The pandemic has been a mixed bag for light industrial and professional staffing agencies. Demand for consumer products has soared, but at the same time manufacturers and warehouses are struggling to attract the necessary workforce.
To source quality candidates, staffing firms that serve this sector need to be creative — not just rely on the same recruiting tactics as every other agency competing for the same talent. For NEXTAFF, a nationwide staffing agency franchise, that means leveraging their existing talent pool to get more referrals.
By implementing Staffing Referrals’ automated referral management platform, NEXTAFF has been able to source high-quality talent while saving time and money.
“We’ve found an easy way to get referrals. I’d choose Staffing Referrals over Facebook any day.” ~Saraphina Wurster, HR Office Manager, NEXTAFF, Tacoma, WA
Job boards, such as Indeed and Facebook’s Job Search, are popular recruiting tools. But their value has declined at the same time as their prices have gone up. “We used Indeed until they changed their pricing structure,” Wurster says. Facebook job postings are free, but it can be difficult to reach applicants without paid promotion.
Referrals bring in higher quality candidates, which means less work for recruiters. “Staffing Referrals works better than Facebook,” Wurster says. “When referrals come through, they come through. Somebody else is essentially doing the work for me — it’s not time spent.”
Wurster also appreciates Staffing Referrals’ straightforward pricing structure. “Staffing Referrals reduces our costs because we don’t have to pay more to invite people or to use other portions of the service. There’s nothing hidden. For us, that’s huge.”
“Staffing Referrals saves us time and money so that we can invest that money back into marketing, back into the community, and back into growth.” ~Saraphina Wurster, HR Office Manager, NEXTAFF, Tacoma, WA
NEXTAFF is always looking for ways to run their operations more cost-effectively. A key priority is saving recruiters’ time so that they can focus on value-added work rather than administrative tasks.
Staffing Referrals helps NEXTAFF achieve this goal through its easy-to-use interface, templates, and referral tracking capabilities. “Our time is valuable, so if we’re spending even a few minutes every day tracking down referrals, that’s an hour wasted every week, or four hours wasted every month,” Wurster says. “With Staffing Referrals, I can easily see who has signed up to be an ambassador and when their referrals come in. This saves me time, and what I can do with that time is a commodity right now.”
As they look toward 2022 and beyond, NEXTAFF plans to enhance their referral program and recruit even more talent to become brand ambassadors. “Word-of-mouth ambassadors are essentially a free resource,” Wurster says. “We plan to use Staffing Referrals even more as we come into the new year.”
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Want to hear more about how Staffing Referrals can help you save on sourcing costs and increase your referral placements?