In today’s competitive staffing market, top firms realize the importance of embracing standardization certifications such as ISO and CMMI — International Organization for Standardization and Capability Maturity Model Integration. Achieving compliance requires dedicated commitment to quality, consistency and efficiency in a rapidly changing market.
The International Organization for Standardization for years has created relevant standards that support innovation and provide global solutions to worldwide challenges while focusing on consistency and continuous evaluation for improvement. Further demonstrating the strength of these standards, more than a million organizations and companies within 170 countries have earned ISO certifications.
Staffing is a highly transactional industry with many moving parts, and one that is highly dependent on trust between customers and their staffing partners; and between staffing companies and its candidates. ISO certifications are structured to build trust transparently between all the parties in the staffing ecosystem.
ISO certifications indicate continuity of processes across a firm’s multiple locations and ensure the same quality candidates and client support will be delivered everywhere in accordance with audited, certified processes.
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Also, with the growing number of Fortune 500 companies achieving ISO certifications, many actively search to do business with others that hold themselves to ISO standards and have received certification — purely because these standards indicate quality and imply lower risk to partnerships.
Each of these certifications requires STRICT adherence to an extensive list of guidelines and criteria outlined by industry experts who are at the forefront of innovation, backend processes management and customer experience. These standards are reviewed and updated by a governing body as necessary and an organization seeking certification must go through a rigorous quality audit of its practices by an independent certifying body and then remain compliant. Compliance is audited every 12 months and recertification is required — so certification is not a one-and-done event.
ISO and Staffing
Of particular interest within the staffing industry is the ISO 9001 Quality Management certification and the ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management certification.
ISO 9001 is based on numerous quality management principles designed to strengthen internal, back-office processes within an organization. This certification concentrates on enhanced customer service, the motivation and implication of top management and an organization’s approach to efficient, safe practices. ISO 9001 also places special emphasis on a firm’s dedication to constant improvement of their processes based on error reduction, evolving technology, newly-discovered efficiencies such as automation and market trends & growth.
For instance, staffing clients expect a seamless process when receiving candidates for review as well as day 1 deployment. ISO certification indicates a company’s internal processes for customer-facing transactions have met standards necessary for efficiency and quality. Likewise, it also indicates to a job-seeking professional that the staffing firm it is considering engaging with has tried-and-true processes. Minimized risk on all sides is the foundation for long-term relationships with clients and consultants.
As ISO 9001 focuses on quality, ISO/IEC 27001 focuses on security. If an organization has received an ISO/IEC 27001 certification, it has been found to have met a set of guidelines designed to keep valuable digital information secure. It also indicates an organization has a systematic approach to managing sensitive information and includes certification of not only the processes and IT systems being used but also evaluates risk management processes and the employees who implement them.
ISO/IEC 27001 certification is becoming increasingly more important as staffing firms gather personal information of their consultants and other job seekers and also keep vital information with regards to their clients and their businesses.
Staffing firms that place a special emphasis on receiving these certifications are telling their current and future clients their processes are sound, their customer support is exceptional and their data is secure. Firms that strive for and achieve these certifications are sending a loud and clear message: Their work ethic from the top down is focused, efficient and best-in-class.
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