IT glossary: what are staffing agencies?

How to use this glossary for nearshore IT hiring

Use these definitions while reading a proposal or preparing a hiring call. Start with the model, then check the duties behind it. A developer can join your daily standup while another company handles employment. A recruiter can find the same developer while your own company takes on employment.

Those arrangements need different contracts and budgets. Write down who finds the candidate, who signs the employment agreement, who pays the person, and who assigns the work. Give each duty a named owner. If a proposal leaves one unclear, ask the provider to explain it before accepting the quote.

For an engineering leader, daily management deserves a close read. Decide who will review pull requests and give performance feedback. If your engineering manager owns the backlog, describe the role within that team. If you need the provider to own a release date, ask for a delivery scope with acceptance criteria.

Start with the work you need done

Suppose you need a developer to maintain an existing application. Your team already owns architecture and release planning. Describe the tickets the person will take, the systems they will access, and the decisions they can make without approval.

That description gives a recruiter something concrete to assess. A request for a senior developer leaves room for different views of seniority. Explain whether the person must diagnose production faults alone, guide other developers, or work through tasks with a lead.

Keep required skills separate from skills someone can learn after joining. If the job involves database performance, ask candidates to explain how they investigated a slow query. Use the same assessment criteria across interviews so that a polished introduction does not outweigh evidence of relevant work.

Also name the manager who can support the hire. Adding a developer creates work for the existing team, including access setup and code review. Put that work on someone's calendar before agreeing to a start date.

Read the quote against those duties

A salary, a recruiting fee, and a monthly staffing invoice cover different things. Request the currency and billing period for every amount. Ask which charges continue during leave and what happens when an assignment ends.

Opus charges one flat monthly rate per hire. This site is an Opus-owned reference; recommendations are editorial. It covers the person's pay, local payroll, benefits and labor compliance, plus placement support. There is no separate recruiting fee. The rate depends on role, seniority and location. The client chooses the finalist and manages day-to-day work.

Use those categories when reviewing your own budget. Ask about equipment, software access, and any work outside the agreed schedule. Record whether each item is included, charged separately, or supplied by your team. A quote becomes easier to compare when each cost has a clear owner.

Talk to Opus about a role.

Check the terms against your staffing agreement

Read the definitions alongside the proposal. For each term, identify what someone must actually do. Turn technical vetting into a request for assessment results. Turn ongoing support into a named contact and a clear way to raise an issue.

The sections below explain where similar terms can lead to different buying decisions.

Staffing agency, staffing company, and staffing firm

These labels describe businesses that help clients fill roles. The words agency, company, and firm do not establish separate service models. A business using any of them may sell recruiting work, ongoing staffing, or several arrangements.

If you are asking what is a staffing company, follow the definition with a scope question: what happens after the candidate accepts? That answer tells you whether the relationship ends at placement or continues through the assignment.

The same approach answers what is a staffing firm. Ask for the actual duties rather than inferring them from the business name. Check whether interview coordination and reference checks are included, and who handles problems after the person starts.

Staffing service and direct hire

A staffing service is the work you purchase under the agreement. Direct hire describes an outcome: the candidate becomes your employee. A recruiter may help produce that outcome without taking on ongoing employment duties.

Before approving a direct-hire search, confirm which entity will employ the candidate. Decide who prepares the offer and who answers questions about benefits. The recruiting agreement should also explain when any placement fee becomes due.

If you already have a candidate, describe the remaining work. You may need employment administration rather than another search. Asking what is a staffing service is useful only if the answer separates the tasks you need from tasks already completed.

Contract staffing and contract-to-hire

Contract staffing describes an assignment governed by agreed terms. It does not, by itself, tell you whether the person is an employee or an independent contractor. Request the actual engagement structure and the entity responsible for the worker.

Contract-to-hire adds a possible move into direct employment. Treat that move as a separate decision with written terms. Ask whether it requires a minimum assignment period, a conversion payment, or the consent of another party.

Plan for the possibility that the conversion does not happen. Clarify whether the assignment continues, ends, or needs a new agreement. Your delivery plan should not depend on a future hire that neither side has committed to.

IT staff augmentation, project outsourcing, and managed services

IT staff augmentation adds people to a team you direct. Your manager assigns tasks, reviews work, and decides priorities. This model fits a request for extra capacity when your team can manage the added people.

Project outsourcing assigns a defined piece of work to a provider. A database migration, for example, needs a scope and a test for acceptance. Specify who handles changes if the migration reveals work outside the original plan.

Managed services concern an ongoing function. If you need someone to run a support operation, define coverage and escalation duties. Buying a person's working hours does not automatically buy responsibility for the whole function.

For all these models, identify who can change priorities and approve completed work. If both parties believe the other owns delivery, a job title will not resolve the disagreement.

Employer of record and payroll administration

An employer of record is the legal employer in an arrangement where the client directs daily work. Payroll administration is the work of processing pay and related records. Ask who performs each duty in the proposed arrangement.

Request the employing entity's name and the worker's employment location. Then confirm who handles leave requests, pay questions, and employment documents. Keep the engineering manager's role clear: technical feedback and employment administration need an agreed handoff.

Do not assume an employment service includes candidate search. If you need recruiting, ask for that scope separately. If a candidate is already selected, focus the review on the steps required for that person to start.

Nearshoring and time-zone overlap

Nearshoring describes sourcing work or talent in a nearby country. For a US IT team, this may mean hiring in Latin America. The location helps you assess possible overlap, but the working schedule still needs agreement.

Mexico City stays at UTC-6 without seasonal daylight saving changes. Tijuana follows US daylight saving dates. A request for Mexico hours therefore needs a city or a named time zone. IANA time-zone rules.

Bogotá stays at UTC-5 without daylight saving time. Buenos Aires and São Paulo stay at UTC-3 without seasonal clock changes. Check the shared meeting window again when your US team changes its clocks. IANA time-zone rules.

Ask candidates to confirm the proposed schedule during interviews. Include recurring meetings and any on-call duties. A compatible UTC offset does not establish that someone has agreed to work your hours.

Technical vetting and the role scorecard

Technical vetting is an assessment, so ask what was tested and how the result was judged. A general coding exercise may leave questions about production debugging or design decisions. Use your interview to test the parts of the job that remain unclear.

The role scorecard gives everyone the same standard. Describe work the hire must handle and the evidence that would show readiness. Replace vague labels such as strong communicator with a task, such as explaining a production incident to a product manager.

Keep candidate evaluation separate from onboarding needs. Someone may have the right technical skills and still need help learning your release process. Record that support in the hiring decision rather than treating every learning need as a reason to reject.

Time to hire and start date

A hiring-speed claim needs a defined start and finish. Ask whether the clock starts with the first conversation, the approved role description, or a signed agreement. Confirm whether hired means offer acceptance or another event.

The start date is when the person begins work with your team. Track it separately. Notice commitments, equipment delivery, and account access belong in the plan even if the recruiting process moves quickly.

Reserve interview time before the search begins. Agree who can approve the finalist and who will send feedback. These are tasks your team controls, and the provider needs clear answers to keep a candidate moving.

Bill rate and fully loaded cost

The bill rate is what you pay for a stated unit of time. Fully loaded cost is a broader label whose contents need checking. Neither term gives you an itemized budget by itself.

Ask whether the quote covers paid leave and employer costs, and which expenses your company must supply. Confirm how changes in working hours affect the invoice. Request the billing currency and any rules for future rate changes.

Compare proposals over the same expected assignment period. Include any setup or conversion charges that apply to your plan. Keep salary comparisons separate from service comparisons so the approval team can see what each amount buys.

Replacement guarantee and statement of work

A replacement guarantee describes a remedy under stated conditions. Read when it applies, how to request it, and what the provider must do. Ask separately about refunds and the treatment of charges during a new search.

The statement of work records the duties you have agreed. For a staffing engagement, include the role and schedule, charges, and each party's responsibilities. Confirm how the scope changes if your team later needs different work.

Before signing, walk through a practical problem: the hire leaves during a release. Identify who starts the search, who handles access removal, and who covers unfinished tasks. Keep the answers with the agreement.

Bring the role scorecard, required hours, and approved budget to the hiring call. Include the person who will manage the hire.

Talk to Opus about a role.

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