Situation

A human resource professional assumed a new position as director of compensation and benefits for a major investment banking company. She quickly determined that to move the organization forward, she needed to restructure two departments under her supervision. That would require adding new human resource professionals to her team, but the demands of her position required that she focus her management efforts on pressing priorities that precluded devoting her precious time to the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring process for multiple positions. She realized that she needed the help of a staffing firm.

Solution

Because of her specialized requirements for highly qualified human resource professionals with expertise in compensation, benefits, and pension administration, she turned to a member of the American Staffing Association that focuses on providing staffing solutions in the human resource occupational arena. After discussing various recruitment and hiring options with the staffing firm, she determined that temp-to-hire arrangements would be the best approach for filling her needs. This type of arrangement would allow both the candidate and the hiring manager to determine whether the match was a good fit and mutually beneficial. The candidate would have the opportunity to try out the job and experience the work environment first-hand to see if the position would be personally satisfying before making an ongoing employment commitment. Similarly, the hiring manager would be able to directly observe the performance of the candidate in the job setting to more accurately assess demonstrated skills and evaluate how the candidate fits within the organization before extending an employment offer.

Results

The staffing firm presented qualified candidates and, using the temp-to-hire arrangement, the director of compensation and benefits eventually engaged five experienced human resource professionals as employees of the investment banking company.