Platforms are slowly becoming the Trojan Horse of Recruitment.
Forward-thinking businesses such as Broadstone, Honeypot.io, Syft, and Coople have innovated traditional recruitment.
These companies advertise and brand themselves as platforms. And they’re right; they are a platform.
But just like all recruitment agencies, the basis of what they do is the same. They find people jobs and find companies people.
The anomaly between these companies and your traditional recruiter is the leaders of these organizations have combined technology with their industry knowledge. They’ve seen the pain points of recruitment and created tech-driven solutions.
Toptal is a perfect example of this. Founded in 2010 and now boasting over 3,000 employees, Toptal has an exceptional client portfolio, including airbnb and Shopify. They are a platform offering recommended and vetted talent to companies from just their website. They reduce time-to-hire, cost-to-hire, and worry of hiring. Ticking off three of the main pain points of recruiting.
Companies like Toptal attract high-caliber users because they’re techy, modern, and easy-to-use. Professionals in technology, development, and data are some of the most sought after talent, and it’s unlikely you’ll get their attention if you’re a business behind the times with technology.
We’re not suggesting you tear your agency apart to become a platform, but there are changes your competitors are making to stay relevant and tech-savvy. We’ve listed the top three trends we’ve seen this year:-
1) Starting a Marketing Strategy
Without Marketing, you would be working with a product or service no one knew about. Businesses exist to make money, and marketing is essential to reach that goal.
- An increasing number of Recruitment Agencies are investing in Search Engine Optimization. SEO has been around for a while but only recently reached the recruitment industry. With Google for Jobs becoming more prominent, SEO is an essential part of your marketing toolkit. Companies with strong SEO appear higher on Google. This creates awareness and exposure.
If your postings aren’t getting seen, you’re unlikely to receive applications for them.
- We’re seeing a rise in Recruitment Agencies doing podcasts, controversial articles, and PR features to gain awareness and an online presence. Content Marketing and Social Media are mostly free, so if this isn’t already part of your marketing strategy, you’re actively losing money, clients, and candidates.
- In the wake of GDPR, Email and SMS marketing has become a more cautious practice, but still a vital means of communication. With tools such as Lemlist, LinkedIn Recruiter, and CloudCall, utilizing Email and SMS Marketing has been made simple. They offer mass ways to communicate while still providing a personalized approach.
2) Investing in a Chatbot
Recruitment is a high-volume, time-dependent industry, and communication should be streamlined wherever possible. The most important benefit of a chatbot is that they’re available 24 hours of the day, recorded, and answer inquiries instantaneously. They offer a series of pre-written responses to common questions and direct the user to a human when needed.
Mya is a more advanced chatbot specifically designed for the recruitment industry. Mya engages with candidates to assess their suitability to a vacancy. This tool is a magical time-saver for high-volume recruiters.
3) Utilizing AI Screening
Screening is one of the most time-consuming parts of hiring. And although we like to think we take enough time reviewing every applicant, most of the time we don’t.
AI Screening offers more than just a keyword search. Tools such as Humantic have the capability to screen soft skills and behavioral attributes without even requiring the candidates attention or time.
To conclude..
Although technology and AI have replaced many human jobs, it’s unlikely they will replace our industry completely.
Having said that, we need to try our utmost not to get left behind. In no way do we all need to become a platform and lose our sense of agency, we just need to innovate within what we already have and learn to market it to the right audience..
“Yasmin is the MSP Sourcing Manager for Rethink Groups MSP / RPO function, RTM. Yasmin is passionate about utilising Technology and Marketing to make waves in the recruitment industry. With four years of experience in recruitment and sourcing, and personal passion projects in Marketing and Technology, Yasmin is an expert in bridging the gap of understanding within technology and recruitment.
