Five Work Hacks for Successful Full Desk Recruiters

New to staffing or looking to develop your work ethic?  Below are five invaluable ‘work hacks’ for full desk recruiters new to the job to help you get up and running, make the most of your time and achieve more every day… 

During my time as recruiter, I noticed several behaviors which were very telling when it came to how long people stayed in the staffing industry.  People who did certain things and behaved in certain ways tended to stick around and keep their jobs, and those who didn’t often struggled.  The following tips aren’t ‘bullet-proof’, but they can certainly aid your development as a recruiter from day one.

  1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

I’ve seen a lot of people hiding in corners, trying to avoid making phone calls for fear of making mistakes and facing the criticism of their peers.  It’s not worth it.  Office criticism is just something that happens and, more often than not, it’s a term of endearment helping you to become part of the team.  Everybody’s been there, nobody makes a call and ‘nails it’ on their first attempt; and your colleagues know that.  It’s all about practicing and developing your phone skills.  When you ‘fluff’ a call, roll with the punches and soon enough you’ll improve.

  1. Research outside of office hours

When I started as a recruiter, one thing that helped get me up and running was doing my research during the evening or outside of office working hours.  That way, during regular business hours I would have my research ready with a list of numbers to call, and I would be on the phone non-stop.  Allocate an hour to business development, start dialing and as soon as you hang up (and document the call in your recruiting software), dial again.  If you stop dialing and start looking-up company websites, you’ll break your flow (and it is possible to find out too much about a company).  The most important thing is to get on the phone and talk with people.  Unless you’re an extrovert it’s uncomfortable initially, but if you develop your research and calling ethic, both will become second nature.

  1. Listen to your Manager

Genuinely listen to what your Manager says.  They’re not there to make you ‘do stuff’ that’s irrelevant or unimportant.  Do what they say, don’t over-complicate it, don’t turn it into rocket science, literally do what they say.  If they say ‘Call this person, find out where they worked in their last five jobs and what they expect out of their next position.’ – do exactly what they ask because they are giving you the best way to get things done.  Recruitment Managers or Owners haven’t just fallen into their positions by luck, they’re there for a reason and they want the best from you.  As a rookie  recruiter, I was guilty of over-thinking things, but you can keep it simple and succeed quicker than I did.

  1. Quality and quantity

When it comes to business development calls, being successful is very much a case of making a high-volume of well-informed calls.  I’ve seen people make calls and obtain insightful information, but not enough of them; talented people who eventually dropped out of recruitment because they were unable to meet the required volume of calls.  When you’re working through a call list, it may seem a little monotonous at times but it’s part of the job.  Hang in there, be tenacious and get through your lists – your effort will be rewarded in the long term.  Recruitment isn’t about a quick deal here and there – yes, those are cool – but it’s about building-up your contacts and the future pay-off.

  1. Play the long game

I’ve seen plenty of people get caught-up in the results others were getting.  Recruitment isn’t about short term gain.  You can deliver a hundred perfect phone calls every day for two weeks and your colleague can still pick up one incoming call and do more business then you’ve done in all that time.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s not about answering that one phone call, it’s about being persistent and doing the right things – long term.

Remember, it’s ‘water off a duck’s back’

Successful rookie full desk recruiters develop a thick skin.  Think ‘water off a duck’s back’, don’t think about what your colleagues are doing.  Listen to your Manager, forget about everything else, focus on your work and it will work for you.  Staffing and recruitment is an interesting, rewarding profession and getting to the stage where it becomes fun is just brilliant.

Contact us today to learn more about how our staffing software solutions can keep you efficient!

Recruitment tips and tricks: How to approach your candidate

recruitment tips and tricksFinding the ‘right’ candidate is only one aspect of the job, you still need to engage with candidates and develop a professional working relationship. There are numerous ways in which you can interact with candidates, but which ones get the best results? To help you determine the right engagement strategy, we have compiled a two-part blog series, part one of our recruitment tips and tricks is available here and covers how recruiters can fill a job vacancy. To help recruiters achieve better results with candidate engagement, part two of our blog series shares recruitment tips and tricks to help recruiters improve their engagement!

  1. Sell the position

Why should a candidate choose the job you’re advertising? What’s so great about it? Recruitment isn’t just about posting vacant positions on job boards and calling up the people who apply. It’s about selling the position to those who do, giving them the specific information they need and providing them with a reason to be excited about it.

For many jobseekers, applying for jobs is a nerve-wracking process. By showing your candidates that you’re delighted to speak with them and then inform them in detail about the opportunity, they will be more inclined to hear you out.

  1. Be personal with your engagement

This coincides with our previous point: do not make the mistake of assuming your candidates are just part of a quota which you need to fill. Put yourself in their shoes. For many of your candidates, they receive impersonal, unsolicited emails, texts and phone calls throughout the day, and are undoubtedly infuriated with some recruitment consultants.

It falls to you to be personal and to care about their job search. Not only will they be more receptive to your communication, but they will also open up – giving you a better understanding of them as a person, which is something you can use to skill market them for specific positions.

Even if they are unsuccessful, take the time to give them a call and explain why, and continue to help them in their search. And, when they are successful, congratulate them. If you provide them with a superb service, they will be more likely to suggest your organisation to others who are searching for a position in the future.

  1. Pick up the phone

Emails, while simple and straightforward, are easily ignored. Most candidates will be inundated with emails along the lines of: ‘[name] your latest job news’, ‘Content Writer Required’, ‘New Job Opportunity’. Some of these emails will be relevant to their job search, but most of them will not (as your details get passed around numerous job boards once you apply to one).

Instead of firing off a generic, or even personalised email, call your candidate and arrange an ideal time to talk – perhaps at lunch or towards the end of the day. They will be pleasantly surprised that you took the time to call them to discuss what they need.

If they don’t pick up, leave a friendly message asking for the best time to contact them.

Most importantly, do not bombard them with constant emails and texts if they do not respond – wait a week, try again, if that fails, wait 10 days or so and repeat. After that, do not bother them.

  1. Make sure you understand a candidate’s motivation

Know your candidate – and why a particular job might be rewarding for them. As a recruitment professional, your job is to fill positions, of course – but it will make it significantly easier if you know your candidate’s preferences and aspirations innately.

You do not want to be in the position where you have put forth your candidate into a role which does not appeal to them, and have to explain to both the candidate and the prospective employer that you ‘made a mistake’.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]For any recruiter, building a professional relationship with your candidates is a must.[/tweet_box]

For any recruiter, building a professional relationship with your candidates is a must. As you begin to gain their trust and understand exactly what it is they are looking for, you can provide them with the best opportunities. This will not only increase their appreciation and respect for you, but also for your business.

  1. Follow up, network and encourage candidates to apply again

Always follow up with your candidates and keep them in the loop. There is nothing worse than leaving a candidate in the dark, wondering whether their application has progressed. It is your job to call them, not theirs to call you at this point. They will appreciate the consideration on your part – and they will understand and respect the fact that they are not the only candidate you are working with.

Giving candidates access to opportunities is part of your job. It also gives them the chance to comment about how you helped them with their job search, leave positive comments online about you and your organisation, and recommend your organisation to others

Lastly, if a candidate you have put forward is unsuccessful, you will know before they do. At this point, rather than going into radio silence, call them (email is far too impersonal for something such as this) and encourage them to apply for similar positions and, most importantly, keep trying.

Recruitment tips and tricks: How can recruiters fill a job role?

recruitment tips and tricksEvery recruiter has a different technique as to how they approach and find candidates. Therefore, in order to assist recruiters in developing a straightforward and consistent approach to candidate sourcing, we have created a two-part blog series to provide a number of recruitment tips and tricks recruiters can adopt to find and approach skilled candidates. 

  1. Find the right job board

We have spoken previously about the potency of job boards, how they fit into your recruitment strategy and provided a series of job board posting tips to help you use them effectively. However, when it comes to finding high-quality candidates, from the outset you need to determine which job board will fit your requirements and help you to find the right individual with the least challenge possible.

On the one hand, you have generic, wide-ranging and non-specific job boards such as Reed, Indeed, Monster and CVLibrary. Using these job boards will give you access to a massive pool of candidates; but the downside is that you run the risk of receiving an incredible volume of CVs from unqualified candidates who may or may not have read the job spec.

On the other hand, you have niche, industry-specific job boards which only advertise jobs for a specific sector or industry. Unlike generic job boards, the candidates on specific job boards have a higher chance of having the skillset you require. The downside with specific job boards is that you may receive only a handful of high-quality CVs from interested candidates.

In the end, it comes down to quality over quantity, and whether you have the time to acquire the ‘right’ candidate.

  1. Have accurate data?

When it comes to your organisation’s in-house data, quality not quantity is the ultimate measurement. You may have a database of hundreds of thousands of candidates, but if those candidate records are out of date, missing vital fields or individuals are no longer looking for employment, then this is likely to have a negative impact on your candidate placement success.  

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When it comes to your organisation’s in-house data, quality not quantity is the ultimate measurement.

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Take the time to update your database on a daily or weekly basis. This will enable your organisation to have a holistic, accurate view of its current candidate pool – as well as ensure your recruitment team has all the information they need when introducing candidates to businesses.

  1. Be active on a range of channels

Recruiters need to identify which digital channels resonate with target candidates in order to determine which are most beneficial to the business – then become active on those channels and leverage them to drive candidate activity. However, according to our recent market research report, only 25% of candidates surveyed have used social media to find a job, and of these, only 14% found it helpful.

While social media channels may not necessarily be the most effective at generating high-quality candidates, this has not dissuaded recruitment organisations from using them. The sheer scale of social media channels, particularly Facebook and LinkedIn, means that there is certainly a possibility that excellent candidates are using these platforms to find new opportunities.

To put it into perspective, Facebook is the largest social media platform on the planet, with over 1.87 billion monthly users. While LinkedIn has 467 million. This far exceeds any job board – and while they do not function in the same way as Reed or Indeed for example, they are certainly worth considering as an additional channel to support candidate sourcing efforts.

For those recruitment organisations wanting to incorporate social media into their recruitment strategy, we have provided a comprehensive series of recruitment tips and tricks on how to utilise social media tools for recruitment and find the highest quality candidates.

  1. Understand the benefits of SEO

In the digitally connected world we live in today, being found online is advantageous to your organisation’s overall success. As most job seekers will start their search through Google, and statistics tell us that most people do not venture past the first Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page), ensuring your job post is ranking on that first page is absolutely essential.

On that basis, it falls to your organisation to optimise its adverts and job posts for search engines. If you want to understand the benefits of SEO in more detail and how it can help to improve recruitment in your business download our free eBook – SEO Tips for Recruitment Agencies.

In part two of this blog series we will provide tips on how recruiters can approach candidates and engage with them on a personal, but professional basis. It’s a fine art and our recruitment tips and tricks will help recruiters hone the required skills during the course of their daily job activity.

IBP Recruitment Enter New Phase of Expansion and Growth Supported by AdaptUX

IBP Recruitment IconIBP Recruitment, independent general recruitment consultancy service covering the whole of the UK, have selected Bond International Software, the global provider of staffing and recruitment software, to provide AdaptUX OnDemand recruitment-specific CRM via high-speed cloud service.

Calne, Wiltshire-based IBP Recruitment was founded in 2015 by Director Craig Roberts with the clear vision to provide businesses of all sizes with the right people for permanent, temporary and contract positions.  Covering a wide range of sectors (including Telecommunications, Administration, Sales, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Automotive, Civils, Construction and Call Centre Staffing), their experienced team prioritise great communications and customer service and have built successful, long-term relationships with clients and candidates alike.  Proud members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), IBP Recruitment consistently go the extra mile to ensure every placement they make is a solid and dependable one.

Bolstered by their success since 2015, IBP Recruitment have continued to invest, upgrading their website, telephone system and CRM software to enter a new phase of expansion and growth empowered by the best supporting technology.  Previously using a market-leading CRM, they widely reviewed recruitment-specific CRM software with a keen eye for full recruitment-cycle efficiency, business development, KPI tracking, management reporting and third-party software and email integration capabilities (especially Broadbean and Outlook 365).  As their review concluded, IPB Recruitment selected AdaptUX for the intuitive functionality it provided throughout these important areas, alongside its overall simplicity and ease of use.  Their implementation includes-

  • Cloud/SaaS (Software as a Service) – Bond OnDemand enables users to log-in and use AdaptUX wherever they have internet access
  • Adapt Studio – enabling users to choose from built-in recruitment dashboards or design their own based upon their preferred working methods
  • Lead Generation – real-time business development dashboards within Adapt Studio enable users to effectively track leads and opportunities and grade their priority
  • Active Reporting – meaningful business intelligence and management reporting tools delivered via graphical displays help inform business strategies
  • Broadbean integration – seamless integration between AdaptUX and Broadbean delivers advanced job distribution and candidate sourcing technology
  • Adapt Outlook Add-in – enabling users to access client and candidate records and run recruitment workflows in AdaptUX direct from emails received in Microsoft Outlook
  • Adapt InTouch mobile app – allowing consultants to access AdaptUX via their smartphones and effectively recruit on the move

Craig Roberts, Director, IBP Recruitment, comments, “Simultaneously upgrading our business technology infrastructure, from our website to phone system and recruitment CRM, feels like a pretty big undertaking; so when it came to the CRM, we knew simplicity and ease of use were two of the most important factors.  AdaptUX stood out because the system has been designed to streamline all recruitment processes and have users up to speed and making the most of it as soon as possible.  When we considered the possibilities of Bond’s open API, enabling us to use Broadbean direct from AdaptUX and integrate further software as required, not to mention Bond’s ongoing updates and exciting future development, the benefits were clear and AdaptUX became the obvious choice.”

Toby Conibear, Global Sales Director, Bond International Software, comments, “IBP Recruitment have earned a great reputation in a relatively short period of time and we’re delighted to be a part of the next phase in their expansion and growth.  Craig and the team are dedicated to understanding their client’s business goals and candidate’s career aspirations in an honest and personable way which, alongside their ability to successfully recruit across several industry sectors, really sets them apart from their competitors.  ‘Inspired by people’ is IBP’s motto; and we have been inspired by them to redouble our efforts to provide the best technology and services to enable the continued success of recruiters striving to make a difference – for their clients, candidates, and the industry as a whole.”