How does it work?

It's simple. Call or email us (or place your job order online) to share the details of your position. We will follow up with you to confirm the order and provide rate information. For temporary positions, we will schedule one of our pre-screened employees to report for work on the day and time you specify. Our employee will record his/her hours on a Santa Fe Staffing timecard and present it at the end of each work week for your verification and signature. Employees receive weekly payroll, and each week, your company receives a single invoice.

For permanent positions, we prefer to have at least one person-to-person meeting (if we don't already know you), so we can acquaint ourselves with your company culture and work environment. Upon specifying the job description, we will recruit & screen candidates, share resumes & notes on each candidate, and schedule interviews at your convenience with a select pool of candidates. The final hiring decision is, of course, yours. When questions arise during the search, or if you want help negotiating a final offer, we're here to assist with that as well.

How much does it cost?

Prices can vary greatly. Click here to access our pricing info page.

How long do you guarantee placements?

For temp-to-hire and permanent staffing, we guarantee the fit of our placements for 90 days from their date of placement. We guarantee the fit of our temporary employee for their first four hours on the job. If the employee is unsuited to your position for any reason, just call our office, and we will replace the employee ASAP. For details, click here to visit our guarantee page.

What's your screening process like?

Screening begins from the moment we first speak with a new applicant. Impressive candidates are scheduled for interviews. Our interviews frequently last an hour or more to allow plenty of time to get to know our applicants. Prior to placement, we check professional references and run New Mexico State Public Records checks on all candidates. Web-based proficiency tests are administered to ensure that candidates have the skills and software experience necessary to success in your job.

How can I be assured you know what you're doing?

Each week, we spend more time staffing jobs than many managers do in an entire year. A good portion of every business day is spent receiving & reviewing resumes, interviewing candidates, scheduling proficiency tests, checking references, and following up on placements with our clients. We have temporary employees available for immediate placement with skills & experience that span a broad spectrum of industries. Managing Partner, Silas Peterson, holds the Senior Professional of Human Resources certification from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, and oversees all operations of Santa Fe Staffing. We are also members of the American Staffing Association and uphold ASA's rigorous Code of Ethics.

How do you recruit candidates?

We receive a lot of direct inquiries from job seekers who learn about us through word-of-mouth referrals, our website, job boards, and advertising; we follow up on leads on outstanding prospects from our friends in the Human Resources profession and other business associations; and we subscribe to several online resume databases. We meet with literally thousands of prospects each year and maintain contact information for our candidates for up to five years.

For challenging and specialized searches, and where the candidate pool is otherwise slim to begin with, we use more sophisticated methods, including Boolean-string web searches, to source passive candidates. For executive and some nationwide searches, we partner with industry-specific recruiters.

What will it cost me to hire a temporary employee fulltime?

You can hire a temporary employee at any time. If a temporary employee works at least 720 hours, there is no fee for conversion. If an employee has worked fewer than 720 hours, a placement fee, pro-rated on the fee schedule in our Long-Term Staffing Agreement, is due. Please contact us to discuss your specific needs.

Can temporary staffing really save my company money?

It depends. For bona fide temporary positions—special projects, vacancies caused by vacation, illness, FMLA leave, or while working to fill a permanent position-it is always easier, and usually more affordable, to hire a temporary employee. For longer—term positions, potential savings is determinable by comparing the costs of hiring a temp to direct employment. If your company's wages and benefits are above average, if you're unsure about the long-term future of a new position and want to avoid having to terminate an employee, if your worker's compensation insurance rates are high, or if you want to avoid affecting your unemployment rate—all of these are common reasons to use long-term temporary employees.

What about permanent staffing?

For longer-term positions, it really depends on the company. CPH (cost-per-hire) statistics often show that even highly efficient companies spend $5,000 or more every time they hire an employee. Most small businesses lack such statistics, but consider: advertising dollars (which may or may not attract the best possible candidates); time spent developing job descriptions & employment ads, reviewing resumes and applications, checking references, interviewing, following up with candidates, negotiating an offer, new hire administration & payroll processing, etc.; plus all of the lost opportunity cost of not spending time on the kind of work that makes your company money. If the new hire doesn't work out for any reason, it's back to square one! Even in the best scenario, in-house recruiting can be a frustrating expense of time.

What are the advantages of temp-to-hire over perm staffing?

Temp-to-hire staffing has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, temp-to-hire offers employers a risk-free probationary period during which to evaluate a candidate's suitability for long-term employment. During the temp-to-hire period, Santa Fe Staffing remains the employer of record and so, SFS accepts many of the liabilities associated with employment, including responsibility for unemployment awards, worker's compensation, and payroll and tax withholding. Employers can also try out multiple employees in a position before deciding on a long-term placement. Employers save on the costs of advertising and recruitment, payroll administration, and employee benefit costs in the initial months of work. The cost of temp-to-hire is approximately equal to the cost of permanent employment, and our 90 day Good Fit Guarantee still applies. Our client is under no obligation to make an offer of permanent employment. Some of our clients use our temp-to-hire service for all of their new hires.

The primary drawback to temp-to-hire is the potential for employees to continue their job search during the probationary period. Because employers need not make a long-term commitment, some employees feel like they're "not part of the team". For this reason, we encourage our clients to extend long-term offers as soon as they've made up their mind to hire an employee. Temp-to-hire employees can be hired at any time. If an employee has worked fewer than 720 hours, the placement fee will be pro-rated to account for temp-to-hire hours billed.

Santa Fe Staffing is the "employer of record." What does that mean?

As the employer of record for temporary and temp-to-hire employees, Santa Fe Staffing assumes many of the liabilities associated with employment. We are responsible for employee documentation and employment law compliance, new hire reporting, unemployment awards, worker's compensation, payroll administration and withholdings, and tax filing and reporting. It is important to note, however, that courts have consistently recognized a co-employment relationship between staffing agencies and their clients, so clients of staffing agencies still have an equal obligation to uphold employment laws.