What was old is new again, tips for superior recruiting

What has your database done for you lately? Did you know that a staffing firm has an average placements rate of 0% and the top performers achieve 5% placements with their database?

Would you set fire to three million dollars? I guess you wouldn’t.

Staffing Firms spend between 700,000 to three million dollars on Application Tracking Systems and are not generating profits from them. It is time to dust off your database and start placing candidates.

Are you having a difficult time finding new talent?

Listen up! You have conversations about new ways in which you can connect with new candidates and try to innovate in the processes to attract the right people. However, recruiters don’t take advantage of a valuable resource that is sitting right in front of them, their database. As more time goes by people’s information is no longer accurate, and recruiters have missed valuable and profitable opportunities for their firm and clients.

Database Updates

How can you guarantee these opportunities don’t pass you by? Update your database. Make sure you are reaching out to candidates for updated resumes, contact information, and any other important data that is useful to you. This is crucial, studies have shown that staffing firms have not been able to hire talent directly from the information they already have in over a decade.

Having semi-regular contact with the talent in your database keeps you in their loop.

Nature Campaigns

The next step is to create a nurture campaign. A nurture campaign is a marketing strategy used to re-engage past candidates by providing them with valuable information.

Nurture campaigns are typically done via email; however, they include multiple parts. They can include direct mail as well. Nurture emails provide education while building a relationship with your audience. Communicating through email with past candidates develops conversations over time.

Generate content about changes in hiring processes, training opportunities, hot jobs, new skills needed, events, team building activities to network, as well as constant reminders to send their resumes every time they have an important change.

Let candidates know that your staffing firm is still doing everything it to connect them to the best job opportunities.

Read more about how to successfully create a nurture campaign in this blog.

Recruiter Training

The third step is to train your recruiters. When a new position opens, the first resource recruiters should look at is the database., We know that this is a bit complicated as ATSs are not typically designed to perform searches. However, it is important because there is potential that is wasted when recruiters are not vigilant in their search. In addition, your staffing firm’s time and profit is on the line when these systems are not utilized.

How do I motivate recruiters to use their database?

Incentivize recruiters by creating revolving contests, and using the database for placements. The top recruiter with the most amount of talent placements, updated resumes, and candidates sent to clients, using contacts pulled from the database, wins. To ensure accuracy, it is a good idea to talk to your ATS’s IT people about adding tracking tools to help you measure the percentage of updated candidate registration. Tracking tools make it easier to monitor what recruiters are working on.

Social Media Strategy for Staffing Firms

Finally, let’s talk about social media strategy! Make sure your social media content aims to generate communication with past candidates that are in your database. Your content needs to focus on sharing the experiences of employees who have been working in the company for a long time. Some examples include candidates’ and consultants’ spotlight, testimonials, new job openings, and useful information updating them on news in their field. Read more about developing an impactful social media strategy in this blog.

Utilize the tools you have! Your database is gold and although it seems intimidating, you are leaving potential placements behind. Think about it like you are reconnecting with an old friend. Facebook is the perfect example to prove that reconnection matters!

If you would like to discuss how to implement these recruitment strategies, please do not hesitate to contact the S.J. Hemley Marketing team.

About S.J. Hemley Marketing

S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations. www.sjhemleymarketing.com