The Staffing & Recruiting industry has four distinct segments.
Employment placement agencies list employment vacancies and place permanent employees. Temporary help services also referred to as temporary staffing agencies, provide employees, on a contract basis and for a limited time, to clients in need of workers to supplement their labor force. Executive search services, sometimes referred to as “headhunters,” provide search, recruitment, and placement services for clients with specific executive and senior management needs. Professional employer organizations are engaged in providing human resources and human resources management services to staff client businesses. They also may share responsibility as a co-employer of workers to provide a cost-effective approach to the management and administration of the human resources functions of their clients.
The typical employment placement agency has a relatively small permanent staff, usually fewer than 10 workers, who interview jobseekers and try to match their qualifications and skills to those being sought by employers for specific job openings.
In contrast to the smaller employment placement agencies, temporary help agencies typically employ many more workers. Temporary help services firms provide temporary employees to other businesses to support or supplement their workforce in special situations, such as employee absences, temporary skill shortages, and varying seasonal workloads. Temporary workers are employed and paid by the temporary help services firm but are contracted out to a client for either a prearranged fee or an agreed hourly wage. Some companies choose to use temporary workers full time on an ongoing basis, rather than employ permanent staff, who typically would receive greater salaries and benefits. As a result, the overwhelming majority of workers in the temporary help services segment of the employment services industry are temporary workers; relatively few are permanent staff.
Executive search consulting firms work to locate the best candidates for top-level management and executive positions. Clients hire executive recruiters to save time and preserve confidentiality. Executive search firms keep a large database of executives’ resumes and search this database to identify and assess candidates who are likely to complement a client’s corporate culture and strategic plan. Information on these candidates is then submitted to the client for their selection. Executive search consulting firms conduct prescreening interviews as well as reference and background checks. Some executive search consulting firms specialize in recruiting for a particular industry or geographic area; other firms conduct general searches.
Professional employer organizations specialize in performing a wide range of human resource and personnel management duties for their clients, including payroll processing, accounting, benefits administration, recruiting, and labor relations. Employee leasing establishments are a type of professional employer organization that typically specialize in acquiring and leasing back some or all of the employees of their clients; they serve as the employer of the leased employees to administrate payroll, benefits, and related functions.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
NAICS Code: 5416B - Human Resources/Executive Search Consulting
