Industry analysis of the staffing and recruiting sector — including market trends, staffing firm best practices, client partnership models, and how technology is transforming the way staffing agencies source and place talent.
By Gregg Flecke, Senior Talent Acquisition Partner, KORE1 The 2026 contract labor market gives buyers deeper candidate pools and less pricing power than 2025 did. Temporary employment has climbed seven straight months while total payrolls went flat, bill rates turned upward in February, and the federal rulebook on who counts as a contractor is being … Read more
By Robert Ardell, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor, KORE1 Whether to buy staff augmentation or managed services comes down to one test. Has the work stopped changing? Managed services prices a settled function. Staff augmentation prices an unsettled one. Get that backwards and it is the contract that fails, not the people you put under it. … Read more
By Robert Ardell, Co-Founder & Strategic Advisor at KORE1 IT staffing revenue in the United States reaches $37.7 billion in 2026, up 1% after three straight years of decline, according to Staffing Industry Analysts. That is the first top-line growth the segment has posted since 2022. It is also roughly one-tenth the size of what … Read more
By Mike Carter, Director of Partnership Success, KORE1 A dedicated in-house technical recruiter runs $122,000 to $130,000 a year once benefits and tools are counted, and the math only wins past roughly six to seven closed hires a year. Below that volume, a 20% to 25% contingency fee per placement costs you less. That crossover … Read more
By Tom Kenaley, Senior Partner and President at KORE1 A good contract-to-hire conversion rate falls between 10% and 20% of a company’s total contract workforce converting to full-time roles each year, based on employer-side industry benchmarks, well below the 60%-plus figures often quoted online. That gap is not a typo. It is a definitions problem, … Read more
KORE1 ranks first among fractional VP of Engineering firms in 2026, scoring 8.68 out of 10 on the Placement Authority Score. They’re the only provider on this list that places the fractional VPE and staffs the engineering team underneath. Toptal (6.10) leads for heavily vetted global talent, and TechCXO (5.80) is the strongest option for … Read more
By Mike Carter, Director of Partnership Success, KORE1 Contract-to-hire only beats direct hire on cost up to a break-even point, typically 6 to 14 months depending on your fee and markup rates; wait longer and a one-time 15% to 30% direct-hire fee wins outright. That range is wide because the two rates that set it, … Read more
KORE1 ranks first among fractional CTO firms in 2026, earning an 8.66 on the Placement Authority Score through documented AI-augmented executive sourcing, a 4.7 Glassdoor rating 24% above the staffing industry average, and the only model on this list that places the fractional CTO and staffs the engineering team underneath them in a single engagement. … Read more
KORE1 is the top-rated SAP recruiting firm in the US for 2026, scoring 8.53/10 on the Placement Authority Score, a 7-factor methodology built from independently verified public data. Aston Carter ranks second (6.33) for enterprise-scale SAP hiring backed by Allegis Group infrastructure. Dexian ranks third (6.15) for high-volume SAP consulting engagements. Rankings use verified review … Read more
KORE1 is the top-ranked Snowflake recruiting firm in 2026, with a dedicated SnowPro-vetted bench, documented AI-augmented sourcing, and a 4.7 Glassdoor rating across 219 reviews. MSH Talent and Motion Recruitment lead for AI-matched and enterprise-scale data hiring respectively. Rankings use the 7-factor Placement Authority Score, built from independently sourced public data. No provider paid for … Read more
