Staff Wars: Change Star, Rogue None – Part 3: Actively Engage Your Troops

This is part 3 in our series focused on guiding you on how to implement a new project initiative without it getting blown up.

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9 Best Practices that Minimize Go-Live Productivity Dips

Staffing firms looking to make an enterprise software replacement worry about the potential for a dip in productivity when the new system goes live. The impact to productivity can not only be minimized, but it can be completely avoided. There are two key approaches to minimize the productivity dip. First, avoid upheaval before it occurs and, second, put the infrastructure in place to immediately act on post go-live opportunities for improvement. In speaking with our customers and analyzing various outcomes we have identified the following best practices:

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Bond International Software and TempBuddy strengthen team with new key appointments

Bond International Software, worldwide provider of staffing and recruitment software solutions, and TempBuddy, the multi-award winning contingent workforce software innovator,  have announced two key appointments to drive their global growth. Joining the company are Tony Rossi as Vice President of US Sales, and Matt Lyndley as Sales Director for the APAC region. By bringing in experienced industry experts with extensive connections and an in-depth understanding of the recruitment industry, the company is set to deliver its global expansion plans.

Rossi combines deep experience in account management and sales with a highly successful track record in delivering strategic growth having worked at Paychex for over 20 years. He comments, “I look forward to building relationships and developing new opportunities for Bond and TempBuddy. This is an exciting time for us following the recent announcement of our merger with Erecruit. Together we offer the industry’s most complete end-to-end staffing platform, or separate recruitment and workforce software solutions according to a staffing organization’s needs.”

The addition of Lyndley boosts the company’s presence and reach across the APAC region. He has first-hand recruitment experience and in using Bond’s software himself at major staffing organizations such as Adecco, Hays and Robert Half. Lyndley states, “Having seen the value Bond Adapt delivers as one of the world’s most advanced cloud-based recruitment and staffing management platforms, I am delighted to be able to showcase its capability to potential customers. With planned UI upgrades on the horizon, and TempBuddy to add into the mix, we look forward to introducing industry-leading software innovations across Australia and APAC.”

Another key strategic hire is announced with  Stephanie Bledsoe appointed as Head of Customer Success, TempBuddy, to manage service delivery and project management for their expanding global client-base. With 17 years’ experience in customer success, most recently as Director of Quality Operations at Field Nation, she is now responsible for leading a team to ensure clients optimize their use of TempBuddy’s mobile-led workforce management software. Bledsoe asserts, “I’m proud to join TempBuddy; with seven awards under its belt it’s a real pioneer in contingent workforce management. My goal will be to help staffing companies get their best workers to the right place at the right time, while improving the worker and client experience.”

As a further appointment to boost the company’s  in-house design team, John Murinye brings his 10 years’ experience in branding and graphic design to the business. John says, “TempBuddy has developed a vibrant, dynamic brand that reflects its product innovation, and Bond’s strong brand equity reflects its years of deep industry expertise. I’m looking forward to enhancing their visual brand identities, voice and tone.”

Roderick Smyth, Group Chief Strategy and Product Officer adds, “These key hires complement our existing team and will accelerate our global growth. Staffing companies can be confident that Bond’s software built with over 40 years’ industry expertise combined with the technological innovation of TempBuddy will offer them unrivaled competitive advantage.”

Bond International Software and TempBuddy were selected for acquisition by Symphony Technology Group (STG), who have a significant portfolio of organizations across the human capital space.  In June 2017 TempBuddy and Bond announced their merger with Erecruit, the leading innovator in enterprise staffing software, VMS and onboarding solutions for large staffing firms, creating the industry’s most complete end-to-end staffing platform.

About Bond International Software (www.bond-us.com)

Bond International Software has been a global provider of staffing and recruitment software for over 40 years and is headquartered in the United Kingdom with offices in the United States, Australia, Japan, Singapore, China and Hong Kong. Established in 1973 it has consistently maximized investment in the development of its technology to stay at the forefront of the staffing industry.

About TempBuddy (www.tempbuddy.com)

TempBuddy’s multi-award winning workforce management software enables staffing companies to get their best workers to the right place at the right time, paid promptly and accurately using smart mobile technology. Staffing companies improve their productivity, win business and cut costs by using TempBuddy’s game-changing workforce management platform and worker app. TempBuddy joined forces with Bond in November 2016.

About Erecruit (www.erecruit.com)

Erecruit is the leading innovator in enterprise staffing software, VMS and onboarding solutions for large staffing firms and employers. Erecruit uses modern, standards-based technologies to provide a highly scalable and configurable solution that allows today’s best firms to put their clients, candidates and vendors at the heart of their businesses. Erecruit is a trademark of Erecruit Holdings, LLC.

About Symphony Technology Group (STG) (www.symphonytg.com)

Symphony Technology Group (STG) is a strategic private equity firm with the mission of investing in and building great technology and services companies. In addition to capital, STG provides transformation expertise to enable its companies to deliver maximum value to their clients, to drive growth through innovation, to retain and attract the best talent and to achieve best in class business performance. STG’s current portfolio consists of 18 global companies.

The Challenges in Recruiting Staff to Work for Small Businesses

Recruiting Staff for Smaller BusinessesA high proportion of vacancies in the UK every year are with small businesses, but it can be hard for them to find new staff. Many SMEs turn to recruitment agencies to source staff who are the right fit and have the right skills.

But how can agencies best put forward the advantages of working for a small, lesser-known company? Also, how can the right recruitment agency software make it simpler to find quality candidates for a smaller business?

Small and medium businesses in the UK

According to a recent House of Commons briefing paper, 99% of businesses in the UK are SMEs, making up a total of more than 5.4 million companies. Within this, there are over 5.3 million micro-businesses with fewer than 10 people, employing 36% of the UK workforce.

This shows just how important small businesses are and why this steadily growing sector is seen as the engine of the British economy. However, SMEs are being hit by the skills shortage, in the technology field in particular, and there is fierce competition to recruit candidates with the knowledge and experience needed.

If you are competing with recruiters working on behalf of larger companies, the problem can be that, because these organisations are better-known, candidates are more likely to choose them first. Perceived advantages include prestige, greater brand awareness and opportunities for career progression.

In fact, there are also major advantages to working for smaller companies, but many SMEs find it hard to get across the message of all they have to offer. This is one reason why they often turn to recruitment agencies to find a new employee. But then recruiters in turn have the job of finding people with the right skills and selling the company to the right candidate. Here are our key pointers for agencies recruiting for SMEs.

Get to Know the Business

Every small business has its own culture and it’s important to find candidates who will fit in and be part of the team. A way to do this is to really get a feel of the business you are recruiting for, as then you are more likely to find candidates who are right for them.

Often small businesses are looking for staff members who are not only highly skilled in their own field, but are also all-rounders and willing to turn their hand to other tasks when necessary. A big advantage for SMEs is that as an agency you can save them time and avoid them having to weed-out candidates who aren’t suitable for them.

Spread the Word Widely

Technology helps small companies to be on more of a level playing field with the larger ones, by making it easier for candidates to get a feel of what a company is like and apply for jobs.  In addition to job boards, it can help to reach a wider range of candidates if you advertise on social media, using recruitment agency software which makes it as easy to apply via these channels as possible.

Looking at the whole age range can also help you to avoid missing out on potential candidates. This includes Generation Z, people born in the late 1990s and early 2000’s, who are now playing an increasingly important role in the workplace, as well as the slightly older Generation Y/Millennials and all the other age groups in the workforce. People in their 40s, 50s and 60s can sometimes be overlooked by recruiters, but they have much to offer, including experience and loyalty. You need to find the sites which these varied age groups regularly visit.

Present SME’s USPs Clearly

The advantages of working for larger companies are well-known, but as a recruiter you also need to be able to get across to candidates what the advantages of working for a small company are. Candidates may not be clear about what a smaller company has to offer, so this needs to be put across both in the initial marketing and placing of job ads and at the interview stage. 

Attractions of working for a small business include greater flexibility, the opportunity to take on more responsibility early on, and the fact that often a role can be more tailored to a staff member’s individual strengths. They are also likely to have more access to senior management and a chance to put forward ideas, without going through the layers of admin which tend to be present in larger organisations.   

Think Flexibly

If, despite all your efforts, you cannot source an ideal candidate with the full skill set required for the job, it can be helpful to think flexibly and to look again at the strongest applicants who have come forward. The company may be prepared either to recast the job’s requirements, possibly by shifting someone internally, or to change the hours and look at flexible working. Finding two part-timers can often work just as well for a small company as one full-timer.

Adapt software is ideal for recruitment agencies working with SMEs. It enables applications via a wide range of routes, including job boards and social media as well as a mobile phone app. Adapt quickly captures all the information supplied by candidates and saves it in an easily searchable form. To find out more about how Adapt can work for you, please get in touch.

SEO Tips for Recruitment Agencies

SEO Tips for RecruitersOne of the biggest problems for recruiters is standing out from the competition online and ensuring that job advertisements attract the best talent.

In today’s digital-first world, Google is often the first point in a job search. “Jobs in Birmingham”, “Entry level jobs in Bristol”, “part-time jobs in Edinburgh” are all examples of what a candidate might type into Google’s search bar.

So, shouldn’t recruiters start there – with the Google search?

Think about it – as most job searches start with a query typed into Google’s search bar, understanding what keyword terms are being used by candidates and then optimising your job advertisements, content and webpages for those terms would be the most effective way to attract candidates, right?

Of course, pumping money into a Pay-Per-Click programme is one way to achieve the results you desire, but prime Google real estate is competitive and costly. Instead, building a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy, including specific keywords, is an affordable way to drive traffic to your website and job advertisements.

In this blog, we will discuss the importance of having an ongoing SEO strategy, as well as share some simple and effective SEO tips for recruitment agencies.

Building a keyword strategy

As mentioned previously, you need to consider how people are finding your job advertisements and/or website. What keyword terms are they typing in to arrive there? Are they specific long tail keyword terms or short, but relevant, keyword terms?

Once you have this information, you can build a comprehensive keyword strategy around those terms. Remember, try to be specific, but relevant. Over-specific terms are highly unlikely to be searched for, while generic terms are harder to rank for.

Clearly, there needs to be a balance. When it comes to SEO, build your keyword strategy based around both short and long tail keyword terms and then refine it as you go.

Establish benchmarks

Before you execute your keyword strategy and optimise your content, job advertisements and web pages, you need to set a benchmark for your current SEO performance as this will enable you to continually monitor the performance of your keywords and how much new activity your website is generating.

Managing Onsite SEO

Once you’ve established your keyword strategy and set a benchmark to compare it against, you need to manage your onsite SEO. A comprehensive SEO strategy will consider on-page website elements, such as meta titles and meta descriptions, and optimise content for search. Meta titles for example, should be based on keyword terms and relevant to the copy on the web page in question. Meta descriptions on the other hand, are used on search engine results pages to display a snippet of a particular web page – and should be concise and intriguing, as this will help to improve the click through rate to the page.

Refining your keyword strategy

We’ve covered the basic elements: keywords, meta titles and meta descriptions, identifying new keyword opportunities is the next part of the process.

However, it’s important to appreciate that SEO is by no means a ‘set it and forget it’ strategy. It needs routine maintenance and monitoring to get the best results.

Analytics platforms such as Google Analytics provide you with detailed website analytics, allowing you to determine the search terms people are using to find your website. Then, armed with this information, you can optimise your existing web pages and content to incorporate those terms, as well as create new website pages to target new terms.

Creating new, high-quality content

Even with the above in place, you need to maximise your chances of being found online – and a great way to do this is by creating relevant, high-quality educational content.

Google loves fresh content and will reward those websites that post new, high-quality content. It’s also a great way to drive traffic to your website and encourage candidates and clients to sign up for future content updates, improving your brand’s authority and credibility online.

Ultimately, optimising your website, content and job advertisements for search is advantageous to the success of your recruitment agency online, and should always be a main element in your online strategy. However, SEO is a constant practice; you should monitor your keyword performance on a regular basis and identify new keyword opportunities as this will allow you to get the most out of your content and job advertisements and attract new candidates.

Staff Wars: Change Star, Rogue None – Part 2: Recruit the Right Team

This is part 2 in our series focused on guiding you on how to implement a new project initiative without it getting blown up.

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Attracting Passive Candidates – How Can Recruitment Software Help?

Attracting Passive Candidates With evidence that the UK skills shortage is deepening, recruiters need to cast the net for new talent as widely as possible. Increasingly this means finding passive candidates, as well as those who are actively looking for a new job. Choosing sophisticated recruitment software which streamlines the candidate experience as much as possible is key to attracting these candidates.

There are high numbers of passive candidates among UK staff. According to the 2017 employee sentiment survey by Investors in People, 59% of staff in the UK are considering moving job this year. However, despite this high level of dissatisfaction with their current roles and a willingness to consider a move, only 25% said they were actively job seeking.

At a time of historically low unemployment, it’s likely that many of the individuals who would fit vacancies on your books are already in a job – so the task for recruiters is to find these people and encourage them to apply.

Making it Easy to Apply

Candidates who are already in a job will not have a lot of time to spend looking for a new one. This means that filling out over-complicated forms or jumping through too many hoops is likely to put them off. On the plus side, this very lack of time can make passive candidates keen to use a recruiter rather than applying direct to individual employers. But they will need to be assured that the recruiter will save them time and effort.

There are a number of ways in which recruitment software can help streamline the process of applying for a new post. For instance, web portals can make it far simpler for candidates to upload their details. Making it possible for candidates to search your vacancies and log in from multiple devices while on the move will also encourage a wider range of applicants.

Sourcing Passive Candidates

Approaching passive candidates can be difficult, but social media, especially LinkedIn, is increasingly important for this. Joining groups and giving information as an authority can build relationships and awareness. This will mean that, even if someone is not looking for a new job now, they are more likely to bear you in mind when the time is right for a move.

When you contact candidates, you need to make a good impression. This means being friendly without being pushy, and not spamming them with a lot of irrelevant jobs or opportunities in the wrong geographical areas. They need to feel that they can rely on you to alert them only to positions which could genuinely be right for them.

Today’s advanced recruitment software can be integrated with social media and record the information you need, for instance enabling people to apply by using their existing LinkedIn profile.

Your existing database will also contain valuable details of possible passive candidates; the people who have contacted you in the recent past. A good recruitment CRM makes it easy to search for candidates with the skills needed to find the best matches for a specific vacancy.

Monitoring Candidate Experience

It’s important for all recruiters to keep monitoring the candidate experience, and ensure candidates are happy with your services and their interaction with you. This includes not only the types of job you may approach them with and the channels available for applying, but also how quickly you respond to requests for information.

Having details instantly accessible, for instance via mobile software, can impress applicants and save them time. The quality of feedback you provide after applications and interviews is another key element here.

Providing a quality recruitment service is of course essential for all applicants, but even more so for passive candidates. These individuals don’t have the same urgency about searching for a new job because they are already employed, so they can easily be put off at any stage of the application process.

The danger is also that applicants who are dissatisfied will spread the word to others and so lose you more passive candidates in the future. This is one of the reasons why it is essential to get honest feedback from candidates who have used your service, so that you can make any changes needed to improve the application experience and attract both passive and active candidates to your agency.

Adapt recruitment software enables all the functionality needed for recruiters to source passive candidates and give them a good candidate experience. For example, vacancies can be posted on multiple job boards and social media platforms at once, and candidates can be enabled to respond via diverse devices, including mobile phones and tablets.