Founded in 1956, Nesco Resource has long been one of the most respected brands in the staffing industry. Today, they employ 700+ people across more than 100 nationwide locations, and are consistently recognized for the outstanding work they do connecting employers and job seekers.
Nesco’s employer brand has been critical to their sustained success. But crafting and maintaining that brand requires a thoughtful approach. They use Sense to provide a more personalized and memorable experience to every candidate and client they interact with. “Our main focus is always to provide high-quality service at every step of the hiring journey,” says Nesco Resource Business Operations Manager Rachel Orbach. “That requires leveraging technology when supporting our sales and recruiting teams.”
Rachel recently joined Sense for a webinar to share four specific use cases for using AI and recruiting automation to drive employer branding efforts.
The team at Nesco sends regular emails to clients and SMS check-ins to their active associates on assignment. Within those communications, they include NPS surveys to gain insight into the experiences they’re providing.
But the team at Nesco doesn’t just listen, they also have a system in place to take meaningful action based on the feedback they receive. “Every message we receive goes to multiple points of contact, both locally and nationally,” says Rachel.
Using a series of alerts, the Nesco executive team and other stakeholders are notified whenever an NPS survey is completed. Seeing negative feedback naturally helps them learn what parts of their operations need to be changed and improved going forward. And positive feedback validates what they’re doing well and positions them to provide great experiences in future client and candidate interactions.
This listening, learning, and improving philosophy has paid off for Nesco. Their NPS is now over 60 among both candidates and clients, which is well above the industry averages of 31 for clients and 19 for candidates.
Consistent communication is the hallmark of Nesco’s candidate engagement strategy. They check in with candidates at crucial stages of their journey, including when they have an upcoming interview, recently started an assignment, and recently finished an assignment.
They’ve found that a regular cadence of SMS messages keeps candidates engaged and provides them with a channel to respond with questions or concerns. “SMS is a more casual platform and has allowed us to create a really productive and healthy environment for transparency with our candidates,” says Rachel.
Many people don’t feel comfortable proactively reaching out to their recruiter to voice a concern about a new job, especially if it’s minor and might not warrant a phone call or email. A simple text message check-in gives them an avenue to respond and share any issues big or small, so the team at Nesco can take action on their behalf and ensure they’re set up to succeed in their new role.
Nesco also actively communicates with their clients to ensure they’re providing as much value as possible. They send custom surveys to learn about the unique needs of their clients and share thought-leadership content to showcase their expertise in recruiting.
By going above and beyond and providing value-added content, Nesco is able to leverage client relationships to support their marketing efforts. Using automated journeys in Sense, they ask clients for reviews/testimonials on their Google Business, Glassdoor, and ClearlyRated profiles — helping them organically grow the Nesco brand and attract new clients based on their reputation.
In addition to using Sense to provide an outstanding candidate and client experience, Nesco has found other innovative ways to automate their processes and boost productivity.
For example, correcting addresses on W2s made for a long and tedious process every year. They now use the Sense AI-powered chatbot to send address verification emails to associates. Each associate can then instantly respond to verify or correct their addresses if needed. The chatbot even integrates with Google Address Validate to correctly format the address and confirm it with the recipient.
“We received incredibly clean data from those updates and we’re able to drastically reduce the amount of W2 correction that was needed,” says Rachel. “We verify addresses before W2s were printed and saved a huge amount of time by not having to manually update addresses afterward.”
Through experimentation and continuous learning, Rachel’s team at Nesco has discovered the most effective methods for engaging candidates and clients. She offered the following best practices for creating messaging campaigns that resonate with the recipients and advance employer branding efforts:
Crafting a strong employer brand is essential for succeeding in today’s highly competitive staffing industry. By utilizing the tips and strategies provided by Nesco, staffing firms can create a compelling brand image that resonates with both candidates and potential clients.
If you to learn more ways you can use technology to boost your brand, check out our “Recruiting Automation Playbook.”
