41 Questions to Ask the Company That Wants to Provide Your Temps

I have compiled a sampling of questions (from my book) to help you when interviewing a staffing service. Naturally, the areas that are most important to you and your company will drive which questions you need to ask.

If you are not in the market for a new staffing service, perhaps you may want to circle back to your present staffing service and clarify certain points with them, if they were not previously discussed.

How long has the staffing service been in business?
How many locations does the staffing service have?
Is the staffing service a family business or a partnership?
How many full-time employees does the staffing service have?
What is the staffing service turnover rate internally? (It should be lower than 40%.)
How many staffing service representatives handle temp placements?
How many clients does each temp placement representative handle?
What is the average length of experience for staffing service reps that place temps?
Does the staffing service specialize in any certain industries? If so, which ones?
How many clients does the staffing service have?
How does the staffing service gain new business?
Where does the staffing service business expect to be in two years? Five years?
Will the staffing service provide three business references in my industry?
What is the staffing service’s busy season? Slow season?
How does the staffing service increase their temp pool to meet increases in demand?
Explain the temp placement process when requests are placed.
What is the response time for “same day” temp requests?
Explain their “after hours” coverage should there be a new or last minute temp placement request?
Do account representatives carry smart phones?
Describe one of the staffing service’s toughest temp placement challenges.
What are their rates? Are they ever negotiable?
What type of satisfaction guarantee is there?
If dissatisfied with a temp’s performance, what are the remedies?
How often has the staffing service placed temps that were not satisfactory to a client?
What are some of the reasons for clients for why they found a temp to be dissatisfactory?
How does the staffing service handle ending assignments early when a temp is not performing as expected for a client?
What are some of the specific items that the staffing service offer temp coaching in?
Does the staffing service coach temps on the challenges unique to temps?
How does the staffing service ensure that temps are aware of sexual harassment and discrimination policies in the workplace?
How does the staffing service ensure that temps are aware of client technology policies?
How does the staffing service ensure that temps adhere to client confidentiality policies?
Does the staffing service place “temp to perm”?
What are the rates/guarantees for “temp to perm”?
Does the staffing service waive their placement fee when a temp goes to perm status, say after 90 days? If not, is that fee negotiable?
What percentage of temps does the staffing service place on short-term assignments?
What percentage of temps does the staffing service place on long-term assignments?
Describe the staffing service’s ideal client.
How often does the staffing service typically visit their clients on-site?
Why is this staffing service different/better than others?
If the staffing service were to pledge five things to a client, what would these be?
What is the one benefit clients should know about that this staffing service provides?