US · Starting
What software does a new staffing agency need?
The minimum viable software stack for a new staffing agency — ATS, timesheets, payroll, back office — and what to defer.
The short answer
A new agency needs four things: an applicant tracking system, a timesheet and approval tool, a multi-state payroll provider that handles weekly cycles, and accounting with invoicing. Everything else — CRM automation, job board aggregators, VMS integrations, analytics — can wait until the first fifteen contractors are on assignment.
Key facts
- Core stack
- ATS, timesheets, payroll, accounting
- Typical year-one spend
- $300–$1,200 per month
- Biggest hidden cost
- Timesheet-to-invoice reconciliation done manually
The stack that matters is the one that gets an approved timesheet into payroll and onto an invoice without a human retyping anything. Every manual hop in that chain costs you cash: a timesheet chased on Wednesday is an invoice raised a week late, and in staffing a week late is real money.
Choose the ATS for the workflow you actually run. Perm desks need pipeline and candidate marketing. Contract desks need assignment records, rate management, compliance document expiry and redeployment prompts. A perm-shaped tool used on a contract desk quietly becomes a spreadsheet.
Payroll is the constrained choice. You need weekly cycles, multi-state registration support, per-assignment rates, overtime rules by state and clean reporting for workers' compensation audits. General small-business payroll platforms handle one or two of those well and the rest badly.
Defer the shiny layer. Sourcing automation, chat tooling and analytics dashboards are worth real money at forty contractors and worth nothing at four. Spend the same budget on job board access and a background-check account, which unblock revenue immediately.
One warning on integrations: if an enterprise client puts you into a vendor management system, expect their portal to become the source of truth for timesheets and rates. Confirm how that data reaches your payroll before you sign, because manual re-entry across a VMS is where margin quietly disappears.
United States
How this differs by US state and metro
The answer above holds nationally. What changes locally is registration, insurance, wage rules and how much cash each contractor consumes — these are the states and metros founders ask us about most.
Georgia
Atlanta · Savannah · Augusta
Register with the Georgia Department of Revenue for income tax withholding
Georgia guidePennsylvania
Philadelphia · Pittsburgh · Allentown
Register with the Department of Revenue for employer withholding, and for local earned income tax where workers live and work
Pennsylvania guideNorth Carolina
Charlotte · Raleigh–Durham · Greensboro
Register with the North Carolina Department of Revenue for withholding
North Carolina guideSouth Carolina
Charleston · Greenville · Columbia
Register with the South Carolina Department of Revenue for withholding
South Carolina guideMetro-level wage, bill rate and startup cost detail:
Local questions
Does this change if I start in Georgia?
The national answer holds. What changes in Georgia is local: Register with the Georgia Department of Revenue for income tax withholding Check the Georgia page before you register anything, and model the cash gap on Georgia pay rates rather than national averages.
Is the answer different in Pennsylvania than in Georgia?
The economics are the same shape; the local detail is not. In Pennsylvania: Register with the Department of Revenue for employer withholding, and for local earned income tax where workers live and work That affects your registration checklist and your working capital number, not the underlying principle.
Which US cities does this apply to?
All of them — but we publish metro-level bill rate, wage and startup cost detail for Charleston, Greenville, Atlanta, Philadelphia and more, because pay rates and buyer mix vary far more between metros than between states.
Do I need a separate licence in every state I place in?
You register where you have employees and where you do business, not once nationally. Most states require unemployment insurance and withholding registration plus workers' compensation cover; a minority licence employment agencies, and some cities — New York City among them — licence separately from the state. Confirm each state and city before your first placement there.
Go deeper
How to start a staffing agency in the US
A step-by-step guide to starting a US staffing agency: entity and insurance, working capital for payroll, first niche, margin maths and the funding route that fits.
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