Why Both Quality and Speed Matter in VMS Recruiting

When it comes to VMS-based recruiting, staffing firms need to find, screen, and submit candidates fast or miss their chance at placing their candidate. Submitting a high-quality candidate is not enough when your competitors are doing so in a fraction of the time. How can you ensure your business submits top talent at a speed that increases your placement rate? We highlight some of the best practices of VMS recruiting to improve your success.

Speed = Quality

Why does speed equal quality in VMS recruiting? The VMS model favors those who deliver submittals fast. The reason being is that interviews and hires increase for VMS recruiting simply by submitting candidates within the first 12 hours. Our own first-hand experience with a key workforce solutions client shows exactly how those KPIs increase the faster we submit quality candidates.

For starters, there was a clear correlation between the number of interviews candidates obtained based on the time it took for their recruiter to find and submit that candidate into the client’s VMS. At least 20% of submittals made it to the interview stage if they were submitted within the first 12 hours of the requisition being opened. Of the candidates submitted in the first 24 and 36 hours, only 16% and 13% were asked to interview.

Yet the most significant findings occurred when we reviewed who was hired. Of those candidates submitted in the first 12 hours, 3.7% were placed. Any time after that, the odds were 1.1% or less. Basically, after a requisition has remained open for 12 hours, the recruiter has to submit 3x as many candidates to get the same number of placements as they would from candidates submitted in less than 12 hours.

How to Increase Submit Rates

It is easy to fall behind in VMS recruiting when there are dozens of competing priorities. This can result in low client scorecard results and poor profitability. Some of the strategies below will help staffing firms consistently deliver quality candidates with speed:

Pipelining. Responding quickly to open requisitions requires some foresight. Staffing firms that successfully do high volume staffing give proper attention to pipelining. Let’s say your organization is in a metropolitan area like San Francisco where DevOps candidates are a hot commodity. Having a short list in advance drastically reduces the time it takes to find and submit a candidate. Before having a requisition, recruiters who are fast to submit to VMS accounts usually have a number of pre-screened candidates in their ATS.

Requisition Prioritization and Assignment. Managers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of their recruiters, assigning requisitions based on current workload, experience level and requisition types. Once requisitions have been assigned, recruiters must realize that not all requisitions are weighted equally. Recruiters need to be perceptive enough to balance those requisitions that are less than 12 hours old and those that are approaching the limits of their service level.

Daily Planner. Organized structure in a recruiter’s day removes obstacles that might slow a quick search for quality candidates. For example, our own recruiters might receive a new requisition and send out a text or email blast early to sourced/tagged candidates. After that, they’d pick up the phone and start dialing, constantly looking at their inboxes for responding candidates who have a much higher likelihood of converting. While watching for incoming emails, calls, and text messages, recruiters are able to work through structured activities on multiple channels to find alternatives in case no one bites. Little time is wasted on low return activities.

Add Speed to Your VMS Game

When you partner with an offshore recruiting service to bolster your VMS based recruiting efforts, you’ll be supported by a team of recruiters that can source, screen, and submit candidates directly to your internal teams in a fraction of the time. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to ensure you deliver your clients with the results they expect.

Brian Cotter

Brian Cotter
Brian Cotter is president and co-founder of PSG Global Solutions. He can be reached at bcotter (at) psgglobal (dot) com.

Brian Cotter

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