Blogs

Temp-to-perm conversions are the hidden profit center of industrial staffing. You’ve already done the work—sourced the candidate, screened them, placed them, managed payroll. When a client converts a temp to permanent, you get a placement fee on top of your markup. But too many agencies treat conversions as happy accidents rather than a systematic revenue strategy. Here’s how to make temp-to-perm work for you. Why Temp-to-Perm Matters More Than Ever The Economics Let’s break down why conversions are so valuable: ...

Skills Assessments That Actually Predict Job Performance in Trade Staffing Every staffing agency has made this placement: candidate interviews well, claims 10 years of experience, passes the drug test—and can’t perform basic tasks on day one. The client calls. The relationship strains. The candidate gets removed. This happens because interviews assess communication skills, not trade skills. And in blue-collar staffing, the job is the skill. Skills assessments can solve this problem, but only if you use the right ones. Many assessments test abstract abilities that don’t correlate with actual job performance. Others create friction that drives away good candidates. ...

Every staffing agency tracks time-to-fill. Most measure it wrong. They start the clock at different points, compare apples to oranges across job types, and celebrate “improvement” that actually masks problems. Then they wonder why faster fills don’t translate to higher profits. Here’s how to measure time-to-fill correctly—and which metrics actually predict agency success. Why Time-to-Fill Gets Measured Wrong Time-to-fill is simple in theory: how long does it take to fill a job? But agencies define it inconsistently: ...

Your clients are asking about diversity. Government contracts increasingly require it. And meanwhile, you’re struggling to fill positions from a pool that’s 96% male. Here’s the reality: recruiting women for trade jobs isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a competitive advantage if you do it well. The agencies that figure this out will win contracts and fill positions their competitors can’t. This guide covers what actually works, based on agencies successfully placing women in trades roles. ...

The CHIPS and Science Act is rewriting the map of American manufacturing. Intel is building $20 billion fabs in Ohio. TSMC is bringing $40 billion to Arizona. Samsung is investing $17 billion in Texas. Micron is committing $100 billion over two decades. All of these projects need workers—thousands of them. And semiconductor fabs don’t hire like traditional manufacturing. If your staffing agency wants a piece of this market, you need to understand how fab hiring actually works. ...

You found them. They were qualified. They seemed interested. Then nothing. No response to your voicemail. No reply to your email. Radio silence when you text. They’re gone—and you’re left wondering what happened. Candidate ghosting costs the average staffing agency $50,000-150,000 per year in lost placements. And for agencies placing blue-collar workers, the problem is worse. Here’s why it happens and what actually fixes it. How Bad Is the Ghosting Problem? Let’s put numbers on it. ...

Every staffing agency hits the same wall. You’ve called everyone in your database twice. Your job boards are giving you the same tired candidates. And your recruiters are spending 80% of their time sourcing instead of placing. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most agencies don’t have a sourcing problem. They have a pipeline problem. The agencies that consistently fill roles aren’t lucky—they’ve built systems that generate candidates 24/7, even when their recruiters are sleeping. ...

5 Metrics Every Staffing Agency Should Track Daily You know how many placements you made last month. You know your gross margin. You might even know your fill rate. But here’s the problem: those are lagging indicators. By the time they look bad, the damage is already done. The agencies crushing it in 2026 are tracking different metrics—leading indicators that tell them today what their results will look like next month. Here are the five metrics that actually matter, and what good numbers look like. ...