Posted

Has this ever happened to you:

You interview someone who just shines. She has the exact skills and experience you seek. Her delightful personality happily infects her future colleagues as they interview her as part of the selection process. Her references gush. Her former employer tells you to tell her he wants her back!

So you hire her, thinking you’ve made a super choice.

And then. She. Just. Doesn’t. Work. Out.

Some  people do exceptionally well at interviewing. If they could earn a living as a professional job seeker, they’d be tops. But get them into your office, doing the job for which they were hired, working — or, really, not working — with their colleagues, and something happens.

Many times employers and employees alike find the person and the job just don’t match. The employee finds the boss is too restrictive (she’s more of a “tell me what you want done and then get out of my way” kind of person working for someone she thought was easy going only to find he’s a micro-manager). The boss finds the new employee doesn’t have the exact skills he really, really needs for this position.

This problem can be alleviated if you hire someone on what the staffing industry calls a “temp-to-hire” basis. That is, you bring in someone from the staffing firm’s roster of employees, someone who has been tested and vetted to ensure that she has the skills and the temperament to fit into your office culture, for at least 90 days. If all works well, you hire the person onto your own payroll.

If it doesn’t work out, the staffing service removes the employee from your office (and almost always finds another position better suited for the employee quickly) and finds you someone else to try out for several weeks.

No one’s feelings are hurt. The temporary employee is told upfront there’s no guarantee she’ll be hired. (The temporary employee also has the option to say she doesn’t want to be hired and request another assignment; temp-to-hire assignments are a great way for employees to “try out” a job, too).

It also makes great monetary sense for an employer. If the first employee — or even the second or third — isn’t a perfect fit, there’s no need to start all over sourcing an employee (placing a job requisition, crafting and placing an ad, culling applications, interviewing candidates, etc.). You won’t have an empty seat in your office while your current employees once again work double duty until someone is found for the position.

A temp-to-hire arrangement is a real win-win situation for you and the temporary employee. If you’re a New York employer and need to find a new employee and are leery of having to go through an extended hiring process, give Winston Resources a call. We can help you find great employees for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *