10 Essential Steps to Start a Staffing Agency in 2024

With the growing global economy and globalisation, business activities are increasing more than ever. It is now easier than before to start a business and expand it with the help of the internet. But of course, with business activities at an all-time high, there is also an increased need for staff. Finding reliable and credible employees is also a task that not all startups and giants specialise in staffing. Staffing agencies are needed here to fulfil the requirements of organisations so they can focus on their business goals instead of worrying about recruitment and hiring.

If you are considering starting a staffing agency, you are doing the right thing. It will not only solve the talent shortage issues and reduce unemployment but also earn you a fortune through commissions and service charges.

Starting a staffing agency is a business too. Like any other business, you need to do your homework before kick-starting. This blog will guide you through ten vital steps for starting a staffing agency in 2024.

Ten Steps To Start a Staffing Agency

With each passing year, the world is moving towards betterment with advanced technologies and better innovations. These steps will help you start and flourish your staffing agency in 2024.

Step 1: Evaluate your capacity

Who are you; why do you want to start a staffing agency? Evaluate your specialization, education, knowledge, network, and background before doing anything. You need to see if you have it in you that a staffing agency takes to start or not. For example, if you are a civil engineer with zero knowledge of HR, you are a mismatch which calls for a great deal of homework. If you have a vast network, it can count as your resource. Be rich in resources like connections, knowledge, experience, mentors, and much more to begin.

Step 2: Choose a niche

What kind of staffing agency do you plan to open? There are many different scopes of agencies that help in headhunting, sending contract-based employees, or temporary employees. Moreover, see which industries you want to cater to that have employee shortages and job scarcity. For example, actuaries are very hard to find, with only 70,000 qualified actuaries in the world but in great demand. So, you might want to work as a staffing agency in the actuarial science industry. The niche selection depends on you. So, conduct thorough research before choosing any niche from the unsaturated ones.

Step 3: Research as much as you can

Research every aspect surrounding a staffing agency. It will include your competitors, need, labour market, and economy. Researching will give you sound knowledge about what you are getting yourself involved in. It will also set a direction for your next steps. For example, if you are looking for licenses, then your research will lead you to firms that will help you with legal advice.

Step 4: Study the finances

Study your finances by calculating establishment and operational costs, investments, and potential earnings. You need to ensure your staffing agency's profitability. For it, you need to calculate all your costs, expenses, risks, and returns. Make a financial sheet to jot down all kinds of costs that you might incur, ranging from hiring staff to investing in software. Do you even have enough money to start? If not so, do you have any plans for partnership or bringing in investors? You need to assess everything because if you have no money left midway, then you will be stranded with huge losses on your back.

Step 5: Connect with recruiters

You need to connect with recruiters to understand their problems in recruitment. You can also hire some to help you recruit better for your clients. Also, bringing a few experienced recruiters on board will help you gain more clients who they have worked with before. Your connections will bring you business.

Step 6: Setup your staffing agency

Nowadays, the internet has become a prominent medium in the recruiting process. More than 90% of workers apply for jobs online. You need to set up an office or a portal if it is a virtual staffing agency. Buy appropriate web-based software, hire staff, connect with clients and candidates and get going. 

Step 7: Determine your service charges and terms and conditions

After doing all the math, you need to set a monetary target that you need to achieve. By knowing your goal, you will be able to set a service fee which is usually around 20%-30% of a new hire's first-year salary. You also need to set appropriate terms and conditions so neither the candidate nor the client breaks the contract. For example, there is a risk of a candidate breaching a contract to avoid paying your commission. To avoid such problems, you can put conditions like a ban from your agency in such instances or an imprisonment term. You need to consult a lawyer to help you set a contract.

Step 8: Setup a website

A website will be the face of your business. Make sure to establish a user-friendly website for candidates and clients to easily connect with you and know more about your agency on your website. 

Only setting up a website is not necessary; the site should have strong security that allows users to share their information like login credentials or any payment details. To do so, the site owner should get SSL certificate and install it on the website that protects the information and ensures users about their data protection.

Step 9: Invest in technologies

A survey by Career Builder found that 67% of hiring managers believe that staffing companies must use the latest technology.

To flourish in 2024 and beyond, you need to invest heavily in technologies with time. But in the beginning, invest in software to find candidates and employers that require your services once such software is an applicant tracking system that will lead you to the candidates looking for jobs in your niche.

Step 10: Market your staffing agency

A survey reported that marketing increased revenue by 38.4% for some companies. In this scenario, your staffing agency is the product that you should advertise. Market everywhere possible and allot a higher budget to marketing. People will come to you only when they know you, so this is essential.

Conclusion

To set up a staffing agency, you must follow these ten steps that cover all the essential points. Once you start, you can adjust these factors according to your needs.