IPA and NISA Equal Networking

By: Elaine Romberg
Date: 2/1/2008

IPA and NISA are national networks comprised of independent owners who are permanent placement agency owners or independent temporary staffing firms who "network" every day.

Networking is essential to their business and in serving their clients. Most owners have realized a long time ago that there really is no substitute for "networking" - the sharing and helping one another is a very simple way to describe what networking really is.

Example - an owner may have a client who needs a plant manager - and needs to fill this position asap...after several days of recruiting, still no luck in finding a qualified candidate who is willing to move to this geographical location. If the owner was a member of a network, they would have hundreds of contacts available to them in helping to locate the best qualified candidate, and this could happen very quickly because of technology today.

The other value of networking is being able to provide many other opportunities to your candidates that otherwise you would not have available. When a candidate registers or contacts your company and you are a member of a national network, you have many more possible opportunities for the candidate to consider.

As owner/members of a network, sharing of information is a prime benefit...not only on a day-to-day basis, but at meetings, conferences, and in communications shared among the membership. Example: An owner learns of a number of sites that lists information on relocation costs...the network shares it among the membership and everyone benefits.

If you are an independent owner and have not been involved in a network and would like to consider trying the services, please feel free to ask IPA or NISA for free information - ipa@athenet.net or ipa5@athenet.net

Now for the big questions...

What is IPA?

What is NISA?

IPA is a national network comprised of over 200 independent permanent placement owners.

NISA is a national network comprised of over 100 independent temporary staffing owners.

IPA is not a new national network - it was organized and became an official network on May 25, 1972. Prior to May 25th, a small group of independent owners decided to organize a formal network service. They saw the value of sharing job orders and candidate resumes with one another. If their client made an offer to the candidate, the placement fee was split 50-50.

This small group of independent owners specialized in Engineering, Manufacturing, Pulp and Paper, Quality, H.R., and a number of other areas at that time. Today, IPA is a full-service network and has even gone a step further in that IPA formed alliances with First Interview, the National Banking Network and Recruiterlife.com.

The alliance with Recruiterlife.com allows IPA owners to subscribe to the IPA Black Book (a database of over 15 million passive candidates) and also to subscribe to Job Alert - another way to find candidates for the job orders needing to be filled. The alliances with First Interview and the National Banking Network allow recruiters who specialize in sales/marketing and banking to share with recruiters in those networks.

IPA's proprietary system, the IPA Moneymaker, allows recruiters to submit (post) their job orders and enter their candidates' resumes into the database and also allows for every IPAer to search for job orders and candidates in the database.

In 1986, IPA was asked to start a "support group" for those IPA owners who were wanting to start a temporary staffing business, and a new national network was born - Inter-City Temporary Services. In 2003, ICTS changed its name to NISA - the National Independent Staffing Association which spells out what it is.

NISA is primarily an exchange of information which means a lot of sharing goes on within the network whether it be something to do with workmen's comp, marketing programs, compensation for employees, fringe benefits, etc. NISA provides owners an opportunity to ask any questions they wish; email it to the NISA Business Office and it is then emailed to all owner/members and the feedback is not only forwarded to the owner with the question, but shared with all NISA members every Friday in THE NISA MESSENGER newsletter.

NISA provides an Idea Exchange annually. Members share samples of their applications, handbook, forms, etc.

A Business System Survey is published to those who participate on an annual basis.

Discounted pricing on office products, and other program and information made available is passed on to all NISA and IPA owner/members. Both network members have options to purchase EPL and E & O Insurance coverage through Bowen, Miclette and Britt.

Annual conferences and conventions are scheduled every year with top trainers and speakers addressing owners and their staff members in our continuing effort to provide education and training for all owners and their employees.

Both networks have an extensive list of training materials available to all members at no charge in the Lending Libraries.

Both networks which were started for the purpose of assisting small independent owners remain competitive with the larger firms. Over the past 35+ years, IPA and NISA have truly added to the "benefits of membership" as well as benefits which result in discounted pricing of supplies and subscriptions.

IPA and NISA believe the future is bright and looks forward to continued growth in 2008.

Elaine Romberg is the President of Inter-City Personnel Associates (IPA). She can be contacted at 920-720-5323 or by email at ipa@athenet.net.