How staffing agencies can recognize placed candidates

A staffing or recruiting firm has more people to thank than its own staff. The candidates you place carry your name into every client’s building, and the clients who keep hiring through you decide whether the business grows.

Most appreciation programs are built around the internal staff list. Placed candidates sit outside it. Some are on your payroll for the length of an assignment; others move to the client’s payroll after a direct hire. Either way, they rarely get the attention your own team does, even though how they feel about your firm decides whether they work with you again and whether they send their friends.

Why it pays off

Good candidates are registered with several agencies, and the one that made them feel looked after is the one they call back first. They also talk. A placed worker who had a good experience tells the people they know who are looking for work, and few recruiting channels cost less than that.

Early weeks matter too. A candidate who walks off an assignment in the first month costs your client time and puts the account at risk. A small, well-timed gesture early in a placement will not keep someone in a job that does not fit, but it does tell them somebody at your firm is paying attention. Clients notice that as well. A firm that looks after the people it sends says something about the quality of those people.

The moments worth marking

You do not need to recognize everything. A few moments carry most of the value:

For clients, the strongest moments are a first hire through you, a renewal, and the holidays. The client holiday gifts post covers the December side.

A first-day gift, start to finish

Take one placement. A warehouse supervisor starts a twelve-week assignment on a Monday. Two weeks before her start date, the recruiter who placed her writes a short note: “Glad you said yes to this one. The team on second shift is great, and I am a call away if anything comes up.” A small box with coffee and snacks arrives at her home the weekend before she starts, with the note inside.

The recruiter spent two minutes on it. The candidate starts Monday knowing someone at the agency thought about her before she walked in, and the recruiter has a reason to call at the end of week one.

Keep candidates separate from your own staff

Your internal recruiters and account managers have their own birthdays, anniversaries, and budget. Placed candidates are a different relationship with a different purpose. Put them on one list and two things go wrong: the budgets blur, and sooner or later a candidate receives a message meant for your internal team.

Keep them as separate groups, each with its own budget and its own standard for each moment. If temps run through your own payroll, limit your payroll sync to your internal team by department or employment type, and track candidates as their own group. Reporting then means something: you can see what you spend on your team, on candidates, and on clients.

Mind the rules

A few things are specific to staffing:

• Client policies. Some clients do not want contractors receiving gifts on site, or limit what can be given. Send to the candidate’s home where you can.
• Recognize them as your firm. Gifts come from the agency, not on the client’s behalf.
• Taxes. Gifts to people on your payroll may count as taxable income. In the US, cash-equivalent gift cards are taxable rather than de minimis benefits. Check with your payroll or tax advisor before you set the standard.
• Short assignments. For brief placements, skip the long-tenure moments and focus on the first day and the end of the assignment.

Pick one moment to start

If you are starting from nothing, pick the moment with the clearest payoff. For most firms that is the first day of a placement, or the conversion to a permanent hire. Run it for a quarter, look at which candidates came back for another assignment, and add the next moment from there.

Thankscrate keeps placed candidates as contacts, apart from your employees, so a first-day gift goes out without touching your staff list. See how customer appreciation works.