Field notes

Most desks either skip reference checks or let them stall a placement for a week. Here is the staged system that matches the depth of the check to the type of placement, automates the request so it finishes in hours, and keeps you on the right side of FCRA and the EEOC, with the real scripts you can steal.

A handshake and an invoice is not a fee agreement, and the day a client disputes your placement is the day you find out. Here are the seven clauses that decide whether you actually get paid, with the real sample language you can adapt and the places each one breaks.

When you place a W-2 temp at a client site, you and the client can both be the employer in the eyes of the law. Here is what co-employment really means, the five places it bites a staffing desk, the 2026 rule changes that just moved the line, and the contract and onboarding paper trail that keeps the liability where it belongs.

Cost-per-hire climbed to $5,475 in 2025, and a staffing desk pays most of it in places nobody tracks. Here is how to measure what each placement really costs you, and the six-stage system that cuts job-board waste, recruiter hours, and the fall-offs that make you pay twice.

Three of these four recruiting CRMs now publish a real price. One still hides most of its tiers. Here is what Loxo, Crelate, Recruit CRM and Bullhorn actually cost per seat in 2026, the metered and hidden fees that change the math, three-year totals for a solo, 8-seat and 25-seat desk, and an honest read on who each one is right for.

Your invoice can't go out until the timesheet is in and the client has signed off. Those few days happen every week, before your net-30 clock even starts, and they quietly add a week to how long your money is tied up. Here is the six-stage system that gets hours in, gets them approved, and gets you invoiced the day the week ends, with the exact copy you can steal.