Is your staffing firm booming, but your team is struggling to fill all your clients’ orders? Does it feel like you’ve run into a brick wall? As a staffing leader, if you’ve done everything you can to grow your talent pipeline, it may be time to expand your business and explore options out of state – or even out of the country!
In a recent episode of The JourneyUP podcast, we chatted with Brad Semotiuk, president of Pure Staffing Solutions, a leading employment agency in Canada. Brad has successfully scaled his Canadian business to a second location in India and provided us with some with great insight about how to effectively and efficiently grow a staffing business offshore to fill increasing client demands.
Whether your goal is to expand your staffing firm, or you’ve simply tossed around the idea, there are some important things to keep in mind before you take the leap:
Establish your key reasons and goals for expansion.
Before launching your firm into new territory, it’s best to take a step back and do an honest assessment of your goals by asking yourself these types of questions: Do I need to find more workers for skilled trades, such as manufacturing and construction? Am I finding it difficult to recruit enough talent where I currently am? Where is the best area for me to reach my recruitment goals and better serve the needs of my clients? Identifying opportunities to strategically grow your talent pool is the first step to expanding your firm’s presence in a way that’s in the best interest of both your employees and clients.
Put the right leadership team into place.
Without the right team on the ground, it’s nearly impossible to successfully manage a second office location miles away, let alone in another country. Typically, during a transition of this nature, it’s important to hire someone who can work in a strong leadership capacity and serve as the main point of contact or liaison between your two offices.
As you expand your firm, Brad explains the importance of continual networking and in-depth interviewing until you find the right person. In Brad’s case, he received candidate recommendations from some of his employees based in Toronto who had contacts in India, where he was hoping to establish another office. By tapping into the networks of your existing employees, you can often find leaders with similar management skill sets and areas of expertise to grow your second team.
Be committed to keeping company culture as consistent as possible.
One of the biggest challenges for establishing a second location is keeping company culture consistent. While work environments and cultural norms will naturally vary by geographic region, it’s critical to streamline things like your hiring processes and employee benefits so they’re aligned with the mission of your company. You may, however, need to make some adjustments to your operational protocols and policies to ensure compliance with your new setting. For example, workplace policies vary state to state, and country to country. Being aware of how they differ and complying with new regulations will prevent you from experiencing major roadblocks along the way.
As you explore your firm’s growth options, following the practices above will significantly help you in the expansion process. Above all else, the key to successful growth is to focus your energy and attention on what matters most – your people, values, and mission.
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About TrackerRMS
TrackerRMS is a leading recruitment agency software designed for the SMB Staffing company. Our industry-leading ATS technology will help you recruit faster and more efficiently. With over 20 years of experience, our candidate relationship management software is built with you, the staffing professional in mind.
-Taylor Dorton; Head of Implementation