“You’re Fired!” – 3 Signs You Need to Fire Your Staffing Client

It can seem counterintuitive to think about firing a staffing client. Logically, it can appear that the more clients you have, the better off you’ll be, but that’s not always the case. Some relationships aren’t profitable enough and some business practices present insurmountable challenges.

Here are three signs that it may be time to send that client a pink slip.

They take a shotgun approach to staffing.

As a staffing provider, you serve your clients best when you are able to build a relationship and get to know their business in detail. If they farm out every job order to a dozen or more staffing vendors, you’re not really developing a partnership; you’re just trying to be faster than your competitors. Fast hires don’t always provide the best results. You will waste your time and damage your reputation by working with such clients.

They have unclear or unrealistic expectations.

If you have a client who doesn’t seem to know what they want or changes their qualifications mid-stream, you know how challenging it can be to meet their expectations. Once in a while for a particularly challenging position, this can be unavoidable (for example, if a client further narrows or broadens expectations once they’ve interviewed a few candidates). But if it’s a frequent occurrence, you can lose time and money spinning your wheels while the client makes up his mind. Unrealistic expectations are another challenge (A PhD who’ll work for $14 per hour – no problem!) but you can sometimes reset them in the course of the search.

They don’t treat your people well.

The candidates you are able to provide for your clients are one of your biggest assets, but unfortunately, some employers treat their temporary staff like second-class citizens. If you work with an employer who expects your employees to perform in unsafe working conditions, or engages in unscrupulous business practices such as telling them to do work outside the scope of their assignment or work off the clock, it will only harm your firm in the long run if you continue to do business with them.

Stack rank your clients.

There is a limit to the number of clients you can effectively service. Drop the bottom 10-20 percent of your client list and focus on the more profitable ones and the ones you have built strong business relationships with. The most valuable asset you have is your time, so you should carefully consider whether you are making the most of it.

Avionté can help you to analyze your data and determine which clients you should be doing business with to increase your profitability and protect your assets. We can help you weed out clients who are presenting your firm with challenges and who may be more trouble than they are worth.

We work with staffing and recruiting companies daily on finding and utilizing solutions and tools to help you focus on growing your recruiting firm. If you are interested in learning more about Avionté, or if you are looking for other resources for staffing firms, contact us today!