Inavero’s Best of Staffing™ Award, presented by CareerBuilder, is the nation’s only award program that recognizes firms that receive remarkable reviews from their clients and talent. The staffing firms who truly provide a remarkable experience are honored on the final 2012 Best of Staffing lists (presented at the end of this post).

Inavero surveyed participating staffing firms to obtain an understanding of unique service behaviors. As you review the findings below, think about your firm’s internal practices and explore different opportunities to evolve and improve.

Notable Findings & Highlights:

1. Revenue of 2012 Best of Staffing winners outpaced industry growth by more than 50 percent.
2. Only half of the participants expect their 2012 revenue to grow faster than their 2011 revenue.
3. Best of Staffing Client winners were more than three times as likely to say culture match was the most important attribute to ensure a successful placement. Those who didn’t make the Best of Staffing list were more likely to say it was matching technical skills.
4. Seventy-two percent of Best of Staffing Client winners have some form of health care available for their talent.
5. More than half of Best of Staffing Client winners get back to their clients within an hour, compared to only 25 percent of those who didn’t make the list.
6. Eighty-nine percent of participants respond to clients within the same day, but only 54 percent have the same policy for their talent.
7. Only half of participants report staying in contact with talent at least once a month while they are on assignment.
8. Participants report spending less than 20 percent of time with their clients educating them or discussing current recruiting trends. The majority of the time is spent selling.
9. Seventy-one percent of participating staffing firms that reported growth above the industry survey their clients at least twice a year, compared to just over half of those who grew at the industry level or slower.
10. Qualifiers of the 2012 Best of Staffing list for exceptional client service spend an average of $6,000 training each new internal employee, nearly 28 percent more than those who didn’t qualify for the list.

*NPS, short for Net Promoter Score®, is a technique popularized by former Bain consultant and author, Fred Reichheld. NPS simplifies satisfaction measurement down to a single number comparable across organizations and industries. The score is calculated by subtracting the firm’s detractors (those who rate the organization between a 0 and 6) from the promoters (those who rate the organization a 9 or 10).