May 13, 2025 - We polled 1,000 senior leaders of privately held companies spanning industry sectors across the nation to take stock of actions, concerns, and challenges in key areas including tech improvements and investments for staffing organizations. Our 2025 Private Company Performance Report sheds light on the growth trends and challenges reported by our survey respondents.

The Early Adoption of Artificial Intelligence

The staffing industry is enthusiastically embracing and exploring the early adoption of artificial intelligence within business operations.

The temporary/contractual staffing service line is characterized by significant tasks that are repetitive in nature; the initial screening and interviewing of multitudes of short-term contractor candidates, reviewing applicant qualifications, onboarding new employees, scheduling of job assignments, gathering feedback from temporary workers, and monitoring compliance. These mundane responsibilities are vitally important to a staffing organization, as errors and oversights can result in lost clients, operational inefficiencies, and exposure to employment liabilities. AI is particularly well suited to assist staffing industry management in addressing these critical (albeit error prone) areas. AI automation also assists management in developing a continuous system of human talent management, offering “real time” measurement of employee sentiment, and rapid assessments of employee “flight risk.”

Implementation of AI Tools

AI powered tools, like Chatbots and virtual assistants, allow “around the clock” support to job candidates, contractors, and clients. Many staffing firms maintain rosters of thousands of temporary employees, with dozens (or more) of new hires onboarding daily. Offering automated and continuous support to temporary workers as they navigate initial application, onboarding, and scheduling saves staffing firm internal resources, while offering workers useful and accurate access to necessary information at all hours.

Within the staffing industry’s direct hire/permanent placement service lines, AI tools are particularly well suited to matching thousands of resumes with open job requisitions, quickly identifying the most appropriate and successful candidates for any given role. When relieved of “data sifting” challenges, staffing firm recruiters are able to focus their talents on more value-oriented activities.

Properly implemented, AI can offer stunning enhancements and improvements to a staffing firm’s efficiency, allowing internal staffing employees to focus on adding consultative value to clients, rather than being bogged down and consumed with error-prone chores. It is unsurprising that the staffing industry is one of the early adopters of AI’s tools.

Citrin Cooperman’s Private Company Performance Report

Citrin Cooperman has been serving and advising middle-market, private companies and high net worth individuals for over 40 years and created an annual Private Company Performance Report to discuss what is top of mind for business leaders across the country. Access our report to discover valuable insights into the trends, opportunities, and challenges facing businesses today.

Access the 2025 Private Company Performance Report