Staffing Industry Trends

Consolidation

Startup costs for a personnel agency are very low. Individual offices can be highly profitable, but consolidation is driven mainly by the opportunity for large agencies to develop national relationships with big customers. Some agencies expand by starting new offices in promising markets, but most prefer to buy existing independent offices with proven staff and an existing customer roster.

Agency Onsite Training, Management

Temporary workers are becoming such a large factor at some companies that personnel agency staff sometimes work at the customer's site to recruit, train, and manage.

Proposed Staffing Industry Data Standards

Adecco, Kelly, Manpower, Randstad, Spherion, and Vedior have worked together to develop data exchange standards for the staffing industry. The Staffing Industry Data Exchange Standards provide standard protocols for data transfer and information exchange to improve efficiency and significantly reduce ongoing information technology costs.

Psychological Screening

Some personnel consulting firms and human resource departments are increasingly using psychological tests to evaluate potential job candidates. Psychological, or liability, testing has gained popularity due to recent fraud scandals. In addition to stiffer background checks, recent corporate scandals are forcing headhunters to check the credit of prospective employees.