with Will Skowyra, Director of Strategic Solutions with Express Employment International
Platform staffing isn’t just industry jargon — it’s the direction staffing is moving, and agencies that ignore it risk falling behind. With tighter margins, rising client expectations, and AI-driven tech transforming how agencies operate, the traditional staffing model is getting a much-needed overhaul.
In this episode, we’re joined by Will Skowyra, Director of Strategic Solutions at Express Employment International, to unpack what platform staffing really is, how integrated tech stacks and data-driven workflows are giving agencies an edge, and what you should be thinking about now — whether you’re ready to dive in or not.
If you’re looking to scale smarter, stay competitive, or future-proof your business, this conversation is one you won’t want to miss.
Casey Wagonfield: If you’re in staffing, you’ve heard the term platform staffing. It’s not just a buzzword. If you’re listening to what industry associations, tech consultants, and staffing organizations are saying, it’s the direction the industry is moving in fast with tighter margins, candidate drop off, disruptive tech and rising client demands.
Staffing, as we know it is changing, and the agencies leaning into integrated tech stacks and AI driven platforms are pulling ahead. What is platform staffing? How do you approach it, and what should you be considering, even if you’re not ready to make the leap? In today’s episode, we break it down with a leader from one of the largest staffing agencies in the us digging into why tech data and process alignment aren’t optional anymore, and what you need to know to stay competitive, stick around.
Welcome back to Staffing Made Simple, brought to you by SimpleVMS, the preferred VMS partner for staffing agencies. This is a podcast for staffing and recruiting pros where you can come for practical insights from industry experts and leave with actionable takeaways. I’m Casey, Senior Sales Executive at SimpleVMS, going on 17 years in the staffing industry this month, and with me as always, my co-host and senior vice president at SimpleVMS.
Rob Geist. What’s up, Rob?
Rob Geist: Hey, Casey, my friend and confidant. Always good to be on here with you, brother. Today’s episode is all about something we’ve all been hearing about lately, platform staffing. Now we’ve seen recruitment platforms come and go and plenty of ’em flop. So, what’s different this time and why is platform staffing suddenly gaining real traction?
Casey Wagonfield: So, let’s set the stage. When platform tech first hit staffing years ago, it really missed the mark badly. Unlike Uber, which disrupted an entire industry bypassing cab companies and delivering a better and faster service that people actually wanted. These early talent platforms didn’t work because they ignored what makes staffing different, which is a human touch.
They tried to cut recruiters out of the equation without understanding the relationships, market expertise, and service expectations that employers rely on. They treated staffing like a one size fits all gig economy play. Overpromised, what tech alone could deliver and completely underestimated what the employers value. Outsourcing contingent hiring to a trusted partner, the result well they flopped and bad.
Rob Geist: And now more than ever, things have changed and they’re changing fast. AI, mobile tech, smarter VMS platforms and integrated systems built for staffing agencies. They’re here and they’re rewriting the playbook. “Platform Staffing” isn’t just a buzzword, it’s becoming a real differentiator. And let’s be honest, probably the future of how staffing agencies will operate.
It’s not just about adding software, it’s about rebuilding your model around automation, experience and scale.
Casey Wagonfield: So, what does that mean for you?
And what if you’re not ready to tear everything down and start from scratch, whether you’re just testing the waters or seriously considering a shift to platform staffing model, you’ll wanna hear this. We’ve brought in Will Skowyra, Director of Strategic Solutions at Express Employment International. Will literally grew up in the staffing franchise, worked probably just about every seat in the house.
Now he spends his days helping franchise owners across North America navigate exactly this. Will’s gonna break it down. What it really takes to become a platform staffing agency, what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid the traps along the way. If you’re feeling fired up to finally streamline your ops and ditch the patchwork tech stack, this is your sign to take action or at least look into platform staffing. It’s not coming. It’s already here. Will welcome to the podcast.
Will Skowyra: Hey, thanks guys really looking forward to this. Especially just to talk about, what the future state of platform staffing looks like and what our industry can do.
Casey Wagonfield: Nice. Yeah, and I’m excited about this topic too, because, I’m not gonna act like I know a lot about it. Right. So, I’m gonna be learning today too, so we’re gonna get right into it.
You know, a lot of the industry associations, as I mentioned earlier, and leaders have been using the words platform staffing and describing it as the future of staffing and where the industry might be headed, but a lot are still confused as to what it really is. And I know Express is pursuing a platform staffing model currently.
So what’s your definition of platform staffing for somebody listening who’s thinking, well we use tech, but are we a platform agency? And what separates the two?
Will Skowyra: So, what separates the two? You know, when you think about platforms staffing, you’re thinking about kind of a linear approach right from end to end where you have all the pieces working in a straight line. As opposed to the model that I grew up in and kind of where the industry’s been ever since we started. Using data processors and jumping on a laptop or a desktop to process applicants, that’s been more of a hub and spoke model. You had your centralized system and then you just, pivoted away to something else and you use that or you had to go over to the, testing computer and use that, or, any of those type of things.
Now it’s, all integrated. It’s thinking about not looking away from the screen that you’re at all day long. It’s staying in that screen, staying in that solution for as long as you can. And that’s what a platform can deliver. Whether it’s an ATS, your middle office, VMS integration, your back office, any kind of background checks, all of the automations and integrations that can come, to a staffing agency to where they don’t have to pivot away from the platform that they’re operating.
That’s the big difference, so just think about hub and spoke versus linear. That’s probably the simplest way to put it.
Casey Wagonfield: Yeah. It’s crazy how far we’ve come through technology. It feels like it wasn’t that long ago when you’re spending half of a day manually entering interview notes into a tool, right? But why do you think so few agencies? I think the statistics we had were 6% have actually transitioned to a full platform staffing model.
Will Skowyra: It’s scary, it’s a big switch. We’re going away from what we’ve always done and taking these steps into the future, right? Like, it’s not something that you could do overnight either. And when you really think about it, it’s taking a piece of your core business and if you really want to be good at it, you have to go get a partner to really help you do it.
So, you’re taking that core business and what’s at the heart of what you do and you’re. Giving it to somebody else to run and operate. And that can be scary. Whether it’s a large organization, or a small one. Do you really want to give away the core data that you have? And what makes you go to a platform model, that’s going to integrate and change how you operate. And I mean, yeah, it’s gonna make you more efficient, but it’s scary. It’s a jump off of a cliff. Especially if you aren’t a tech expert and you’ve been slow to make these changes or look at what you can really do out there.
I think we’re going to see a lot in the next two years. So that number, while it seems low. are your early adopters, right? And whenever you look at the adoption graph, you have those three, four, 5% in the beginning that jump in feet first, no matter what it is, and then will get into this expansion over the next couple years.
I think I saw a number that it’s 32% of staffing agencies are now looking at implementing a platform staffing model in the next two years. So, we’re gonna see it take off. It’s been tested, it’s proven that it can work, and all of these staffing agencies they need to do this or they’re gonna get left behind.
Casey Wagonfield: Would you say in a nutshell, platform staffing is essentially, from application to placement, everything is automated, there’s just very little human interaction or is that a bad example?
Will Skowyra: I think you hit on another reason why so many people haven’t adopted it yet. Because it’s that fear. It’s the fear of the human element being removed. It’s automation where you need automation. So, when you think about AI and you think about what that’s gonna do, and people are scared that AI is gonna replace me. No. The people that use it, and know how to use it well, are going to replace you.
The companies that use Platform Staffing and use it well, they’re going to replace the companies that don’t. That’s the easiest way to look at this, right? And so, it gives the option to both the candidate and the client, which we’ll get into later on what to do and how they want to interact with the staffing providers.
You know, if they want to go through an online application that takes six minutes from your phone, they can do that. If they wanna pick up the phone and they wanna go into the office and have a conversation with a recruiter, they can do that too. Platform staffing gives you the options to meet the candidates and the clients where they are, which is what we have to do.
But we can do that efficiently and with speed, which is, we all know racing the candidates still. I mean, we’ve been doing that for 10 years now. Candidates want to be able to process quickly on your computer, now you’re looking at it on your phone. So, people don’t wanna spend a lot of time doing things, but they want a lot done in the time that they spend doing things.
Rob Geist: I think another one of the big fears is the relationship piece.
I’ve probably said it multiple times on the podcast, but staffing’s the most relationship driven industry that I’ve ever been a part of. So I personally think you can employ a platform staffing model, and still have relationships with your client and use that to benefit you. So I think some of the fear is just the fear of the unknown. But, let’s break it down. If somebody wants to shift towards a platform model, what are the core components that they need to have in place?
Will Skowyra: So, you asked about core components, but I think the first thing that you have to have is the right mindset. You have to have the right people in the organization that are forward thinking. Willing to, I like to use the word “future proof”. This is a way to future proof your business, and to ensure that you are going to have the next best thing, always in place. I think utilizing a third party to come in and be a platform and not build it yourself is very important because that takes time and money that you spend building.
Something, you know, it’s hard to be both a staffing company and a technology company, right? That’s very difficult to do. So if you bring that third party in, they’re going to be the ones that are, looking at what’s out there, when you think about marketplaces and you think about APIs and you think about integrations and how those can work within a, platform staffing provider.
Takes the burden and the lift off of the organization, the staffing organization, and puts it on an accountability partner, right? And so, they can help drive that so that you’re staying out in front of your competitors or at least even with them. So having a partner that you know and trust and getting to that point is super difficult because you have so many people in the organization that are gonna want little things here and there.
So, it might not be a hundred percent of where you want to be. Maybe it’s 80%, but you trust ’em and you value them as a partner, that’s where you want to go. So it’s the mindset that you have to have to think about changing, and the willingness to do that. And that’s sometimes really hard, ’cause change is hard. And so that’s the first, and I think the most important component and then finding the right partner that you wanna move forward with. And then identifying the workflows that you feel can be automated to provide more efficiency within the offices and within each, in our case here at Express, within each franchise office, those are probably your big three that you wanna start with, right?
So: mindset, partner, and then workflows.
Casey Wagonfield: Yeah. And I know you mentioned it was scary, and I think Rob mentioned something about change too. And I’m guessing a lot of agencies are a little nervous about the change management side of this. Moving to a setup like this isn’t a small adjustment. Any advice for agencies feeling maybe uneasy about making that shift? And for the ones that are getting started, what do you think they should focus on first to keep it manageable?
Will Skowyra: That change management piece is super scary and super difficult. And we know that it’s just people being people, So if you’re uneasy about it, it’s finding that right partner. That can set you at ease and allow for you to know that, “Hey, I’m gonna trust these guys”. This is what the industry is moving towards.
There’s something to this. So, we need to either get on or get off the train. If we get off the train, we’re probably gonna get left behind, and it’s gonna be super difficult to get to the next iteration of this because you’re gonna be behind. And then it’s how long is it gonna take to get you to where everybody else is if you’re not there now or if you don’t get there soon. Because they’re just gonna continue to get better and those who adopt it earlier are gonna learn the ways to use it best.
But to speak more specifically to your question, Casey, I think where you wanna start going back to workflows like where can we get better and potentially do more with less. How can we implement a platform staffing model, that can allow us to take everything that we do every day and put it in one place so that my recruiters are more effective and can do more with their time, which we all know time is money.
So, if they’re being more productive, the whole organization’s gonna be more productive and you’re gonna win wallet share, you’re gonna win market share, and it’s gonna send you on that path.
Casey Wagonfield: Yeah, it reminds me a little bit, you know, of our prospects and clients that SimpleVMS goes after. Because we talked to ’em about a tool and it solves all of their problems and they’re really excited.
But change management’s usually the one thing that holds ’em back a little bit, it’s a big deal. but to your point, yeah, if you’re not embracing it now, eventually you’re gonna fall behind and you’re gonna be too far behind.
Rob Geist: And it really all falls under something, Will that, since we go so far back, I know you’ve been a part of quite a few of which digital transformations, right?
Will Skowyra: Mm-hmm.
Rob Geist: It’s kind of a scary word to a lot of people and a lot of people have mixed feelings when it comes to automating things and they’re skeptical, especially.
With candidates you think platform staffing improves or hurts the candidate’s experience?
Will Skowyra: Well, like I mentioned previously, I think the candidate experience is what the candidate wants it to be when you implement a platform model, right?
And that’s probably the most important thing you can be. It’s not one size fits all. So, I think what you’re offering in a platform model is the ability to the candidate to choose which path they want to take, you know, if they want to do an application on their phone and they wanna do it really fast, fine, good. That’s what they want. That’s what this tool can deliver. But like I said earlier, if they want to take a phone call and then go into an office and meet who the recruiter is and go through all those processes, fine.
That’s still an option. It’s still on the table. It’s not gonna take all of that human element out, so for the candidates, they can walk the path that they want to walk and move forward the way that they wanna move forward. And again, it becomes more about what’s the right fit for the candidate at that point, if they’re not comfortable with your onboarding process and then they’re not comfortable with how quickly you responded to ’em, they can move in a different direction. They don’t have to come to your organization but platform almost guarantees that you’re going to reach out quickly because it’s automated.
You’re going to onboard quickly because it can be automated. It gives you all the speed that you want as a staffing agency, but it doesn’t rely on recruiters to be in front of their desk all day long. Pinging associates back as soon as they put an application in, right? So, I think the candidates get what they want out of it, by the path that they choose to walk.
Casey Wagonfield: When you talk about automation, where does that come in? What should be automated and is there anything that just absolutely shouldn’t be?
Will Skowyra: So, when you think about that, staffing’s been compared to the the travel industry a lot in how we’ve gone down this automation path. You and I can go book a Airbnb or a VRBO or do whatever we want on our own, but what happens when something breaks at the VRBO? Who do you call? And I think if you’re a candidate and you have a payroll issue, would you rather talk to a chat bot or a human? I think the answer is pretty clear there. You’d rather be able to pick up the phone and call somebody. It’s almost like concierge, right? Like you want the personal touch there. So, when you’re thinking about troubleshooting or you’re thinking about issues with assignments, when it comes, to issues on the job, payroll and things like that. You don’t want automation there. That’s the human touch. Those are, what’s gonna set you up to be more successful, or you’re gonna, rise to the top because you’re treating your talent differently. You’re giving them that time that you would want yourself when you have an issue, and you’re able to talk to them and walk ’em through it and make ’em feel a little bit more comfortable as opposed to.
Slamming their phone down because they can’t get anybody on the phone or, they’re just getting the same answer over and over no matter how they try to word the question.
Casey Wagonfield: I know staffing clients vary so much depending on the industry so what industries do you see this taking off in the most, and which staffing verticals do you think won’t adapt to platform staffing. I don’t know if it’s a vertical question or if it’s more of a volume question,
Will Skowyra: To me, when I think about that kind of gig environment, you think about a platform staffing model where the offices have a pool of talent that they’ve.
Prequalified, now the clients on the other side can create an order within the platform, it gets pushed out, it goes to the talent that’s been prequalified, that talent is able to self-select and start an assignment.
That, to me, that can be any industry. And to me it almost feels like that’s high volume. So, you think 3PLs, you think logistics, manufacturing to an extent. Hospitality, you know, if you’re a hotel or a convention center and you need 70 people on Friday, 120 on Saturday, and then 60 on Sunday, you don’t care who they are.
You just need the numbers, right? And that’s kind of where the gig made its inroad. When you think about who’s gonna utilize it, it can be. Anybody that wants speed to fill, if they know and trust their staffing provider and the staffing provider is on a platform that they’ve built a pool of talent, the clients are gonna get access to the talent and they’re gonna get it to it, the speed they want to get to it, at which I know it sounds like I’m saying cut out the staffing company, but our job is to be able to have qualified talent available to our customers as quickly as we can, and this model does that.
Casey Wagonfield: It’s funny you mentioned, pre-qualified candidates and having, pools of candidates ready to go, and that’s something that we’ve noticed and we actually rolled out our newest feature, SimpleVMS. A little shameless plug here, but, it’s a flexible scheduler for those scenarios where people need somebody fast and candidates can go in and just select a shift rather than a week long assignment. It’s just the way it’s going and clients love it. And to your point, that’s what I always thought was volume. So, okay, I’ve got 500 temporary employees on a daily basis and as high turnover, churn, and burn.
I feel like that would be a huge, plus for, a platform staffing type of model.
Will Skowyra: I agree. But I don’t wanna say that that’s the only path forward for the industry, sure. There’s this is omnichannel approach that you see out there where it is brick and mortar and you can still have clients that pick up the phone and want to talk to somebody and work through a job order.
And ensure that they’re comfortable with the person that’s gonna send talent to them. And , I don’t want to get “Hey, I’m a hundred percent platform staffing going forward”. It just needs to be part of your toolkit, it’s the omnichannel approach that really I’m the biggest fan of.
So, it’s the client doing exactly what we talked about with the candidate, choosing how they want to engage with their staffing partner. Do we want to be able to put our own orders in so that talent can self-select? Because that’s the quickest way. And you know, there’s numbers out there that say, candidates that self-select are more likely to show up because they’ve self-selected.
And then also, if you’re using the platform, staffing model, the right way, those push notifications can go out. So, you’re almost guaranteed to have the number that you would like to have there. Almost guaranteed, because we’re dealing with people.
And then also the other side, if you value the relationship more than the speed to fill, you can go that path as well. So, I think the platform staffing model gives both the candidates and the clients the option of how they want to engage their staffing partners.
Rob Geist: I’d have to imagine, well these are things that you guys talk about being with a big organization, like you’re with, but the recruiters see hundreds of applicants and candidates can feel just like a number.
Right. How does platform staffing actually improve the candidate experience for them?
Will Skowyra: Again, we’re meeting the candidate where they are. And so it’s going to give them the ability to see more open opportunities as well, because they’re not going to be completely reliant upon a recruiter.
I think to borrow, from Ante, I believe it’s one to many. Versus one to one, right? And so, if you’re an applicant or you’re a candidate and you’re only talking to a recruiter and you don’t have the ability to see all of the potential openings that your skillsets match to, then you’re being filtered.
The recruiter can only do so much. There’s only so much time. There’s only so much brain capacity and honestly, the recruiter’s only gonna be thinking about what’s most recently come available.
Is this person a good fit for that? They’re not gonna be thinking about the three orders that are adjacent to that, that they may be able to utilize that candidate for because it’s a recency bias because that’s how we all work. But if it’s a platform model to where they’re getting push notifications for jobs that they’re qualified for, they’re gonna get exposure to more positions and more openings and more opportunities than they would if they have to strictly talk to a recruiter on the phone or via email or via text.
So to me, if I’m a candidate, that’s what I would want. I would want them to skill match me to all of the jobs that I’m qualified to do, not just the ones that are top of mind of the person that I’m talking to.
Casey Wagonfield: What about becoming too automated where it feels like a chatbot is managing the whole relationship. How do you avoid that?
Will Skowyra: That’s the omnichannel approach, right? That’s having that, recruiter in place that becomes more of a talent, manager, than they are a recruiter. Once you get the talent in the door, they’re always willing to have the conversation. They’re always willing to talk to you. It becomes more about managing and providing the value to the candidates.
Than it is about just simply filling orders, and so chat bots are gonna be, problem solving very quick, very dry. If I can just say, “Hey, what time am I supposed to be there?”, and it responds, 7:30, that’s way easier than me picking up my phone, calling somebody, hoping the answer, and then getting back to me real quick.
So, I think those redundant tasks that you do that can be answered by a chat bot relatively easy. Those are great. But as soon as it gets to where there may be vibes or feelings involved, you gotta put somebody on the phone.
Casey Wagonfield: Reminds me a couple episodes ago. We talked about using chatbots and AI to help you with the busy work, the things that you can have them do to where now you can focus on the revenue generating activities and interviewing folks. And we talk about chatbots and I.
I’m a huge fan of chat bots. Sometimes I don’t want to talk to anybody, I just wanna talk to this chat bot, and I actually saw a survey recently that said people actually enjoy talking to bots if they can get what they want quickly.
Just like me, why do you think that might be the case? And second, how big of an impact is that, long term for agencies to get right.
Will Skowyra: Well, first of all, Casey, you do look like a chatbot guy. For you being in sales and not wanting to talk to anybody.
That’s pretty funny. Um, I think people are just used to it, we’ve kind of grown up and watched it become this, right? But as you think about people who are younger, that’s just what they’re used to.
It is normal for my 11-year-old to want to have her phone all the time. Because that’s how she grew up. And so, it’s normal for them and they look at us like it’s not normal for us to want to have them take a screen break, because we grew up where we would go outside and Rob you probably played with a stick and a tire.
It’s just normal now. And that’s why they’re there. And I think that’s why people enjoy ’em, because they can get the answers when they want.
They don’t have to wait on somebody to reply. They have a question at two in the morning chat bot. You don’t have to worry about calling somebody or writing it down, it’s speed, it’s in your hand. Like what, 80% of the time you’re awake, right? You have your phone in your hand. So I think it’s just there. So it’s just easier and that’s why people want to use chatbots.
Casey Wagonfield: I know you mentioned, there’s an omnichannel approach, but where does it still make sense to have that human in the loop?
Will Skowyra: Just, what we talked about, how speedy can it get there? Is it available right now?
And that’s the most important thing, and that’s where you want to use it. Where can you use a chatbot? It’s where you can take things off a recruiter’s plate and put it over there and it doesn’t affect the relationship. And I think you could go through your whole day and figure out the 10, 20, 30 things that you do every day as a recruiter that, oh my gosh, wouldn’t this be great if this just got off my desk so that I could do other things.
So that’s where you would wanna put a chat bot.
Rob Geist: Will, I love your philosophy about let it automate the things that you wanna automate, but let people do the things that you want people to do. And I think that’s important for listeners. cause recruiters and salespeople might be thinking, well, what the heck am I gonna do?
If in platform staffing, if it’s all automated, and what I hear from leadership, from staffing firms that I talk to is exactly what you’re saying. It’s gonna be a balance. Same thing with AI, AI’s not gonna take it all over but it, is gonna make people more efficient.
And at the end of the day, as a recruiter or a salesperson that could potentially help you make more money.
Casey Wagonfield: I like what you said Will earlier, where AI is not gonna take your job. It’s the people that know how to use ai that’s gonna take your job.
Rob Geist: And, that kind of leads into the next question in this big digital transformation age that we’re in, what do you think are some common mistakes that you could see agencies making when they’re trying to jump into platform staffing?
Will Skowyra: You can’t go too fast. Sometimes you gotta slow down and speed up.You gotta make sure that you’re doing the right things, not everything needs to be automated, you don’t want to go after every single workflow and attack it all at the same time. Like, maybe you get to 80% of what you want, and then you kind of see how that looks, right?
And then you move forward with that, and you tweak and you change this here, and you, you never settle is probably the best way to say that. You jump in, you get used to what you have. You kind of identify where you’re at, what do you need to do to move forward, where can you improve? Where didn’t this work? How do we change out of that? How do we get out of that?
If you have a partner that you’ve moved forward with in building this model, they’re gonna be there with you to help you do that. I think that’s incredibly important because they’re gonna keep you on the leading edge, you know, if you had to do it on your own, could you imagine you’re jumping all over the place trying to figure out will that work with what we have? Does it work? Do we need to build something else? You can’t do it by yourself. And so, trust your partners that you’re working with, and we all make mistakes Just learn from ’em.
Casey Wagonfield: And I’m sure there’s a lot of moving pieces, a lot of layers to put in place, building a platform staffing model, but are there any like specific tools or tech stacks that you’ve seen particularly, work well or things that actually fit together and make that model more achievable?
Will Skowyra: I’ve said partners 300 times in this podcast, without trying to be very brand specific but you know who they are. We know who all the big players are in the market and they’re gonna help you build the tech stack that best fits what you’re looking for as an agency,
Here at Express, we’ve partnered with Avionte and working forward with them right now, we value them. They’re a trusted partner and there’s a lot of choices out there, but that’s who we felt most comfortable with.
And they’re putting together the tech stack that is gonna make Express successful going forward. And without a partner in this, it would be really difficult to do on our own.
Rob Geist: We’re all three sales guys. We love to kind of mix sales into things.
And we had Dan Mori on a, previous, podcast and he was talking about unique value proposition. So I can imagine this would be huge when it comes to selling your UVP, to potential clients. Could you elaborate on that a little bit for us?
Will Skowyra: Yeah. Absolutely. In terms of what Dan mentioned on the pod with you guys, that UVP is huge, right? And this is part of it, being able to say, this is how we source talent and these are all the things that you’ll get access to by engaging us, is part of that. And when you use a platform model, the return on some of the data that you can get is going to be greater. as you continue to use a platform staffing, model, because you’re gonna be able to pull data out of the model.
That’s going to give you some insight, if not all the insight that you need to be able to share some of those numbers that Dan was mentioning to actually make it feel very specific and very unique to that end user, and using the platform staffing model is gonna give you real time analytics on, what kind of applications are you getting in every day?
How long does it take to onboard people? These are the type of roles that we’re able to fill at this rate. And some folks can do that with their current ATFs, but this is, we’re going next level stuff with what’s available and that’s going to be something that you can build into your UVP. We’re at the front of we recruiting line, there was something on CBS mornings about deep fakes and how they’re applying to jobs and what that’s doing to waste recruiters time, so recruiters are putting postings up and AI bots are filling up the postings. And people aren’t applying because they’re discouraged. And now you think about, well, if you’re using us and you’re tapping us on the shoulder, we’re gonna make sure that’s a real person.
We’re going to use this platform to ensure that’s how we’re doing it, and we’re gonna do it just as fast as what you see in your job postings, but you’re gonna get way more return because you’re partnering with us and you’re not reliant upon these job boards that may or may not be delivering real candidates.
Casey Wagonfield: Yeah, I can only imagine. When you think about 6%, right? When you’re using that as your value proposition that 94% of agencies aren’t using this and we’re, ahead of our time and, forward thinking, that’s gotta be huge.
Will Skowyra: Yeah, exactly.
Casey Wagonfield: You’re way ahead of everybody else. So I think we know now platform staffing’s here to stay and I’m curious about your thoughts, as we fast forward, down the road, what do you think the most successful staffing agencies will be doing differently than everybody else when it comes to technology and platform staffing?
Will Skowyra: For me it’s the omnichannel approach. It’s having talent pools that the clients can get to quickly if they want to. And whoever can build those talent pools quickly and be successful at that and make them available to end users, to clients as quick as they can.
Or as quick as they want to get to ’em, that’s where we’re gonna be. So like we talked about the gig piece that kind of worked, and you take that traditional piece of staffing with the high human contact.
You put it together, and so you can do what you want both as a candidate and as a client. You have your staffing partner there to guide you through whichever path you want to go through, with technology supporting them.
Rob Geist: So, let’s pretend I’m an old school staffing agency owner and this is the first time I’ve ever heard about platform staffing on this podcast. What’s the first thing you would recommend that person do?
Will Skowyra: Well, first, I would Google platform staffing. The second thing I would do is I would do as much research as I can to see if this is the right move for us.
So let’s say you’re in St. Louis and you have two locations here. You’re local, is it worth it? Is this where I want to go?
Or are we able to do what we need to do without it? So that’s SaaS. Go visit all the sites of the big players, in the space.
Just make sure that you’re educated about it before you go jump in. Just because it’s a buzzword and it’s here to stay, and it’s where we think it’s going doesn’t mean that it’s right for everybody. But at the same point, you have to be able to go that route if you need to.
Casey Wagonfield: So, opposite of what Rob asked, I’m an old school staffing owner, what do I need to stop doing that’s getting in the way of me going platform?
Will Skowyra: So that feels like they’re in mindset that they don’t wanna make a change. And, that’s gonna get you stuck, if you’ve been in staffing and you’re old school and you think about where we’ve come from to where we are now, and the things that you’ve probably seen in the last 20 years, the ups and downs and what we’ve had to do to continue to evolve as an industry to be successful.
This is the next evolution. And so, if you’ve made all those changes over the years to get to where you are now. Don’t stop now. Don’t be afraid to move to the next one. So, keep doing what good business owners do and keep evolving so that you can continue to be successful.
Rob Geist: For the people who are, let’s say, a little reticent or scared to, jump into things full force, but they still need to solid ATS, it speeds up their process and they want to stay positioned for future growth. What would you say people like that should focus on when choosing a tech platform?
Will Skowyra: What’s the one that can get you the closest to what you’re currently doing? And , that’s gonna be where you wanna start. If it’s somebody that can get you 80% of the way there, that’s just as good as a hundred percent. Don’t wait for the perfect match when you’re looking for it, because it probably doesn’t exist.
But you need to get one that can get you as close as possible to the workflows that you’re currently using.
Casey Wagonfield: So, it sounds almost like, when you’re choosing a partner. I know you said you’re working with Avionte to get that set up for you guys. But, a partner that can also show you what else you need, what integrates with that ATS, here’s the tools that would work best with this ATS to help you achieve that platform staffing.
Will Skowyra: Absolutely. Because they’re gonna take a look at your workflows through and through, and they’re gonna say, “Well, we can automate here. And this is the tool that we would use to automate”.
And if you’re not in the top 10 of North America, do you have the time and money to go look at those and then see if they actually work? Probably not. So by partnering with the right platform, you’re gonna get access to all that and you’re gonna have a tremendous advantage, to be able to build the workflows and platforms and processes that you want.
And, if you wanna keep ’em manual, you can probably keep ’em manual, but they’re also gonna be able to give you that option, to go ahead and automate one and where needed.
Rob Geist: Will can’t thank you enough and always appreciate your insight. For listeners who wanna learn more, where can they connect with you?
Will Skowyra: Yeah, I’m on LinkedIn. That’s where I live and breathe. I’m not like the staffing shark all over the place, but you can find me Will Skowya, on LinkedIn.
Casey Wagonfield: Another big thanks to Will for joining us, and as always, if this episode gave you some insight to think about, share it with your team, and do us a solid like and share on your favorite streaming platform.
Rob Geist: Yeah, and if you’d like to learn more about SimpleVMS, how you can partner with us to drive growth for your agency and add to your unique value proposition. Reach out on LinkedIn or go to SimpleVMS.com. And until next time, keep it simple.
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