An advertising staffing agency can help your company when maternity leave, extended sick leave, and other situations create a temporary employee gap in the marketing department. HR departments often make hiring provisions in cases when a company must hire someone on a short-term basis only. In these situations, a temporary worker is ideal.

Advertising temp agencies have pools of advertising professionals looking for advertising temp jobs. As a result, when you call advertising temp agencies, you can often find someone at once. There are many signs your HR department should consider an advertising temp:

1. Someone has left the advertising department and everyone is overworked;

2. You don’t have an advertising department, but you need an advertising professional for just one or two projects;

3. You don’t have the resources to recruit.

Your HR department has several options in the event of an employment gap. You can wait until the problem resolves itself, you can try leveraging out the work to others, or you can try hiring freelancers. If your employee gap is in your advertising department, though, even a small work shortage can cost you profits down the line, so hiring an advertising staffing agency makes the most sense.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Hire temps through an advertising staffing agency that emphasizes marketing professionals

Some staffing agencies are specifically advertising temp agencies, which focus on finding trained marketing and advertising professionals. If your company needs to temporarily replace an advertising or marketing professional or needs to hire such a professional for just one project, these types of agencies are your best option. Your company can find temporary project managers, consultants and other marketing professionals through such agencies.

I recommend: CreativeLink can help you find temporary on-site and off-site marketing and creative professionals, including marketing assistants, marketing coordinators, marketing managers, marketing directors, production coordinators, production managers, trade show specialists, pre-press specialists and other professionals. Aquent is a specialized marketing staffing firm. They can help you find temp brand managers, copywriters, data analysts, and web designers.

Contact advertising agency employment or staffing services specializing in creative professionals

Contact advertising temp agencies that focus on creative professionals if you need to infuse some fresh thought into a new project. If your company needs help with generating innovative ideas, hiring a temporary worker from this sort of agency is a great option. Advertising temp agencies that emphasize creative professionals seek out creative professionals with portfolios of creative work.

I recommend: The Creative Group and Creative Focus, Inc. can help your company find temporary freelance creative, advertising, marketing and Internet employees. Both firms feature award-winning professional who can come through when your advertising business is in a pinch.

Find an online advertising temp agency that can offer you freelance and contract temp workers

A new type of advertising staffing agency emphasizes features not only on-site temporary advertising employees, but also freelance and contract workers. If you want to hire a temporary employee but don't want to increase the number of people in your office -- or cannot find a temp worker in your area -- freelance advertising temp workers are a great alternative. Freelance or contract temp workers can help you with a specific project or projects but can work off-site, from a home office.

I recommend: Marketing Pro Resources, Inc. helps match companies with temporary freelance and contract employees in marketing, communications, advertising, public relations, market research and analytics. The Hired Guns can find marketing and advertising temp workers for your company.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Some recent graduates seek out advertising temp jobs in the hopes of finding full-time advertising agency employment. Decide ahead of time if you can offer full-time employment or even freelance assignments to someone who starts as a temporary advertising employee, but shows great promise. If you cannot, you might want to make that clear in the interview process to curb any later disappointment.