Sunday, October 10, 2010

What is an agency

What is an agency?

There are several types of agencies, from temporary to permanent and contingency to retainer based searches. Steffan & Co., Inc is a Direct Hire Permanent placement agency that also can provide temporary employment to clients on a contingency basis. Most importantly, no fees are charged to a candidate looking for a job. Fees are paid by our client companies over and above your salary. The Urban Legend that if you go through an agency, a client will reduce your salary or they will pick the candidate without a fee is simply not true. They pick the best candidate for the job which 93% of the time is through an agency. Why? Because you are better prepared, have more knowledge about the job and firm and have been provided valuable interview training by professionals.

How does an agency work?

How we at Steffan & Co prefer to work is, to have you call or email us that you are interested in a specific position or in using our agency. We then ask you to email a copy of your resume for us to review and at the same time we will send you a link to our online application. Once we receive it, we will send you our online testing from Assessment Solutions and when the testing is completed and provided your skills match the position or a similar position we have, we will schedule in for a one on one interview

For the interview, please bring a hard copy of your resume, a list of at least 3 supervisory references and any letters of recommendation you might have. You will interview with us for about 30 minutes where we will go over your resume, background and find out more about what you want in your next career move.

Now comes the tough part, we have placed candidates within 2 hours of meeting with us and as much as two years after meeting with us. It all depends on what we have open that fits your background and desires in a new position. We always keep you in our active database and will contact you when a position comes in. We understand how anxious one can become while waiting for a call so please feel free to email us about the status of your application. It is the easiest and quickest way to reach us.

What happens when an interview is scheduled with the client?

Once an interview is set we will plan a time for us to prep you for interviewing with a client. We will provide you with the address and names of who you will meet and ways of researching the firm so that you will have the most information before you walk in. We will give over interview questions and role playing if necessary to make you the most marketable candidate for that position.

Who handles an offer?

When a client is ready to make an offer they will make it through us so that we can negotiate the best salary and employment package for you as well and handle any vacation dates for pre-scheduled appointments in your first 90 days of employment. Once the offer is confirmed we present it to you for your review and acceptance.

We check all your references, handle background checks and anything else a client may need to make you the best offer possible.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Steffan & Co is now on TV

Get Noticed for The Job You Want!

Steffan & Co is proud to announce a new resume and interview service we offer for independent job seekers. We will craft a professionally written resume for you that will:

*Promote your unique qualifications and skills
*Appeal visually with a well-designed format
*Make sure you stand out as a superior candidate
*Get you more interviews

In addition, we will train you on how to interview, test and present yourself so that you are the best and most marketable job seeker looking for employment.

Package 1. We offer this service at $99.00, which will include: an initial information finding meeting and any follow up meetings that are needed, resume creation and design, and you will receive 10 paper copies and one electronic resume upon approval.

Package 2. We offer this service at $159.00, which will include: an initial information finding meeting and any follow up meetings that are needed, resume creation and design, and a one hour in person interview prepping session with handouts. You will receive 10 paper copies and one electronic resume upon approval.

Package 3. We offer this service at $209.00, which will include: an initial information finding meeting and any follow up meetings that are needed, resume creation and design, and a one hour in person interview prepping session with handouts. Plus the creation of a universal cover letter to use with your new resume. You will receive 10 paper copies and one electronic resume upon approval.

We accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover and personal checks. Please call or email today to set up an appointment with Brian at 703-224-8182 or
bjsteffan@steffanco.com

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Exclusivity - Why businesses need it.

We want it in our love lives, so why not in business. Many businesses feel the more agencies they use, the more qualified candidates they see. FALSE, there is a limited pool of qualified candidates for each job and through advertising, websites; job boards, referrals and pinpoint recruiting most agencies will have the same candidates. So what happens when you put out your open positions to 3, 4 and in some cases 8 agencies? You have agencies submitting the same candidate and rushing to get you the resume when they have not even spoken to the person. All because as we all know whoever gets it in first, wins.

Once an agency submits a candidate resume and they are told “we have them already” the agency usually will stop searching and move on to better opportunities to make money. Like one client I have, they started their search for a Paralegal in late November on their website and gave it to four agencies. By December 23, 2009, they gave it to me and another agency, by January 15 they were offering a bonus for an agency to help them find someone and by January 23 they lowered their requirements. Do you think it was because no one in the DC/Baltimore/Richmond area didn’t have the skills? Maybe, but more likely the agencies stopped working on it. When I submitted the names of 2 candidates and they already had them, or when I made recruiting calls and found that most people knew of the position from the firm’s website or had already been contacted by other agencies. Did I stop working on it? No. Did it move to the back of the priority list, yes and I moved onto positions that were exclusively working with me.

I believe in customer service, attention to detail and giving a client what they want the first time. My clients know in return for their exclusive business, that I only work on their position and find them exactly what they want. In one recent case, I did it in only 2 days. Why? Because I had the security of knowing that my advertising dollar was well spent and I could spend 6 hours a day cold calling for the right candidate.

Businesses need to realize that the agencies in Washington, DC have gone from 680 in 2008, to 153 in 2009. Many of us have been in the business for 20 plus years and we talk. The thing I hear the most is how firms are hurting themselves by over saturating their searches with too many agencies and putting things like NO AGENCIES NEED CALL on their websites. The economy is changing and in a few months firms are going to be hiring and their websites aren’t going to cut it or advertising which has gone through the roof as far as cost, isn’t going to find them the right person. Start building your relationships again with one or two agencies at the most. Allow them to do the job you need.