Hi All, I went through various sites to understand the difference between staffing and recruitment. The more I read about it, the more confused I became in understanding the difference.
Understanding Recruitment and Staffing
The term recruitment is clear, but regarding staffing, some sites refer to it as looking at the entire employment cycle from onboarding to exit. Others mention it as filling a temporary position in the organization or hiring. Can you please help me understand the term staffing? Additionally, what is the difference between recruitment and staffing agencies? What do staffing agencies do?
Clarifying Talent Acquisition
Also, could you help me understand the term talent acquisition? This term also has different definitions on the web. Some refer to it as acquiring talent (recruitment & hiring) activities, while others describe it as involving hiring, training, development, and retaining employees.
Regards, HRbuff
From India, New Delhi
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3Understanding Recruitment and Staffing
The term recruitment is clear, but regarding staffing, some sites refer to it as looking at the entire employment cycle from onboarding to exit. Others mention it as filling a temporary position in the organization or hiring. Can you please help me understand the term staffing? Additionally, what is the difference between recruitment and staffing agencies? What do staffing agencies do?
Clarifying Talent Acquisition
Also, could you help me understand the term talent acquisition? This term also has different definitions on the web. Some refer to it as acquiring talent (recruitment & hiring) activities, while others describe it as involving hiring, training, development, and retaining employees.
Regards, HRbuff
From India, New Delhi
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Understanding Recruitment and Staffing
Recruitment is a conscious process, defining the key skills for the role, the educational qualifications, and past experience, if any, required. Then choose the method of inviting applications. Check for the necessary qualifications within the organization. This will prove to be very effective as a background check on the individual is made very easy. For external applications, the assistance of placement consultants/agencies, the internet, an advertisement in the newspaper, or the company website, in case of a company enjoying a good brand image, can be adopted. Upon receipt of the applications, the organization performs screening and shortlisting of the applications that have the basic skills required for the job. Then inform the candidates about the recruitment process, which might involve a written test and an interview. The interviewer should be able to get the required answers from the candidate without cornering him/her. There ends the recruitment process.
The Role of Staffing
Staffing, on the other hand, exists through every stage of the employee's journey in the organization. Once the candidate and his/her role are finalized, identify the individual's skills and compare them with the skills required for the task, measure the difference, and then bridge the gap through proper training. Training makes an individual competent to face the task before him/her. The staffing function also includes promotions, demotions, and terminations of staff. The path up the career ladder must be blueprinted and well communicated. A good performance appraisal system helps in the identification of the key players who are crucial to the attainment of the organizational objectives. Promotion, better monetary and non-monetary remuneration/rewards, etc., with prospects for the accomplishment of their personal growth, helps in retaining them in the long run. But at times, poorly performing employees need to be identified to improve their talent, and if it fails, demoting or even forcing them to terminate the job.
Recruiting/Search/Headhunter Firms
Recruiting/search/headhunter firms primarily provide qualified candidates to their clients for "perm" positions. The search firm is usually paid by the client an hourly fee for their services. Note that the client may be either the employer or the employee/candidate himself/herself.
Understanding Staffing Agencies
Staffing agencies primarily supply supplemental staff to their clients (commonly referred to as a contract assignment). How different clients utilize supplemental staff varies greatly. Some only utilize them to cover fluctuating workloads, some utilize them for a specific project, and some for identified periods (multiple years). Staffing agencies also provide candidates for "perm" positions as listed above. There is even the contract to "perm" arrangement that is very popular with many clients in that they get to "try before they buy" (in other words, see if the candidate is a good fit prior to making the candidate a "perm" employee). In today's HR world, this gets more popular all the time. The client usually pays the agency an hourly fee for their services.
What is Talent Acquisition?
Talent acquisition is an ongoing cycle of processes that starts by building the employer brand, communicating the employee value proposition, and maintaining ongoing relationships with targeted talent segments. This approach leads to the development of talent pools and pipelines, eventually creating a sustainable talent supply chain. Talent acquisition is geared towards anticipated demand and typical hiring needs. This leads to a more strategic nature of the approach and significant improvements across all recruitment KPIs (key performance indicators).
Regards
From Bangladesh
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Recruitment is a conscious process, defining the key skills for the role, the educational qualifications, and past experience, if any, required. Then choose the method of inviting applications. Check for the necessary qualifications within the organization. This will prove to be very effective as a background check on the individual is made very easy. For external applications, the assistance of placement consultants/agencies, the internet, an advertisement in the newspaper, or the company website, in case of a company enjoying a good brand image, can be adopted. Upon receipt of the applications, the organization performs screening and shortlisting of the applications that have the basic skills required for the job. Then inform the candidates about the recruitment process, which might involve a written test and an interview. The interviewer should be able to get the required answers from the candidate without cornering him/her. There ends the recruitment process.
The Role of Staffing
Staffing, on the other hand, exists through every stage of the employee's journey in the organization. Once the candidate and his/her role are finalized, identify the individual's skills and compare them with the skills required for the task, measure the difference, and then bridge the gap through proper training. Training makes an individual competent to face the task before him/her. The staffing function also includes promotions, demotions, and terminations of staff. The path up the career ladder must be blueprinted and well communicated. A good performance appraisal system helps in the identification of the key players who are crucial to the attainment of the organizational objectives. Promotion, better monetary and non-monetary remuneration/rewards, etc., with prospects for the accomplishment of their personal growth, helps in retaining them in the long run. But at times, poorly performing employees need to be identified to improve their talent, and if it fails, demoting or even forcing them to terminate the job.
Recruiting/Search/Headhunter Firms
Recruiting/search/headhunter firms primarily provide qualified candidates to their clients for "perm" positions. The search firm is usually paid by the client an hourly fee for their services. Note that the client may be either the employer or the employee/candidate himself/herself.
Understanding Staffing Agencies
Staffing agencies primarily supply supplemental staff to their clients (commonly referred to as a contract assignment). How different clients utilize supplemental staff varies greatly. Some only utilize them to cover fluctuating workloads, some utilize them for a specific project, and some for identified periods (multiple years). Staffing agencies also provide candidates for "perm" positions as listed above. There is even the contract to "perm" arrangement that is very popular with many clients in that they get to "try before they buy" (in other words, see if the candidate is a good fit prior to making the candidate a "perm" employee). In today's HR world, this gets more popular all the time. The client usually pays the agency an hourly fee for their services.
What is Talent Acquisition?
Talent acquisition is an ongoing cycle of processes that starts by building the employer brand, communicating the employee value proposition, and maintaining ongoing relationships with targeted talent segments. This approach leads to the development of talent pools and pipelines, eventually creating a sustainable talent supply chain. Talent acquisition is geared towards anticipated demand and typical hiring needs. This leads to a more strategic nature of the approach and significant improvements across all recruitment KPIs (key performance indicators).
Regards
From Bangladesh
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Thank you, Asif, for the clear and concise explanation of each term. It seems that the staffing agency does not engage in the core activities of staffing such as promotion, demotion, competency development, and retaining employees, but rather focuses more on providing resources on a contractual basis.
Regards,
From India, New Delhi
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Regards,
From India, New Delhi
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