A job order form for staffing agencies
A recruiter cannot start a search from “we need someone good, fast.” A job order needs the role, the type of placement, the pay, the start date and the two or three things that rule a candidate out. The form collects them from the hiring manager before the intake call.
What should staffing agencies ask first?
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What is the role, and how many people do you need? | One hire and ten temporary workers are different searches. |
| Is it temporary, temp-to-hire, or a direct hire? | It decides the fee model, the contract and the candidate pool. |
| What is the pay rate or salary range? | A role priced below the market will not fill, whatever the search. |
| When does the person need to start, and for how long? | A start on Monday is worked today, from the people you already know. |
| Where is the work: on site, remote, or hybrid, and what are the hours? | Location and shift rule candidates in or out before skills do. |
| Which two or three requirements are must-haves, and which are nice to have? | A list of ten requirements is a list of zero; the must-haves are the search. |
| Who decides on the hire, and how many interviews will there be? | It tells you how fast a candidate can get an answer. |
If an answer would not change what you do next, leave the question out. Each extra question is one more reason for someone to stop before they finish.
Ask about the work and its requirements only. Leave out anything about the kind of person you want rather than what the job needs, and check job orders with whoever handles hiring practice in your agency.
Which answers come back too vague to use, and what do you ask next?
The answers that cause a phone call are rarely missing. They are present and too loose to act on. A narrower follow-up, asked straight away while the person is still there, usually settles them. Offering likely answers shows the person the level of detail you need.
| What comes back | The follow-up that settles it |
|---|---|
| “We need someone ASAP.” | Is there a date the role has to be covered by, and what happens if it isn’t? |
| “Pay is competitive.” | Could you give a range, even a broad one, so we only send people it works for? |
| “A good culture fit.” | What did the last person who did well in this role have that others didn’t? |
Follow up once per gap, then move on. If an answer is still unclear after one follow-up, flag it for whoever picks the request up rather than pressing.
When is a call or a visit still the right move?
A new client, a senior search or a large volume order deserves a proper intake call. What the form changes is the start of that call: the recruiter already has the role, the pay and the must-haves, and spends the time on what the form cannot capture, such as why the last hire left.
How do you set this up from the Client intake template?
Acquainto has a Client intake template to start from. After you sign up, open Browse templates, pick Client intake, and it lands in the editor as a draft you can change before anything is published.
The template asks for a name and email, branches on the service the person is interested in, and asks one follow-up question per service. Its starting choices are consulting, design and development. Rename them to temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire, put the role, pay, start date and must-haves on every branch, and use each branch’s own question for what that type needs: the length of the assignment for temporary, the fee terms for a direct hire.
To see it from the other side, answer a demo built from the questions on this page. It is a demo: your answers come to Acquainto, not to a business, so leave out real names and contact details.
Acquainto runs it as a short written conversation instead of a form. It:
- asks a follow-up when an answer is incomplete, and asks for clarification when one is vague;
- uses a structured choice where precision matters and open conversation where detail matters;
- shows the person every answer before it is sent, so they correct their own mistakes;
- hands back one clean value per question, delivered to your own systems by webhook.
The person answering needs no account, and nothing has to be scheduled. Start free trial, see how it works, or compare plans.