History
The Staffing Institute originated in 1989, when John G. Kitson, the Institute’s first and current Chair, was elected to the Employment Management Association Board of Directors. John recognized that recruiting was evolving into a sophisticated profession and that the function was becoming ever more critical to organization performance. One of his proposals was that EMA consider establishing certification programs for recruiters. The Board brought in a consultancy but was unable to bring the programs to fruition. In 1995 EMA was assimilated by the Society for Human Resource Management and although recruiter certifications remained a recruiter and organization priority, they were never formally addressed.
When On Staffing: Advice and Perspectives from HR Leaders was published in 2004, it was lauded as the first codification of the staffing body of knowledge and fueled calls to complete the professionalization of staffing by establishing a staffing institute which offered certification programs. Soon thereafter the leading contributors to the book committed to establishing such an organization within five years.
In January 2008, OnPerformance funded research to determine the current and long term interest in a staffing institute and associated certification programs. The significant feedback from all constituencies was extremely positive and defined the principles on which to build a staffing institute:
- Staffing certifications are important; they affirm a level of expertise and confidence in a very dynamic, demanding and critical profession.
- Achieving optimum and sustained staffing performance requires incredibly accessible, useful and continually updated and augmented information and resources.
The Staffing Institute was established in March 2008.