Recruiters need to maximize their time because the right opportunity for the right candidate doesn’t last long, especially during a global talent shortage. According to Bullhorn’s 2017 North American Staffing & Recruiting Trends Report, 61% of staffing and recruiting professionals said shortages of qualified talent represents one of their biggest challenges in 2017 – so they need to be even more efficient in finding the best candidates.
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What are some strategies recruiting professionals use to increase their productivity and amplify their operations? I recently shadowed recruiting professionals in the Technology Contract Staffing division of WinterWyman – a Bullhorn customer based in Waltham, Mass. I wanted to learn how they maintain exceptional levels of productivity and efficiency in their jobs.
Here’s how they’re successful – and how other firms can be so too:
Using an ATS and a CRM that communicate with each other
Recruiters want to focus on growing their candidate relationships – not the time-zapping tasks such as entering scheduling, screening, and follow-up information into the database. As more than 60% of staffing firms run split-desk models, according to Bullhorn’s 2017 Staffing & Recruiting Trends Report, recruiters at WinterWyman use an ATS and a CRM that communicate with each other to connect with both sides of the desk and streamline workflows. Both client- and candidate-facing recruiters have access to all the critical data, which creates agency alignment and generates actionable insights. Without that important information, they’re not able to grow their businesses or communicate effectively – internally and externally.
Connecting with candidates via SMS
There are so many ways recruiters can communicate with candidates: email, phone, social, and SMS. By leveraging SMS, recruiters can use a personal communication channels to not only reach candidates, but develop stronger relationships with them. If there are urgent or new opportunities, recruiters can reach out to candidates via text messages versus waiting for them to return voicemails or emails. At WinterWyman, SMS provides recruiters with an easier way to directly connect with candidates because the channel elicits real-time responses. And in today’s new relationship economy, personalized conversations drive positive candidate experiences.
Delivering personalized candidate experiences
Treating a candidate like they’re just another entry in a database doesn’t produce successful outcomes. WinterWyman recruiters personalize their candidate correspondence by identifying the correct job opportunities for their candidates based on knowing their candidates’ strongest skills and interests. They take time to have in-depth phone conversations to understand their candidates’ goals and ask the right questions about why their candidates are looking to make a career move. They don’t blast job descriptions to their candidates in hopes that one will eventually resonate with them; they tailor each correspondence – written or verbal – to their candidates’ needs. Personalization is a powerful strategy that gives firms a competitive advantage, especially during a global fight for talent, because candidates will remember the quality service and will return to the same agency for their next opportunity.
The recruiting firms that work in the most productive and efficient ways are the ones poised for optimal growth. With the advent of technology, new opportunities for increased effectiveness through automation and artificial intelligence will only help staffing professionals achieve even greater results faster.
MORE: How Does Your ATS Affect the Candidate Experience?
