What to ask a provider before you sign: six questions and their red flags

Almost every conversation with a staffing provider goes the same way: they explain the model, show you a profile, give you a rate and ask when you want to start. And almost every one of them leaves untouched the six things that decide whether this still works in month four.

What separates a provider who holds the role up from one who introduces someone and disappears is not the pitch on the first call. It is the answers to these six questions. They are written so you can copy and paste them as they are, and they work just as well if you end up hiring elsewhere: that is exactly what makes them useful.

«Where is my data kept while someone works for me?»

First on the list, since almost nobody asks it and it is the most expensive one to discover late. Someone is going to be inside your store, your helpdesk or your CRM every day, and that information has to live somewhere while they work.

Ask for specifics: which machine your system opens on and who administers it; whether a file can be downloaded from that environment onto the worker's own device; and what happens if the laptop is lost or stolen.

Why it matters. The difference between «we have a confidentiality policy» and «the environment does not allow files out» is the difference between trusting behaviour and trusting a restriction. One can be broken without any bad intent, with an attachment saved to the desktop to see it better.

Red flag: an answer that rests on the team's good faith, or work happening on the person's personal computer. Our full answer —a managed virtual desktop, named access, remote wipe of the device— is on security, together with the whole list of questions so you can put them to whoever is competing with us.

«What happens if the person is not a fit, and who pays for the next search?»

Do not ask whether it can happen. Ask what happens when it does, which is a different question.

Two parts: who pays for recruiting the replacement, and within how many days you see new candidates. And a third that almost nobody asks: whether you get invoiced for the gap between one person leaving and the next one starting.

Why it matters. If the replacement is charged for, changing person becomes expensive and you will put up with a whole quarter before saying it out loud. That is precisely what ruins these arrangements: not the selection mistake, but the cost of correcting it.

Red flag: «we look at that case by case». A deadline with no number is not a deadline. Ours are published on guarantees along with the rest of the terms, including what happens if you want to leave altogether.

«What happens when they are off sick or on holiday?»

A full-time person is going to be absent. That is normal and it is not a flaw in the model; the flaw is discovering how it is handled on the day it happens.

Ask how many days of absence are covered inside what you pay, whether anything gets re-invoiced, and how much paperwork lands on you. And ask about the long absence too, without settling for «we cover it»: either there is a figure or there is a case-by-case conversation, and both are valid answers as long as you are told beforehand.

Why it matters. This is the point where a provider with no structure hands back the problem you came to delegate. If every absence turns into admin on your side, you have not delegated the work: you have delegated the payroll.

Red flag: no figure at all, or cover that depends on someone being free that week.

«Who answers for the service, and what is their name?»

Not «there is a team behind it». A first name and a surname, and exactly what that person does.

Ask how often they review how it is going, whether they know this kind of work or only manage the account, and what they do when something slips. Then the control question: who spots the problem, you or them?

Why it matters. Two models fail for the same reason. One leaves the person alone: if they get stuck, they stay stuck, since there is nobody above them to ask. The other puts an account manager in the middle who does not do the work and has twelve other accounts. In both cases, the one who ends up spotting problems is you.

Red flag: an answer that names a support channel instead of a person, or follow-up that consists of them telling you if something goes wrong. Follow-up that works runs the other way: somebody looks before anything goes wrong.

«What do you check before introducing anyone to me?»

Here the long answer beats the short one, and there are four things that should come up without you naming them.

A practical test of the real work, not a competency interview. A review of previous work in that same kind of job, where it exists. Checked employment references, speaking to whoever managed them. And the connection and the workspace verified before day one.

Why it matters. The typical failure of a remote hire is not that the person is no good: it is that nobody checked what needed checking. A candidate can say all the right things in the interview and be unable to connect on day three.

Red flag: being sent a long list of CVs to filter yourself. That is handing back the work you came to delegate. How we do it is on selection process, and the follow-up worth asking is whether you can interview the candidate yourself: the answer should be yes.

«What does this job NOT do?»

The last one, and the one that saves the most arguments. Ask them to name three things this job is not going to do.

Why it matters. A provider who knows the work has that list ready, since they learned it from expectations that went wrong before. One who does not have it will say yes to everything on the call and no to everything in month two, once the job has turned into five jobs at once and none of them gets done.

It also helps you: it sets the perimeter in writing before anyone starts, and it prevents the quiet drift where a customer support job ends up running marketing too, «since they are already in there anyway». Every one of our job pages carries its own section on what it does not do — on customer support, for instance, it neither runs social media nor handles logistics — and that is published on purpose.

Red flag: «whatever you need».

How to use the list

Three practical tips. First: put all six questions to everyone you are considering, in the same words, and write the answers side by side. The differences stand out on their own.

Second: ask for the figures in writing before signing. Not out of distrust, but since a guarantee whose scope you cannot read before signing is not a guarantee, it is a sentence.

And third, the one you are going to forget: what do you need from me? A serious provider has a concrete answer —access created before day one, your policy in writing even if it is a single page, a few training sessions in the first week, one point of contact— since a half-done start is the leading cause of this failing. Anyone who says they need nothing from you has not set up many.

If you want to compare our answers with those of whoever you are considering, they are published on guarantees and security, with numbers and no small print. Half an hour on a call, and if we are not a fit we will tell you in that same conversation.