This year, our staffing agency celebrates a major milestone: 30 years of connecting incredible people with great employer’s across Canada, primarily right here in Alberta.
Reflecting on three decades in business brings us back to a fundamental truth in the recruitment industry. In most industries, success means a customer returns immediately to buy more. In high-quality staffing, the opposite is true. When we do a truly great job, we technically lose repeat business… for a while.
If we place a candidate who excels and stays long-term, the hiring need is solved and the need for hiring support is no longer required. We no longer interview candidates for that specific role, and our phone stops ringing from that client. While this creates a unique operational challenge for our team, it highlights the stark contrast between our transparent approach and the hidden tactics used by some competitors.
The Low-Transparency Trap: Churn for Profit
Some staffing agencies operate like a black box. They obscure candidate testing and verification data, inflate markup rates, and rely on an impersonal “post-and-prey” model. This lack of transparency serves a specific business model: high turnover.
When an agency sends poorly vetted candidates, those placements often fail within a short term non temporary placement. Clients are then forced to return, pay another fee, to restart the cycle which delays hiring and the work that needs to be done.
This model benefits our competitor’s short-term bottom line, all while draining a client’s company’s time, morale, and budget. They win quick transactions by keeping businesses in the dark. That is not, and will not be our business model.
Our 30th Year Goal: The 60% Retention Challenge
We refuse to play that game. We intentionally sacrifice a quick repeat transaction to ensure our clients’ businesses thrive. Because we fill positions correctly the first time, our partners do not need us every month.
That is why, as we enter our 30th year, we have set a bold, ambitious benchmark: to retain 60% of our recent past clients.
In an industry where high-quality placements naturally create long gaps between hiring needs, a 60% retention rate is an immense goal. We know its ambitious, but it’s achievable, because of our core competitive advantages we stand by:
- Contract Integrity: We operate with a strict, up front, easy to manage contract. Clients know exactly what our fees cover and what the options are. No microscopic fine print. No hidden fees. No surprises.
- The “First Call” Trust: We know businesses will not need to hire every day. But when an Alberta company is hiring due to a department expanding or a key employee retiring or goes on any type of leave, we know that our 30-year track record of credibility, ensures that we are their absolute first call.
- Proactive Solutions: Less transparent agencies hide operational hiccups or shift blame when a placement fails. At About Staffing, we communicate immediately, own our process, and fix issues proactively.
Credibility is a Long-Term Investment
Our team is entirely comfortable waiting for the phone to ring. When hiring departments are quiet, it means the teams we helped build are stable, productive, and satisfied.
For 30 years, we have proven that transparency and doing the job right the first time are worth the wait. We are not looking for a quick transactional win; (that is our Temporary Division, urgent needs, fast fills) we are building partnerships to sustain successful Canadian businesses for the next 30 years.
Celebrate 30 Years With Us!
As we mark three decades of serving Alberta’s business community, we want to thank the clients and candidates who made this journey possible.
If our team has helped your organization build a strong workforce or find a great career path, we would love to hear from you!
Please drop a comment on our social media pages, email your recruiter or call us and let us know how you are doing.
Contact us today to discover how our expert recruitment, hiring, and payroll services can help elevate your business or explore our exciting career growth opportunities and transformative training programs. Whether you’re seeking your next role or your next rockstar employee, we’ve got you covered!