Avoid the 7 costly mistakes ...you are unwittingly making which cost you £1000s when hiring temporary contractorsEngaging with today’s talent to create tomorrow’s success.

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#FindAmazingTalent

Time is money, no doubt about that.

Your production levels have picked up and you need some temporary staff to get your orders complete and keep your customers happy by completing projects on time. Like most things there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things.

But, how do you find the RIGHT temporary staff? In this whitepaper, the top 7 business mistakes engineering professionals are continually making are revealed, plus proven tips to make sure YOU don’t fall into the same traps.

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Mistake One

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Choosing the agency that keeps calling you, thinking that they’ll be able to offer you the right tem-porary engineering staff for your business. Just because they keep calling does not mean they are the right choice for you.

Identify a specialist consultancy that has expert knowledge in your specific engineering sector. You need to be able to speak to knowledgeable consultants who understand exactly what you require. This will save you valuable time because once they have taken a detailed job specification from you, they will be able to deliver you the right candidate first time.

Tip: Ask - what businesses in my industry do you work with? Tell me what experience you have recruiting for this type of person before, and what success you have had recently?

Mistake TWO

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Hiring temporary staff that turn out not to have the correct skills for the job. How annoying and what a waste of your time. You’ve tried to train them and it’s clear that they just haven’t got the right training on your machines for the type of work needed. Now you have to go through the hassle of replacing them.

Use a straight forward four or five MUST HAVE tick list for the work you need doing. An external re-cruiter should ask you this at a minimum and should LISTEN and UNDERSTAND what you are saying and know why it is important. The more detail you give the consultant the better understanding they will have of what you need, and the more likely they will supply you with the exactly the right con-struction worker, first time.

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Tip: Organise a simple list of the different skills the person needs experience of to complete the tasks. Have an easy scoring sys-tem to measure the candidate’s level of understanding and ex-pect their previous work history to back it up.

Mistake three

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Hiring temporary staff that have not been pre-referenced before you trust them to do the job. Oh dear, more of your time wasted. The temporary staff you’ve been supplied with will turn out to be to-tally unsuitable. You have to fix the problem leaving you less time to deal with other issues. They have created a pile of scrap metal that has cost you money!

Always get references on the people that you take on, even if it is for a short time period. By checking out temporary worker’s backgrounds with previous production managers, and how well they have worked with other engineers and contractors in the past, any issues likely to happen can be avoided. All agency suppliers should have this as part of their on-going process.

Tip: Ask who their direct line manager was at interview, and call them as soon as the interview ends. If it’s through a recruit-er then they should have referenced them and fed back to you what was said. It’s not whether they turned up every day that’s the most important question, it’s how well they did the same type of work that you need doing.

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Mistake four

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Not hiring locally sourced people. Hiring temporary engineering staff who live a long distance away is a short term fix that is likely to cause you issues. If problems arise, the further away contractors live, the more likely they are not to complete the assignment. In a busy market your competitors in other towns will need the same skills as you.

Always try to use local temporary staff where possible. By using a specialist engineering recruiter that has access to a large database of engineering talent across the country will ensure that you get the best there is at the time in your local area.

Tip: Expect a call at two points during the week to let you know all is well. A good recruitment supplier will manage any problems and keep you aware of any potential time off or the need to re-place the worker.

Mistake fiveHiring temporary staff that don’t turn up on time and don’t communicate if they are running late or need time off. Great, you need the work sent out to your client and they aren’t in. If they don’t turn up when they are supposed to, then there is no point of using them; wasting everybody’s (especially your) time. More hassle!

you can avoid thisBy using a consultancy that consistently and constantly liaises with its temporary workers, minimises the confusion, and reduces the chances of temporary engineering staff not turning up for work. Your recruiter should be checking at the start, middle and end of the week to manage anything that can get in the way of getting the job done.

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Mistake six

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Taking on temporary engineering staff without testing the skills they have - and not getting proof that they can actually DO THE JOB to the skill level required.

Use a specialist engineering consultancy that offers you a WORKING INTERVIEW. This will prove that their temporary engineering workforce are of the standard you need. You will then KNOW how suita-ble the engineering worker is before you take them on.

Mistake sevenYou lose your temporary staff to other companies at short notice. Blooming marvellous! Just when you have them trained and hitting production schedules, they go off to a better paying job for an-other 30p an hour.

you can avoid thisBy using a recruiter who knows the local market, can keep you aware of your competitors pay rates and how likely staff are to go there due to commuting distances and demand.

Tip: Most engineering recruiters will offer this as part of their guarantee and will not charge you if the worker can’t do the job. Carry out the interviews at the end of the shift when you have the time to check their work and not let it effect your production schedules.

Tip: Get your recruiter to put in place a notice period stipulation in their temporary contract with the worker. It might not stop them leaving, but it will give you a few days notice to get a re-placement so it doesn’t effect production.

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