Contingent Staffing Services, With Your MSP or Without One
Temp, contract and contract-to-hire people employed by KORE1, submitted through your VMS or straight to your hiring manager.
Contingent staffing services supply temporary, contract and contract-to-hire workers who stay on the staffing firm’s payroll while they work under your direction. KORE1 recruits them, puts most on our own W-2 and bills you by the hour.
Last updated: September 28, 2026
- This page
- What KORE1 supplies as a contingent staffing firm, and how one req runs with an MSP program in the middle or without one.
- Covered elsewhere
- Building and running the program itself is in our contingent workforce management guide. What an MSP and a VMS each do is laid out in MSP vs VMS.
Contingent is a procurement word. Hiring managers rarely say it. They ask for a contractor through the migration, a temp for the busy season, or somebody for six months to see whether the role sticks.
Same buy underneath. We find the person, we employ them as staff rather than independent contractors, you direct the work, and it ends or converts on terms somebody wrote down first. Most of it runs through our contract staffing desk, in IT, engineering, and accounting and finance, with a smaller share in creative, HR and light industrial work.
Four Kinds of Contingent Staffing We Run
The label on the req matters less than two questions. How long? And what happens at the end?
- TemporaryDays to a few months. A seasonal peak, a leave of absence, a backlog that won’t clear itself. Our temporary staffing team runs the short end.
- ContractA specialist for a fixed term. It’s tied to a project or a gap, priced by the hour, and ended on notice when the work is done.
- Contract-to-hireBegins on our payroll and moves to yours if it works. Or it doesn’t. Want the details? Read how contract-to-hire works before you pick a conversion date.
- Project teamScope first, hours second. A small crew works against a defined scope, for when you’d rather buy a finished deliverable with acceptance criteria and a date than rent a block of hours and manage the people yourself. That’s project staffing.
Not sure which one you’re buying? Tell us the end date you’re picturing. If there isn’t one, the right answer may be a direct hire, and we’ll say so plainly instead of selling you a contractor for a seat that was always going to be permanent.
Pay attention to the second question, too. A contract that quietly becomes permanent is where tenure caps, conversion fees and classification risk start to pile up. Plan the ending early.
How Contingent Staffing Runs Inside an MSP Program
Large buyers usually route contingent reqs through a managed service provider and a vendor management system. We work inside those programs as a supplier. Here’s one req, start to finish, and whose desk each step lands on.
Assignment ticket Client copy
- 01Req released YouOpen the req in the VMS with the rate card and a target start. Your MSPChecks the rate and releases the req to suppliers, often a tier at a time. KORE1Confirms what the rate can buy in that market and asks the questions the description skipped.
- 02Submittals YouNothing yet. Your MSPScreens for duplicate candidates and the documents the program requires. KORE1Submits a short list, each person with a signed right to represent.
- 03Interviews YouInterview and choose. Your MSPSchedules through the VMS and records the decision. KORE1Preps each finalist on the team, the stack and the manager.
- 04Offer and start YouApprove the start date. Your MSPIssues the work order at the agreed bill rate. KORE1Hires the person onto our payroll, runs the checks your program asks for and gets them to day one.
- 05Weekly time YouApprove the hours. Your MSPBills you once across every supplier, then pays us. KORE1Runs payroll, withholds taxes and pays overtime wherever the law requires it.
- 06Extend, end or convert YouDecide before the end date, not on it. Your MSPProcesses the change order or the conversion. KORE1Tracks tenure against your cap, tells the person early and handles the final paycheck.
Look down the right-hand column. That’s the whole pitch. Clean submittals, a rate that holds, a payroll nobody has to chase, and an end date that doesn’t surprise the person working it.
Most tenure caps exist to manage co-employment exposure, and a contractor who crosses one by accident creates a mess for everyone on the ticket, so we watch the calendar on our side too and raise it weeks before the date. Early is kinder. Our note on contractor tenure limits explains where those caps come from.
Buying Contingent Staffing Directly
No MSP? Then the middle column of that ticket is ours as well. You deal with a recruiter, not a portal. Simpler, mostly.
- One recruiterThe person who took your first call runs the search and picks up when you ring. No relay.
- A rate you can readPay, employer payroll taxes and our margin make up the bill rate. Our contractor rate guide shows typical ranges by role.
- Conversion, in writingThinking you might hire them later? The fee and the timing sit in the agreement from the start.
Two things stay yours either way, because you direct the daily work and workplace safety is shared, since OSHA’s temporary worker guidance treats the staffing agency and the host employer as jointly responsible for a temporary worker’s safety. Conduct on site works the same way under the EEOC’s contingent worker guidance.
When does a program start earning its fee? Once contractors arrive from more suppliers than anyone can keep straight, and nobody in finance can say what the company spent on them last quarter, a program office earns its keep in visibility alone. Not before. Our MSP staffing guide walks through that call, and if you get as far as a shortlist, Staffing Industry Analysts keeps a directory of MSP and VMS providers that is a reasonable place to start.
92%
twelve-month retention on KORE1 placements
17 days
average for an IT hire with KORE1
2005
the year KORE1 started placing people
30+
U.S. metros with dedicated KORE1 coverage
Source: KORE1 placement data.
The Contingent Roles We Fill Most
Our contingent work leans technical. Four desks carry most of it, each with recruiters who staff nothing else.
IT
Cloud, data and security
Contract engineers for migrations, platform work and security remediation, the biggest line on our desk.
IT staffingEngineering
Build-outs and launches
Mechanical, electrical and manufacturing engineers for a line start-up or a product release with a date on it.
Engineering staffingFinance
Close, audit and conversions
Accountants and analysts by the month for year-end close, audit preparation or an ERP cutover.
Accounting and financeCreative
Campaign peaks
Designers, writers and producers who can join a campaign already in motion and leave when it ships.
Digital and creative
Common Questions
Is contingent staffing the same as temp staffing?
Temp staffing is one kind of contingent staffing. Contingent covers anyone doing your work while someone else employs them, so contract, contract-to-hire and project staff count too. What separates them is how long the work lasts and what happens at the end, whether that’s a clean finish, an extension through your program office or a conversion to your own payroll.
Can KORE1 join our MSP program as a supplier?
Yes, if your program is adding suppliers for the roles we fill. We already work inside client MSP and VMS programs, and joining usually means a supplier agreement, insurance certificates and a VMS login. Tiering is their call.
Who is the employer of a contingent worker?
KORE1 is, for everyone we place on our W-2. We run payroll, withhold taxes and carry workers’ comp and unemployment insurance. You direct the daily work, which is why safety and conduct on site are shared between us.
How is contingent staffing priced?
By the hour. The bill rate covers the worker’s pay, the employer taxes and insurance on top of it, and our margin. Inside an MSP program the rate card sets the ceiling, and the program fee comes out of either your budget or the supplier’s margin, depending on how the program is funded.
How quickly can a contingent role be filled?
17 days is KORE1’s average for an IT hire. A senior specialist with a rare mix of skills can take longer, and we’ll tell you up front instead of in week three. Some fill faster.
Can we hire a contingent worker permanently?
Usually, yes. Contract-to-hire exists for exactly that, and a straight contractor can convert too. The fee and the timing belong in the agreement, or in your MSP program’s terms, so nobody has to negotiate them the week you decide.
When is contingent staffing the wrong choice?
When the seat is permanent and the work is core to the business. A contractor in a permanent seat for years costs more than an employee and raises tenure and co-employment questions. That’s a direct hire. We run those searches too.
Send Us the Req
The role, the rate range, the start date and whether it runs through your VMS. That’s plenty. A KORE1 recruiter will call back with a plan. Then with people.
Talk to a Contingent Recruiter →Or call 949-706-6990
