(This series focuses on the most common reasons we've heard for why recruiters don't want to offer contract staffing.  These reasons are based on common misconceptions about contract staffing and prevent recruiters from reaping the benefits of offering contractors to their clients.)

Reason #3: I don't want to learn a new process

One of the biggest misconceptions about contracting is that you have to learn a whole new process to be able to do it. 

But you actually don't have to reinvent the wheel to offer contract staffing. When you use a contract staffing back-office, your process is essentially the same as it is for direct hires.  You get the job order. You recruit the candidates and set up phone interviews. You negotiate the candidate's pay rate and how much you will bill the client.  Once the basic recruiting tasks are handled, the back-office takes over. The back-office should handle all the legal, financial, and administrative tasks.

We often hear from recruiters how surprised they are at how easy contract staffing actually is. In fact, they often find contract placements are EASIER than direct-hire job orders.  For starters, they are usually dealing with the hiring manager rather than HR, which eliminates the middle man. In addition, contract placements usually happen quicker because hiring managers are simply looking for someone who can do the job rather than the "perfect fit." And the contract staffing back-office handles all the invoicing and collections, eliminating a major hassle of direct-hires.

We know the process can still seem a little daunting if you have never made a contract placement before, so we have created a Recruiter Training Center that has a number of tools to help recruiters get started, including our Contract Training Kit and our 15-minute Training Video.  

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