What does an IT staffing agency do?

An IT secondment agency places experienced IT professionals temporarily with organizations that need them. Through such an agency, you hire knowledge for a specific issue without hiring someone permanently.

For large organizations, this is often the fastest way to acquire seniority. You have a migration, a program with tight deadlines, or a system that needs to be renewed. You are looking for someone to step in and carry the work. A secondment agency arranges that professional.

In this article, we explain exactly what an IT secondment agency does, how it differs from a recruitment agency, and when you should engage one.

How does an IT secondment agency work?

An IT secondment agency matches organizations with IT professionals for a temporary assignment. The agency has a network of experienced people and searches among them for the right person for your challenge.

The professional is employed by or works through the agency, but works on-site or within your team. You pay the agency a fee. The agency handles the contract, administration, and support of the professional.

A good agency does more than just forward a CV. It thinks along with you about what you need, checks if the person fits your organization, and remains involved during the assignment. This way, you know the deployment will actually deliver what you are looking for.

What does an IT secondment agency take off your hands?

With secondment, the professional remains employed by the agency. This means the agency is the legal employer, not you. A large part of the paperwork and admin therefore lies with the agency.

The agency arranges the employment contract, payroll, and social security contributions. Matters such as insurance and pension accrual also run through the agency. You hire the professional and pay a rate. Furthermore, you have no employer obligations.

This saves you time and risk. You do not have to go through a recruitment process, offer a permanent contract, or keep track of HR administration. You focus on the work and the results. The rest lies with the agency.

What is the difference between secondment and a recruitment agency?

Secondment and temporary recruitment are similar, but target different types of assignments.

A recruitment agency mainly fills temporary, operational roles, often for short periods and with high turnover. The focus is on capacity: extra hands when things are busy.

Secondment is about specialist knowledge for a longer or more complex assignment. The professional gets up to speed, takes responsibility, and delivers a concrete result. At an IT secondment agency, this often involves senior profiles: people with years of experience who handle an issue independently.

For a large organization with a complex IT landscape, secondment is therefore usually the logical choice. You bring someone in-house who can go into depth, not just someone who fills a gap.

When do you engage an IT secondment agency?

You engage an IT secondment agency when you temporarily need knowledge that you do not have in-house. The assignment is clear, but you lack the right people to do it.

A few situations where this plays a role:

• You are facing a migration after a takeover and need experienced people to drive the process.

• You have a program with tight deadlines and many stakeholders, requiring senior management.

• A legacy system needs to be modernized and your own team lacks the capacity or knowledge to do so.

• You want to absorb a peak in workload without hiring someone permanently.

In all these cases, you bring in the expertise for as long as the assignment lasts. After that, the deployment stops. You are not tied to a long-term contract and you keep your permanent team compact.

What should you look for when choosing a secondment agency?

Not every agency works the same way. There are a few things you can look out for before partnering up:

• The level of the professionals. Some agencies mainly provide junior or medior profiles, others focus on senior expertise. For a complex issue, you want someone who can work independently and take responsibility.

• Experience in your industry. An agency that knows your type of organization understands your challenges faster and searches more targeted for the right person.

• How the agency matches. Check whether the agency first clarifies your request and matches on content, or whether it mainly proposes an available profile quickly. This difference determines whether the professional really fits.

• Involvement during the assignment. Does the agency stay in touch and evaluate regularly, or does the attention stop as soon as the professional is placed?

How does Koodin work?

Koodin is an IT secondment agency in Amsterdam that works exclusively with seniors. Every professional has at least seven years of experience. We work for large organizations such as Schiphol, FedEx, and TNO.

We start by listening. We map out your request clearly and then deploy the right senior professional. They step directly into your team, take responsibility, and transfer their knowledge before the assignment ends.

You can read more about how we work on our page about IT secondment.

Do you want to know if secondment fits your challenge? Contact Maarten.

Anything to amaze you.