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Firms take harder look at temp hires

By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff, 5/4/03

Globe Staff Photo/John Tlumacki Ryan Robbins, placement and media specialist, and Laurie Johnson, director of the Skill Bureau, review a tape of applicant Alan T. Chappelear.

In the late 1990s, just about anyone who wanted a long-term temporary or contract job could find one fast. Not anymore.

With recent college graduates and laid off professionals competing for short- and long-term assignments, staffing firms are searching for the best and brightest these days. The reason: US employers are tightening spending, shedding workers, and paying closer attention to budgets for temporary and contract work.

''Clients are very well educated in this market and they are hiring accordingly,'' said Fran Goldstein, a certified personnel consultant and president of Gold Staff Consultants Inc. in Woburn. ''They know there are more job seekers than jobs available, and they are screening much more thoroughly. Each hire is taken more seriously now in terms of headcount and overhead costs than ever before. The termination of a temp has budgetary consequences that were not looked at as closely before.''

In a push to promote their best temps and boost business, some staffing firms are offering perks such as specialized training, guaranteed job placements, and other benefits, as well as enhanced services to employers.

Take the Professional Staffing Group, a Boston firm that places administrative and professional workers. It offers customized training to employers interested in hiring temps to fill a particular need. Under the program, a group of temps are taught the employer's system of working before they arrive on the job.

The company, whose temporary placements range from office staff to graphic design, editing, financial services and other professional fields for the academic, healthcare, and financial markets, also guarantees 35 hours of weekly employment at a set rate of pay to its best temps - a perk some firms began offering in the late 1990s and later discontinued. The perk works like this: If business is slow, Professional Staffing Group hires a select group of temps to work in its own office or for a nonprofit agency and then pays the tab. The temps - part of an elite pool of contingent workers - are guaranteed placement at corporate sites when jobs roll in.

''These are our best people,'' said Aaron Green, president of the staffing firm. ''We do this to keep them from going to another staffing firm. In this way, we're able to capture the talent, so to speak.''

Steve Berchem, vice president of the American Staffing Association, isn't surprised. He said many firms have developed ingenious ways to attract business or enhance existing services to stand in a bleak market. ''Companies are trying to find new orders and anything they can do to get attention from prospective clients or customers is attractive,'' he said.

A recent report on industry profits and revenues explains why. Last year, annual sales for temporary staffing services were $55.2 billion, down from 1.8 percent in 2001, according to the association. Additionally, 2.1 million temporary or contract employees worked for US staffing firms in 2002, down from 5.7 percent in 2001.

To showcase its pool of college-educated and skilled workers, The Skill Bureau, a Boston staffing company, started marketing administrative and clerical temps by showing short, prerecorded interviews on the company's website. The service, which began April 1, is being touted in a company brochure as a free option that gives prospective employers the chance to see - and screen - potential candidates before meeting them face to face.

Tammy Yu, office manager at DiCicco Gulman, a Boston certified public accounting firm, said being able to view applicants online made it easier to select a candidate to fill a temporary administrative job. ''I did not have time to go through a lot of resumes,'' said Yu. ''It was easier to look at the videos first and then pick an applicant.''

Yu hired Becky McMenamin, 25, of Somerville, for the position and then, after two weeks, offered McMenamin full-time work assembling tax returns. The video interview allowed Yu to assess the candidate's communication skills, appearance, and body language on the spot without having to sit through a face-to-face interview.

McMenamin is among thousands of college graduates who have turned to temping at a time when many employers are limiting college recruiting. ''College graduates are taking temporary jobs or night jobs to get their careers underway,'' said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm that tracks workplace trends. ''With the market so tight, some professionals are also looking for ways to make ends meet and get their foot in the door.''

In 1999, after graduating from Rosemont College in Pennsylvania with a degree in history and a 3.95 grade point average, McMenamin quickly found a job at an established Boston area travel agency with online and retail sites. ''I came to Boston on a Saturday, looked at the ads in the newspaper, applied for work and was hired on the spot,'' she recalled.

Four years later, the travel agency went out of business. McMenamin lost her job in March. Her rent was almost due on the Somerville apartment she shares with three roommates, and she was worried about her finances. Shortly after, she agreed to participate in a video interview at The Skill Bureau.

In an increasingly competitive labor market, McMenamin's bout with joblessness is echoed in union halls and employment offices across the country. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics show that close to 2 million workers have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks, nearly triple the number recorded three years ago.

Meanwhile, a fall 2002 survey of 347 employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in Pennsylvania found that, on average, employers planned to hire 3.6 percent fewer graduating college seniors this year than last year, when campus hiring dropped 36 percent.

The survey also shows that reduced campus hiring for the class of 2003 will be highest among those business sectors that have been pummeled by the current downturn.

Given the competition, Goldstein advises graduates seeking temporary or contract placements to be flexible, open-minded, and ''really demonstrate motivation'' when seeking a temp assignment. ''If they are torn between collecting unemployment and temping and they verbalize that, they will not be at the top of the list,'' she said. ''Right now, the name of the game is staying in the marketplace to keep skills fresh.''

Like other firms, Goldstein's company is offering additional services to market top applicants and build clientele. ''We spend extra intentional time preparing the client and the candidate for the interview,'' she said. ''We will spend anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes reviewing the job, its scope, its specs, and the company. We expect the candidate in this market to do their own research. Five to ten years ago, we spoon-fed candidates - we took responsibility for educating them about the clients. Now, we expect them to learn about the client's revenue, product, industry, trends, growth, and its VIPs.''

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.

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