15 Best Professional Recruiting Firms

Recommendations - Jul 2020
Eshan Pancholi
Eshan Pancholi
Recruiting Expert

As Head of Marketing at ShortDot, Eshan Pancholi uses his tech marketing expertise to develop leading-edge recruitment strategies.

The best in the industry:
Toptal
  • High-profile clients
  • Thoroughly vetted candidates
  • High success rate for hires
Visit Toptal
Kelly Services
  • Dependable assistance
  • Strategic/customized portals
  • Established company
Visit Kelly Services
Robert Half
  • Proven track record for more than 70 years
  • High profile resource for staffing data
  • Specializations in IT, finance, and more
Visit Robert Half
Randstad
  • Global network of freelancers
  • Reasonable rates
  • Reliable/last-minute freelancers
Visit Randstad
Adecco
  • Partners with large enterprise companies
  • One-stop shopping for staffing
  • Many offices throughout the U.S.
Visit Adecco
Insight Global
  • Broad selection of candidates
  • Award-winning recruitment firm
  • Offers bespoke solutions to meet unique demands
Visit Insight Global
Lucas Group
  • High-profile clients
  • Collaborative practice
  • UX-friendly designs for clients
Visit Lucas Group
Nelson
  • Massive freelancer pool
  • Long-lasting partnerships
  • Custom web solutions
Visit Nelson
Brilliant
  • Award-winning staffing firm
  • Represents high-quality talent
  • Chicago, South Florida, and Dallas
Visit Brilliant
Frontline Source Group
  • Provides flexible hiring options
  • Experienced candidates across a host of fields
  • Award-winning staffing firm
Visit Frontline Source Group
LaSalle Network
  • American Staffing Association award-winning service
  • IT staffing for cybersecurity and analytics
  • Executive search capabilities
Visit LaSalle Network
Manpower
  • Innovative solutions
  • Over a million professionals matched
  • International freelancers
Visit Manpower
AppleOne Employment Services
  • Largest woman-minority owned workforce management company in U.S.
  • Specific agency for government contracts
  • 19 different countries
Visit AppleOne Employment Services
Allegis Group
  • Dedicated companies for specific skill requirements
  • Quality talent
  • High-level of service
Visit Allegis Group
Aquent
  • Personalized staffing solutions
  • Vast local and global presence
  • Creative focus
Visit Aquent

A recruiting firm is a company that helps businesses find the right talent and workforce in exchange for a commission. Recruiting companies serve as effective partners that pair talented professionals with companies looking to hire.

Almost every company faces the perennial issue of finding the right employees and most companies often find themselves on slippery ground trying to plan the workforce that will catapult their business to success. As companies grow and business intensifies, the war for talent also deepens leaving more human resource managers turning to recruitment firms for better staffing solutions.

Given today’s competitive market space, great employees (especially technical employees) are hard to find. A recruitment company helps to find the right candidates with ease. Recruiting companies help businesses to:

  • Save time
  • Find high-quality candidates who are well-qualified for the job
  • Eliminate costs and efforts associated with hiring quality talent
  • Ensure a better sense of assurance and security of the workforce

Many companies even turn to headhunters for efficient hiring solutions. However, headhunters work on behalf of organizations that are looking to hire candidates and not for the candidates per se. This can often lead to potential below-par candidates making the cut.

Having said that, there are several executive recruitment firms that help organizations find top-level management like CEOs, CFOs, COOs but recruitment firms primarily work on finding professionals like individual contributors and managers.

The 15 Best Professional Recruiting Firms

How will you choose a professional recruiting firm?
Founded in 2010, Toptal is an online professional talent services platform that connects businesses of all shapes and sizes with high-quality candidates and vice versa. Toptal’s talent base spans web and app developers, designers, architects, financial managers, data science experts, and many more. From cutting-edge startups to seasoned businesses, Toptal is trusted by companies across a wide spectrum. Toptal’s intense talent screening process only accepts the top 3 percent of thousands of applications. This makes Toptal a haven for highly skilled talent.

Known for:
  • High-profile clients
  • Thoroughly vetted candidates
  • High success rate for hires
Kelly Services operates with a clear motto to connect great companies with great people. Kelly Services has won several awards for delivering quality workforce solutions. Their global network of talent is a testament to the fact that they offer a wide range of staffing services. From small businesses to Fortune 100 businesses, Kelly Services is regarded as a pioneer of the modern staffing and temporary help industry. Founded in 1946, the staffing stalwart oversees the employment of more than 1 million workers.

Known for:
  • Dependable assistance
  • Strategic/customized portals
  • Established company
Robert Half is a staffing solutions firm that is designed to find talent for businesses and offer great job opportunities for professionals. In addition, Robert Half also offers consulting solutions for managing your business and resourcing challenges. Founded in 1948, Robert Half has offices across the globe, and this has enabled them to build a global pool of professional talent. From finance to administrative to IT to marketing to legal, Robert Half’s placements offer skilled candidates on a contract, contract-to-hire, and full-time basis.

Known for:
  • Proven track record for more than 70 years
  • High profile resource for staffing data
  • Specializations in IT, finance, and more
Founded in 1960, Randstad provides temporary, temporary to hire, and permanent placement services to businesses across the world. Rightfully regarded as one of the largest staffing firms in the world, Randstad is known to employ hundreds of thousands of people every day and has a strong presence of hundreds of offices across dozens of countries. Randstad delivers recruitment and HR solutions in the fields of IT, legal, engineering, finance, human resources, among others.

Known for:
  • Global network of freelancers
  • Reasonable rates
  • Reliable/last-minute freelancers
Adecco is one of the world’s largest human resource and staffing firms. Adecco connects around 70,000 professionals with some of the top global employers. Adecco has more than 50 years of experience in staffing and recruitment. Adecco services talent requirements across accounting, marketing, hospitality, customer service, retail, administrative, manufacturing, and more fields.

Known for:
  • Partners with large enterprise companies
  • One-stop shopping for staffing
  • Many offices throughout the U.S.
Atlanta-based Insight Global provides professional staffing services to corporations across the U.S. and Canada. Since its inception in 2001, Insight Global provides recruitment solutions in the fields of IT, government, finance, and engineering. Insight Global has swiftly risen to become one of America’s most successful staffing firms and offers flexible hiring services like short-term, long-term, permanent, temporary to hire and direct hire.

Known for:
  • Broad selection of candidates
  • Award-winning recruitment firm
  • Offers bespoke solutions to meet unique demands
From new businesses to mid-level organizations to Fortune 500, Lucas Group assists and offers a range of staffing services in the fields of IT, accounting, finance, human resources, manufacturing, legal, and more. Founded in 1970 and with teams of recruitment experts across the U.S., Lucas Group is regarded as a reliable staffing partner.

Known for:
  • High-profile clients
  • Collaborative practice
  • UX-friendly designs for clients
With over 45 years of matching organizations with high-quality talent, Nelson is famous for empowering businesses of all sizes and shapes with efficient staffing and recruitment services. Nelson’s talent verification process ensures only quality candidates make the cut. Founded in 1970 and headquartered in Northern California, Nelson offers recruitment solutions across finance, legal, engineering, tech, gaming, digital media, HR, administrative, production, beverage, clerical, among others.

Known for:
  • Massive freelancer pool
  • Long-lasting partnerships
  • Custom web solutions
Brilliant is an award-winning direct-hire, contract-to-hire, and recruitment consulting firm that also specializes in offering staffing solutions for accounting, finance, and IT requirements. The U.S.-based staffing firm is equipped to find professional talent across all levels – from entry-level to professional. Brilliant represents some of the best finance and IT talent and matches them seamlessly with businesses across all industries that require their expertise.

Known for:
  • Award-winning staffing firm
  • Represents high-quality talent
  • Chicago, South Florida, and Dallas
Voted as the "Best Place to Work" and “Best Staffing Agency” several times across multiple cities, Frontline offers valuable staffing resources for businesses across the fields of IT, HR, accounting, finance, oil and gas, engineering, legal, administrative, and customer service. Established in 2004, Frontline Source Group provides direct-hire, temporary, and temp-hire staffing services along with providing high-quality candidates.

Known for:
  • Provides flexible hiring options
  • Experienced candidates across a host of fields
  • Award-winning staffing firm
LaSalle Network is a staffing and recruiting firm that offers a range of flexible hiring options such as permanent and temporary hire across the fields of finance, tech, office services, HR, marketing, supply chain, and healthcare. Founded in 1998, LaSalle Network works with businesses of all sizes and is known to offer highly qualified and talented candidates. LaSalle works with hundreds of recruiters to provide quality staffing solutions and their intense training group ranks as one of the best in the world.

Known for:
  • American Staffing Association award-winning service
  • IT staffing for cybersecurity and analytics
  • Executive search capabilities
Founded in 1948, Manpower boasts of over 60 years of staffing experience and a formidable global presence. Manpower works with a host of recruitment partners in the likes of JOBipedia.org, AARP, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and more to ensure that they offer the best possible candidates to employers. Manpower is recognized as one of the world’s largest staffing firms that aim to enrich businesses with specialized talent across a host of fields.

Known for:
  • Innovative solutions
  • Over a million professionals matched
  • International freelancers
AppleOne Employment Services is part of the ActOne Family of Companies and was listed in Forbes’ 2018 edition as one of “ America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms”. Founded in 1964, AppleOne has worked with the Federal Government of the US including FEMA. AppleOne has an international presence, serving thousands of clients and candidates. AppleOne delivers corporate HR solutions across global markets and is regarded as one of the largest woman-minority owned workforce management companies.

Known for:
  • Largest woman-minority owned workforce management company in U.S.
  • Specific agency for government contracts
  • 19 different countries
Allegis Group prides itself on delivering a global network of talent solutions that connects the right talent with the right opportunities. Allegis Group consists of various companies, each dedicated providing a wide suite of talent and recruitment services and solutions across a specific industry and skillset. With over three decades of staffing expertise, Allegis Group equips employers with a workforce that offers a competitive advantage in terms of skills and experience.

Known for:
  • Dedicated companies for specific skill requirements
  • Quality talent
  • High-level of service
Aquent is known for servicing some of the world’s largest, most savvy businesses and brands with teams who are fully equipped to tackle a wide variety of challenges with speed and determination. Aquent has domestic and international offices to deliver recruitment and staffing services. Aquent offers permanent, temporary to permanent hire, freelance, consultant, or outsourced talent based on a business’s requirements and their talent spans various fields and different types of digital marketing roles, including UX, digital marketing, and more.

Known for:
  • Personalized staffing solutions
  • Vast local and global presence
  • Creative focus

Conclusion: How Do You Choose The Right Professional Recruiting Firm For Your Business?

The list above comprises some of the best recruitment firms in the world. From delivering exclusive talent to offering unmatched service levels, these firms can more than likely help your recruiting needs. However, which one is right for you, will depend on your specific needs and goals.

Here’s a list of common best practices that will help to better decide which recruitment firm will best suit your requirements:

  1. Consult companies that have had similar requirements or goals as your business. These companies could be channel partner firms or even competitors.
  2. Turn to experienced HR personnel and veteran recruiters for their recommendations and insights.
  3. List the top 3-5 recruitment firms based on the services they offer and then do a thorough deep-dive into their overall performance.
  4. Avoid taking the help of recruitment firms that offer a host of services for lowers costs. Chances are that the quality of service and talent will be below par.
  5. Evaluate the fees and charges of the recruitment firm, the terms and conditions of the contracts, service locations. The recruitment firms should offer quality services in your location of preference at a cost that fits in your budget.

These best practices will surely help you find the right recruitment firm for your staffing needs.

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Eshan Pancholi
Eshan Pancholi
Recruiting Expert

As Head of Marketing at ShortDot, Eshan Pancholi uses his tech marketing expertise to develop leading-edge recruitment strategies.

Read More
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