When a bank in the United States needs three Java developers for a year-long project, it may not hire them itself. It may call a staffing firm such as Randstad or TEKsystems, which finds the developers, puts them on its own payroll, and places them on the bank's team, sometimes with the developers working from India.
A staffing firm's business is finding people for other companies. It comes in several forms, from global staffing groups with tens of thousands of placements to recruitment agencies of a few people. Some place engineers on contract and keep them on their own payroll. Others find people for permanent jobs with the client, and are paid a fee when the person is hired. Many do both.
This Company Tier holds more firms than any other in these collections. Most are small. A handful, such as Randstad, ManpowerGroup, Adecco and Allegis Group, are among the largest employers in the world.
Every firm named here has posted software engineering jobs in India.
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Six more sections are on this page: What these firms sell, and to whom, Whose payroll are you on, The established row, The ordinary row, Who pays, who directs the work, and The firms. Sign in to read them here, in full.
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What these firms sell, and to whom
They sell people, found and placed for a client. The main ways they are paid:
Contract staffingthe firm employs the engineer and bills the client an hourly or monthly rate for their work. The firm's income is the gap between that rate and what it pays the engineer. When one engineer is added to a client's existing team this way, it is called staff augmentation.
Permanent placementthe firm finds a candidate the client hires directly. It is paid a one-time fee, usually a share of the new employee's first-year salary.
RPO, recruitment process outsourcingthe firm runs part or all of a client's hiring, as an outsourced recruiting team, and is paid for running it.
Executive searchthe firm finds senior leaders, usually for a fee agreed in advance.
Workforce management and HR outsourcingthe firm manages a client's contractors, or takes over payroll and HR as the legal employer, while the client directs the work.
The clients are companies in every industry, and IT services firms too. The largest clients are in the United States, and many IT staffing firms here are American firms with recruiting and delivery teams in India.
Whose payroll are you on
The three main kinds of staffing firm differ in one thing: who employs the engineer.
In contract staffingthe staffing firm is the employer. It pays the salary, the taxes and the statutory benefits, such as provident fund in India. The engineer works for the client, often at the client's office or on its systems, and the client directs the work. When the contract ends, the engineer goes back to the staffing firm, which looks for the next placement.
In RPOthe staffing firm recruits on the client's behalf, often under the client's name, but the people it hires join the client's own payroll. Careernet and Allegis Global Solutions are examples.
In a recruitment agencythe agency only finds the candidate. Once hired, the person is the client's employee, and the agency's work is done. Hays, Michael Page and many small Indian agencies work this way.
The three main kinds of staffing firm differ in who employs the engineer. In contract staffing the staffing firm employs and pays the engineer while the client directs the work; in RPO and with a recruitment agency, the firm recruits or finds the person, and the client puts them on its own payroll.
Two related models take the employer role even further:
A PEO or employer of recordsuch as TriNet or Vensure Employer Solutions, becomes the legal employer of a client's staff, handling payroll, benefits and HR, while the client runs the work. (More on it in Market Segment 12.2, Global payroll and employer of record (EOR), in Industry Vertical 12, HR tech, in the product-companies collection.)
A contingent workforce managersuch as Magnit or Tapfin, manages all of a large client's contractors, across many staffing firms.
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The established row
A few staffing firms here are large, long-established businesses with global reach.
Randstadthe global staffing group, and Randstad Digital, its technology arm, which works mainly by placing engineers
ManpowerGroupthe global staffing group
TekWissenan IT staffing firm, which appears under two names, TekWissen and TekWissen (R)
BairesDevwhich does software outsourcing and staff augmentation
Recroa technology staff-augmentation firm
TriNeta PEO, which takes on payroll and HR for other companies' staff
Wissen Infotechwhich does IT services and IT staffing
Akkodisan engineering firm that supplies engineers to its clients. It is covered mainly in the services-world collection. (More on it in Company Tier 6, Where the work is hardware, cars and chips, in the services-world collection.)
Other large staffing groups in this Company Tier include Adecco, Allegis Group, Insight Global, TEKsystems, Kforce, Hays, Michael Page and Quess.
The ordinary row
Most firms here are small: IT staffing firms and recruitment agencies with a few dozen or a few hundred people. Many recruit in India for clients in the United States, or place engineers with Indian IT services firms and product companies. They are ordinary businesses doing ordinary placement work, and their names change hands and merge often.
Recruitment agenciesUmanist NA, BU Consultants and Questhiring
IT staffing firmsSource-Right, Brace Infotech and PRI IT Services
IT staffing and servicesCosette Network
An AI recruitment start-upRecrew AI
OthersBest NanoTech and InCommon
Who pays, who directs the work
Every staffing arrangement splits the job between three parties: the payroll employer, the client, and the job itself. Two features of the industry follow from that split.
Layers of firms. Between the client and the engineer there can be more than one staffing firm. A large client often works with a few approved staffing firms, called prime vendors. A prime vendor may pass some roles to smaller staffing firms, called sub-vendors, which find the engineer. Each layer takes a share of the rate the client pays. This is common in American IT staffing, and many of the small Indian firms here work as sub-vendors.
A large client pays the rate to an approved prime vendor, which may pass the role to a smaller sub-vendor that finds the engineer. Each layer takes a share of the rate before it reaches the engineer.
Contract types. The main arrangements are:
contracta placement for a fixed period, on the staffing firm's payroll
contract-to-hirea contract placement that the client may convert into a permanent job after a set time
permanentthe client hires the engineer directly, and the staffing firm is paid a fee
In each case, the payroll employer is responsible for salary, taxes and statutory benefits, and the client decides what the engineer works on each day.
The firms
The established row: Randstad, Randstad Digital, ManpowerGroup, TekWissen, TekWissen (R), BairesDev, Recro, TriNet, Wissen Infotech and Akkodis (covered mainly in services-world Company Tier 6)
The ordinary row: Umanist NA, BU Consultants, Questhiring, Source-Right, Recrew AI, Cosette Network, Brace Infotech, PRI IT Services, Best NanoTech and InCommon
Other staffing firms, by kind
IT staffing and contract staffing7N, ACS International (ACSII), ALIQAN Technologies, AllSTARSIT, AMISEQ, Ampstek, Amtex Systems, Andor Tech, Anlage Infotech (two entries), Apex Systems, Apidel Technologies, Artech LLC, AS Technology Corp., Avensys Consulting, BayOne Solutions, BCforward, Best Infosystems Ltd, Collabera, Crescent Techservices, Cygnus Professionals (two entries), Dexian, Diligente Technologies, eAspire Technolabs, EdgeVantage, emagine, FastSwitch - Great Lakes (FastTek Global), Galaxy i technologies, Highbrow Technology Inc, Hudson IT and Manpower, Innova ESI, Intellectt Inc., K&K Global Talent Solutions INC., LevelUP HCS, Lorven Technologies, Maganti IT Resources, Mancer Consulting Services, Mastech Digital, Maven Workforce, Megan Soft, Mulya Technologies, MyRemoteTeam Inc., NeerInfo Solutions, NexionPro Services, Norwin Technologies, NR Consulting, People Prime Worldwide, Pyramid Consulting, Quess IT Staffing, RAIS USA, RapidBrains, Sky Systems, Inc. (SkySys), Stage 4 Solutions, Sunrise Systems, Inc., TalentOnLease, Techno-Comp Computer Services, Tekgence Inc., TEKsystems, The Judge Group, Trigent Software - Professional Services, Ubique Systems, United Techno, US Tech Solutions, Valzo Soft Solutions, VARITE INC, VBeyond Corporation, VidPro Consultancy Services and Wimmer Solutions
IT staffing combined with IT servicesAditi Consulting, Aditi India, Amazech Solutions, Ampcus Tech, AquSag Technologies, Atyeti Inc., BrickRed Systems, Byteridge, Caprus IT, Creospan Inc., Creospan Pvt Ltd, Delta System & Software, Dew Software, Dexian India, Dicetek LLC, Droisys, Elfonze Technologies, Enterprise Minds, Flexton Inc., Harjai Computers, Info Origin, Innova Solutions, IntraEdge, iXceed Solutions, JRD Systems, Kash Tech, Logic Planet, MethodHub, Milestone Technologies, Inc., NAM Info, Net2Source (N2S), Nityo Infotech, Optimum Solutions, People Tech Group, Programmers.io, RGP, RiDiK (CLPS), Serigor Inc., Soffit Infrastructure Services, Team Geek Solutions, Teamware Solutions, Tekskills Inc., TEKsystems Global Services, Tescra, Unify Technologies, V-Soft Digital, VLink Inc., VySystems, Webologix Ltd, Willware Technologies and ZettaMine Labs
General and specialist staffing groupsActalent, Adecco, Allegis Group, Amicon Hub Services, ARA Resources, Brunel Technical Services Manpower, Eastvantage, Insight Global, Kforce Inc., Pacer Group, Planet Pharma, Quess Corp Ltd and Quesscorp
Recruitment agencies and search firms10XTD, Adept Global, Angel and Genie, Antal International, Antal Tech jobs, CareerXperts, CareerXperts Consulting, Crossing Hurdles, Cygnify, Domnic Lewis, Expert Executive Recruiters (EER Global), GlobalHunt, Golden Opportunities, Harjai Talent, Hays, Heptarc Talent Acquisition, Hireginie, Hiringhood, HuntingCube Recruitment Solutions, HYrEzy Tech Solutions, IndiHire, iO Associates - UK/EU, Jobworld Management Consultancy, Live Connections, LiveConnections, Michael Page, mthree, Multi Recruit, NMD Placement Consultancy, NorthStar HR Consultants, Options Executive Search, Peoplefy, Playdawn Consulting, ProSapiens HR, Real Jobs Consulting Services, Recruit91, ResourceTree Global Services, Right Advisors Private Limited, Sampoorna Consultants, Seventh Contact Hiring Solutions, Skills Agency, Skyleaf Consultants, Staffington Global, Straatix Partners, T D Newton & Associates, Talent Corner HR Services, Talentiser, Talentmatics, TechConnexions, TekPillar(R), Tenth Revolution Group, The Edge Partnership - Australia, The Edge Partnership The Edge In Asia, Three Across, TIGI HR, Upgradrekrut, Viraaj HR Solutions, Wenger & Watson, Whitefield Careers, Work Force Nexus Recruitment Agency, Zigsaw and Zorba AI
RPO, workforce management and HR outsourcingAcme Services, Allegis Global Solutions, Alp Consulting Ltd, Careernet, Intellismith, Magnit, OrbiTouch HR (orbiTouch outsourcing pvt ltd), Sutra Services, Tapfin, Thema Corporate Services, TrueBlue India, Vensure Employer Solutions and Zyoin Group
AI recruiting start-ups inside the staffing world.
Much of a recruiter's day is searching for candidates, reading CVs, matching them to roles and arranging interviews. AI now does a growing share of that work, and a new kind of staffing firm has appeared, built around AI from the start, such as Recrew AI and Zorba AI. The established firms are adding the same tools. As AI takes over sourcing and screening, the value of a staffing firm shifts to what software does less well: its relationships with clients, and handling the contracts, payroll and legal duties of being the employer.
That is the staffing company: firms that find people for other companies, and often employ them while the client directs their work, from global groups to small agencies.