5 Best Staffing and Temp Agencies in Augusta, GA

May 7, 2024
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Hady ElHady
5 Best Staffing and Temp Agencies in Augusta, GA

Augusta, Georgia is a leading destination for medicine, biotechnology, and cybersecurity. A number of big names do business here, including Textron, Ferrara, Cardinal Health, Thermal Ceramics, Starbucks, Electrolux, and Nutrien. A diversified industry, attractive housing values, and a perfect mix of nature and history make Augusta a desirable place to live. As the city sits on I-20 between Atlanta and Columbia, it is well-connected to every major highway of the Southeastern Interstate, and close to the ports of Savannah and Charleston.

If you're a newly established business in Augusta or plan to open an office here, hiring talent quickly is likely to be a priority. There is a good choice of temp agencies in Augusta GA. You should have no problem meeting your hiring objectives and getting your business off the ground. To the question, "Which are the top Augusta GA temp agencies?'', we explore a few in this post.

If you're a recruiter working for a temp staffing agency or a business, you can increase your chances of achieving a perfect job-candidate fit with HiPeople, an AI-powered candidate assessment and reference checks platform. We briefly explain the advantages of HiPeople in this post.

What is a Staffing Agency?

A staffing agency recruits employees for businesses that are looking to fill certain positions. These could be temporary jobs, temp-to-hire jobs where employers first determine workers' long-term fit with their company, and direct hire jobs to fill permanent positions.

A staffing agency will have a vast pool of available and suitable candidates in its database. In case the candidates you're seeking are unavailable in the agency's talent pool, it will advertise the position on job boards or implement marketing and outreach campaigns to find job seekers or even passive employees who're the right fit for the role.

The agency conducts interviews and background checks. Once the right candidate is identified, they are hired as an employee of the temp agency Augusta GA, except in case of direct hire positions. The staffing agency handles the candidate's paychecks and benefits (if offered). But you determine the length of employment. Staffing agencies offer a replacement guarantee - in case you're unhappy with the candidate, the agency will replace the initial hire with a new candidate at no extra cost.

Staffing agencies' talent pool consists of qualified and competent job seekers. It's a misconception that staffing and temp agencies attract lower-quality candidates. There are top talent who value flexibility and experienced workers who may be trying to enter a different field and looking to gain experience in temp positions before making the leap to permanent job roles.

Advantages of Using a Staffing Agency for Your Augusta business

Staffing and temp agencies Augusta, GA are a valuable partner to businesses seeking part-time, temporary, and freelance talent. They enable businesses to have a flexible workforce, filling workforce gaps as and when needed. Take a look at the benefits of using temp agencies Augusta GA:

Hire quickly

The hiring process has become longer and more difficult. Staffing agencies help you find good talent quickly, saving time on going through resumes and interviewing candidates.

Access niche skills

If you're struggling to hire someone with niche skills, a staffing firm can make life easier for you. Specialized staffing firms are your best bet for filling niche positions in your industry or contracting workers with specialized, high-demand skills for a project.

Build a fluid workforce

Businesses have come to understand the benefits that a fluid workforce offers. Tapping into specialized expertise as needed, not having to make long-term financial commitments, and scaling up or downsizing as required, are all possible with a staffing agency partner.

Reduce risk

Staffing firms are generally considered the full legal employer of the temporary associates they place with clients aka the employer of record. They take on the legal responsibilities of an employer and also assume financial liabilities that arise when an employee unexpectedly quits.

What to Keep in Mind Before Using a Staffing Agency?

It's important to consider a few points when you engage a staffing agency:

Note the annual salary fee

Staffing agencies have a bill rate, which is the amount you pay to the company for the services of a temporary worker. It includes the pay rate (the amount the staffing agency pays the temporary worker) and the markup (the additional cost the agency charges for its services). This cost can still be lesser than having an in-house HR team, when you consider every team member's annual salary. Factoring in the investment of resource, effort, and time in hiring each team member, you're likely to save more by using a staffing agency.

You're the best judge of culture fit

A staffing agency will first understand your business and requirements. But you know your business best, and the ideal fit as far as workplace culture is concerned. HiPeople is a solution, providing personality and culture tests to gauge candidates' attitudes, ethics, communication style, and other characteristics, to allow for better selections.

Partner with the best staffing agencies

There is a small risk that the staffing firm's engagement with candidates will leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, while you can control your hiring process and experience, you cannot do so for the staffing provider you hire. In case of a negative candidate experience, even your company can look bad.

The best Augusta staffing companies deliver a positive candidate experience, even soliciting and acting on feedback from candidates throughout the hiring process. Let's now look at the top staffing and temp agencies in Augusta.

Top 5 Staffing and Temp Agencies in Augusta, GA

When you decide to use a staffing agency, consider the following:

  • Be certain on the kind of workers you want and communicate your requirements clearly to the staffing agency.
  • Determine whether you want full-time employees or flexible, on-demand workers.
  • Identify agencies that fit your budget.
  • Go through draft contracts and paperwork to know your legal requirements.
  • Retain sufficient control over your hiring process even as you rely on the staffing agency's recruiters.

With this, let's see the top staffing agencies in Augusta.

1. GPS Staffing

GPS Staffing

Global Personnel Solutions, Inc. (GPS) is a premier staffing firm with a presence throughout the Southeast and a corporate office in Augusta. The woman-owned, certified minority-owned business has been providing staffing solutions for the past 37 years to clients in the manufacturing, education, technology, and public sectors. The agency has a diverse clientele of large organizations, including Fortune 500 companies such as Berkshire Hathaway, Proctor and Gamble, Monsanto, and Electrolux, and small businesses. It has also provided services to some of Georgia's largest educational and healthcare systems and Savannah River Site, one of the country's largest nuclear facilities.

GPS Staffing provides personalized service and brings to the table a deep understanding of local job markets. The firm handles employee search, screening, and placement and payroll processes.

2. Spherion

Spherion

Spherion is a national recruiting and staffing company that has been providing companies with workforce solutions for 78 years. It has a presence in 36 states and 200 franchise offices across the US, including one in Augusta. Spherion puts over 75,000 employees to work each year and helps more than 4000 clients annually.

The staffing firm serves companies in a number of industries, including administrative and clerical, light industrial, non-clinical healthcare, accounting and finance, engineering and manufacturing, hospitality, sales and marketing, and information technology. Separate Spherion Technology offices help fill technology jobs in Augusta GA, including for roles such as full stack developers, business analysts, UX/UI coders, help desk attendants, and project managers.

Spherion provides flexible staffing, temp-to-hire, and direct placements. Its on-premise solution offers dedicated on-site support for your workforce needs while its managed staffing solution handles the administrative and technology functions of hiring, allowing you to focus on recruiting, hiring, and managing your team more effectively.

3. Kudzu Staffing

Kudzu Staffing

In business since 2016, Kudzu Staffing provides temp and staffing solutions to companies in various industries, including construction, manufacturing, skilled trade, warehouse, and clerical; to school districts; and to healthcare companies, providing substitute teachers, certified nurse substitutes, grounds crew, registered nurses, certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, and more. It maintains a comprehensive database of qualified and reliable professionals.

Kudzu puts candidates through a background screen and five-panel drug screen, and conducts reference checks on at least two of their previous employers. The firm offers an employee satisfaction guarantee - if the individual they provide is not the best fit for your requirements, you can contact the agency within four hours of the hire and you will not be charged.

Kudzu has received rave reviews from clients, who vouch for the staffing firm's reliable candidate selection processes, ability to deliver on short notice, as well as their ability to adapt their trainings to clients' needs. Clients are also impressed with how the firm's recruiters go above and beyond to serve them even during last minute call outs or non-business hours.

4. Express Employment Professionals

Express Employment Professionals

Founded in 1983, Express Employment Professionals connects employers with qualified workers in the light industrial, office services, skilled trades, and professional sectors, including accounting and finance, IT, engineering and manufacturing, marketing and advertising, human resources, and legal. The agency verifies candidates' application information, conducts interviews and skills evaluation, confirms job experiences and references, and matches candidates to clients' needs.

Express Employment Professional provides workforce management tools, including time and attendance systems and reports on staffing usage by department, timeframe, or skill type. The firm has won several plaudits, including an induction into Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 Hall of Fame, a feature in America's Greatest Workplace for Diversity by Newsweek, and a mention in Forbes' list of America's Best Professional Recruiting Firms.

5. First Step Staffing

First Step Staffing

First Step Staffing offers temp-to-hire and direct hire solutions in the light industrial, healthcare, administrative, and call center industries. The agency's direct-to-hire program is for HR teams that are struggling to keep up with growing hiring demands. First Step leverages its deep talent pipeline to bring you the most qualified candidates. The firm also helps in filling difficult management roles with expertise and speed.

Thanks to its large pool of trained personnel, First Staffing gives you the ability to ramp up your workforce quickly with temporary workers. The firm provides employee assessment, job coaching, placements, and worksite transportation. The staffing agency is quite unique in that it provides transportation or commute assistance to most worksites daily. Partnering with First Step Staffing can help you minimize employee-related risks as the agency conducts background checks and offers payroll, insurance, protective equipment, and workers' compensation.

Make Smarter Candidate Assessments

Candidate screening is an important part of the recruitment process. Pinpointing the best fit based on job requirements, soft skills, culture fit, and potential for success, is time-consuming. Without it, however, there is a chance that you may overlook top talent. Technology can automate screening and enhance accuracy, allowing employers to identify the best candidates for the job. The use of technology also helps eliminate any potential biases that may arise from human intervention in the hiring process.

HiPeople is a leading AI-powered candidate assessment and reference check platform. With HiPeople, you can test candidates on hard skills, soft skills, cognitive abilities, language proficiency, and personality and culture. An assessment library provides tests in various areas to gain a complete understanding of candidates' abilities and job fit.

If, for example, you wanted to assess candidates' cognitive abilities, you can share ready-to-use tests on numerical reasoning, logical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, and more. Alternatively, you could create your own tests using over 1000+ templates or get recommended tests for the particular job description, which are curated by AI within seconds.

HiPeople is great for running compliant reference and background checks at scale. To understand how you can hire better and faster with HiPeople, check it out with a demo today.