online sources influence their decisions. Nearly 1 in 5 (18 percent) read reviews of staffing firms online before partnering, versus 11 percent last year. However, 1 in 3 staffing firms reported that they don’t have a strategy for generating online reviews and have no plans to implement one in the future.

#5 Candidate satisfaction is improving, but still trailing peak years: After declining last year, placed candidate satisfaction scores increased to 24 percent NPS this year from 22 percent in 2014. With candidate satisfaction being so key to gaining a referral, greater investment in the candidate experience is needed to reach 2013 satisfaction levels (33 percent) and beyond.

#6 Candidates feel like they’re in a black hole: Nearly half (46 percent) of candidates said they’re not updated throughout the hiring process by the staffing firm they’re working with and 42 percent have not been contacted to say they didn’t get the job after the interview. The same percentage (42 percent) feel the amount of human contact has decreased in the hiring process.

#7 Coaching is a missed opportunity for higher satisfaction scores: Nearly 9 in 10 candidates reported that they don’t receive any sort of career coaching from their firm, 71 percent are not provided with interview coaching and more than half said they haven’t received a resume review.

#8 A goldmine for candidates is not being leveraged: Survey results indicate that only 1 in 4 candidates are “rehired,” or placed again within 30 days of their last assignment ending. This leaves a large pool of placed candidates largely untapped.

#9 Recruitment technology drives greater efficiencies, but not everyone is a pro at using it: 1 in 3 staffing employees (33 percent) reported that they’re not comfortable using recruitment software/technology. More than half (52 percent) using an ATS point to a lack of user-friendliness as their biggest point of pain.

For the full report, visit opportunitiesinstaffing.com.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted by CareerBuilder and Inavero online throughout the U.S., U.K. and Canada among 3,020 staffing industry clients, 9,525 job candidates and 864 internal staffing firm employees. The survey was fielded between March 24 and April 19, 2015 using CareerBuilder and independent 3rd party panels to ensure data validity. With pure probability samples of 3,020; 9,525 and 864, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have sampling errors of +/- 1.8, +/- 1.0 and +/- 3.3 percentage points, respectively.

About CareerBuilder®

As the global leader in human capital solutions, CareerBuilder specializes in cutting-edge HR software as a service to help companies with every step of the recruitment process from acquire to hire. CareerBuilder works with top employers across industries, providing job distribution, sourcing, workflow, CRM, data and analytics in one pre-hire platform. It also operates leading job sites around the world. Owned by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA), Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact
Ladan Nikravan
312.698.0538 x70538
ladan.nikravan@careerbuilder.com
[1] “2014 Staffing Industry Annual Economic Analysis,” American Staffing Association.