Employee retention is a problem for many businesses around the country. Nearly 60% list it as a big issue for them. A whopping 22% of new hires quit or are fired within 45 days of starting with a company. The reasons are often listed as being poor performance or temperament. It is clearly hard for companies to find and retain good people and the result is costly to the businesses and the economy as a whole. This is one reason many are turning to an executive placement agency or another to get them people they need when they need them.

7 Tips for Hiring the Right Executive Placement Agency:

1. Determine what your needs are. Do you need to staff up quickly for a project and then go back to your current workforce level? Do you need to find people for the long term? Answering that question should be your first step in finding the right executive placement agency. Different agencies have different specialties and skill sets.
2. Do you need certain skills or certifications? Write up a very detailed job description for the jobs you are looking to hire for. This is incredibly important. You need to be able to let the executive placement agency know what you need. If you need people who are trained on certain software or certified to do certain things, you have to make that very clear. Think through, in as much detail as you can, what the person will be doing every day. This will help  the human resource staffing firm to find the exact kinds of people you want.
3. Ask your friends, relatives and others. You probably know at least a few people who either work in the same industry as you or who own similar businesses. If they have had to hire people, they may have used human resources executive search firms and can steer you in the right direction. Getting personal recommendations is always the best way to find good services from executive staffing agencies to just about everything else.
4. Ask about the firm’s benefits, pay rate and retention. The last may not tell you much about the executive placement agency. If they are really good at finding temporary to permanent hire positions, they will not have a lot of employees who have been there a long time. You do need to know how well they treat their workforce. You need to make sure that the human resources executive search firms you talk to are attracting the kinds of staff you want to have working for and representing you.
5. Ask about what kinds of training programs they offer their people. It has been shown that employees who are trained well and offered more opportunities to advance their careers with training are happier at work. They work harder and longer and are better employees overall. This also shows a commitment to their workforce and to hiring and retaining good workers.
6. What are their rates? A good executive placement agency will have a transparent billing system that does not have hidden fees and costs. Ask about what they do if you do hire someone for a permanent position that they found if that person leaves too soon after starting with your company. This has been known to happen and you should know what the policy if that happens to you.
7. Find a placement agency with experience with your industry. If you are a law firm or a medical practice, you need to find people who have been trained in those fields. There are agencies that specialize in specific industries. Make sure the company you go with has a lot of experience placing people from your industry.

Your staff are a direct reflection of you, your company and your brand. You need to make sure you hire the right people. You can do certain things to keep the right staff once you find them and going with a great placement agency is one way to get started with that.