p>These days, companies are faced with endless unique staffing situations and problems. Direct-hire recruiters who made contract placements in 2010 had clients faced with those types of situations.  Their willingness to offer contracting to those clients resulted in placements they wouldn't have been able to make otherwise.

 

One of these recruiters was Syed T. Haider of Capital Precision Search.  One of his clients needed an immediate replacement for someone who was going on maternity leave. Obviously, this was a short-term problem that needed a short-term solution.  That solution was a contractor, and Haider was able to provide one.

Jana Rugg of Ridgemont Resources, Inc., had similar situations that caused her to shift her previous direct-hire-only focus to contracting.

“We had both a temp-to-hire situation where the client wanted to work with the candidate before hiring and a situation where the client needed coverage for a month or so until another new hire could start work,” Rugg said. 

Contracting allowed Nelson De Leon of America at Work to place one of his superstar candidates who wasn't quite right for one of his clients' direct-hire positions but was too good to be discarded.

"Although the candidate was top notch, she lacked some of the required skills for that particular assignment," De Leon said. "However, because the candidate had a set of skills that matched perfectly with the client's long-term business strategy, I was told it was just a matter of time when an assignment would become available that would be a perfect match.  We were called a couple of months after the initial interview to discuss the possibility of bringing the candidate on-board as a contractor to manage a particular project with a global reach.  It goes without saying that the candidate was more than happy."

For other recruiters, the niche in which they work provides unique hiring situations on a consistent basis.  One such example is Richard Yadon, CPC/CERS of Health Career Professionals, LLC.  According to Yadon, “almost 99%” of their business had previously been in direct-hire placement. 

“Our client base has some very unique staffing needs,” said Yadon. “We looked for ways to provide an equally unique solution to these needs, and contract staffing became the model we adopted.”

Payne Broome of Relient Health had clients who needed travel therapists, but because he lacked the resources to handle the financial, legal, and administrative back-office tasks required to handle those placements, he was turning down business. Then he discovered that he could use a contracting back-office to handle those tasks for him, and he is now able to be a "one-stop shop" for his clients, whether they need direct-hire or contract staffing services. 

"Most of our clients need assistance in filling both direct and contract positions, and we can now compete with our larger competitors on a more even playing field," Broome said.  

Debbie Fledderjohann is the President of Top Echelon Contracting, Inc.