Happy New Year! I hope you’ve enjoyed some downtime over the holidays and have come back to your recruitment desk recharged and ready to dive headfirst into 2023. If your motivation is lacking, or you’re struggling with some areas of focus, here are a few ideas to consider:
Revisit Your Website
When is the last time you took a critical look at your website? If it’s more than 3 years ago, it’s time to dig in now. How is your SEO working? Are you effectively using your website as a source of leads? How about blogging to build your email list? More crucially, do you know if your website is accessible to visitors with disabilities? The US Department of Justice recently affirmed that websites are “places of public accommodation” and therefore must comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Anti-discrimination laws abound in other countries as well. Devote some of your recruitment desk activities to reviewing and correcting website issues to avoid legal action.
Stop Ghosting Candidates
Yes, this is a two-way street. Yes, it’s hard to get candidate to answer phone calls/emails/text messages. If you’re running a recruitment desk, you have an obligation to demonstrate professionalism to the candidates you encounter. When candidates apply to your jobs, make sure they get an acknowledgement. A well-written automated response can be just as effective as a personal response. At every step of the process, if you have promised feedback, make sure you deliver that in a timely manner. Let them know how they did in the interview. Let them know if the client hasn’t given you an update. Most importantly, if they’re not moving forward, let them know. You are dealing with real people, with real lives. Recruiters (and employers) who provide the best candidate experience will be in the strongest position for success in this candidate-scarce market.
Focus on Marketing
Employers have been desperate to find candidates for the past couple of years, which has made many of them more receptive to using third-party recruiters. That means you may not have had to do a lot of client-focused marketing. With economic uncertainty ahead, it’s probably time to dust off your marketing hat to start locating more clients and/or candidates. You may be surprised to find that things you used to do are not very effective anymore. Getting smart about social media recruiting is a good place to start. If this isn’t something that you can focus on at your recruitment desk, you might want to look at hiring someone to help. Tony Restell with Social Hire is one option; Haley Marketing and RK•CMO are others worth checking out. If you’re ready to tackle some marketing activities on your own, an AI tool like Jasper can save you a ton of time whether you’re blogging, working on SEO, writing emails, or more.