Need some inspiration to kick off the New Year? Here are our top 10 New Year's Resolutions for staffing firms.
We’ve spent a fair amount of time recently pointing out just how much value lies in your candidate database. It is a veritable treasure trove of information and opportunity! Tapping into that value means getting things in order. It might be a little early for spring cleaning, but why not get ahead of the trend?
Re-engage your dormant candidates to ensure that your candidate data is up to date. Combine duplicate records and otherwise dust off that old database to be sure your data is ready for you to engage in some powerful database marketing in 2020. And if you use a Database Enrichment tool like Sense, this can all be done automatically.
This one is wide reaching. “Content” can include anything from your website, to your blog, your email newsletters, marketing materials and the communications you send your contractors, candidates, clients and prospects (even your internal team).
If you’re like most of your staffing colleagues, you likely have a wide array of templates and materials that you lean on to save time in a pinch. But when was the last time you updated that content? It might be time to get together with marketing to talk about a refresh of your website, sell sheets and other materials.
You may want to sit down with your recruiters, too. That’s because those old email templates and even ATS confirmation messages may be a bit long in the tooth. How can you freshen them up to feel more personal, current and relevant?
Looking for inspiration? Here are some fresh, ready-to-use cold recruiting email templates that you can start using right away.
If you’re using a candidate engagement platform like Sense, you’ll also want to examine your workflows to see what could use an update this year. Review your analytics to see what's working and what’s not, and adjust accordingly.
Digital transformation was a top priority for staffing firms in 2019, so chances are you adopted some new tech in your firm. But who oversaw implementation? Did everyone receive the proper training?
Depending on your timeline, it may be time for a training refresh. Now that everyone (presumably) has had a chance to use the new tool(s), get some feedback. What’s working? What’s not? What capabilities do you wish this technology had? What roadblocks are you hitting?
Schedule time and make it a priority to ensure that your team has ample opportunity to ask questions, receive training and otherwise feel 100% confident in the tools and technologies you’ve implemented.
Now’s a great time to look back on your goals for 2019 and compare them against your results. If you aren’t currently measuring key metrics, or you haven’t designated clear, measurable goals across your staffing firm, this might be a challenge.
But you can’t manage what you don’t measure.
It’s not too late to start measuring core metrics. If you’re not sure where to start, this guide can help. Get a baseline by measuring now. Then set clear, attainable, measurable goals for 2020. Decide how often you’ll revisit and amend them, if necessary (Quarterly? Bi-monthly? monthly?).
But most importantly, start setting goals and measuring them -- this is a big one!
It’s an easy trap to fall into -- recruiters do their “recruiter thing.” Sales does its thing. And so on and so forth. But when you integrate operations, your organization works as a unit, with the departmental “moving cogs” working in harmony.
We’ve seen many of our clients successfully use technology to integrate departments and operations. It’s especially powerful when you give every department access to core analytics and data to make better decisions. When sales and marketing work alongside recruiting, and leadership works together with customer support (and every possible combination), your staffing firm operates like a well-oiled, empowered machine.
You’ll find no shortage of candidate engagement inspiration here on the Sense blog, that’s for sure! But while we heard and met with hundreds of staffing firms that committed to candidate engagement in 2019, we know that many others may have struggled to create and implement a targeted strategy. Or perhaps they focused on other priorities, didn’t have the right engagement platform, or some other barrier.
That’s okay. It’s a new year, and there are so many opportunities for you to boost engagement this year. From candidates and contractors to prospects and clients, the right strategy and technology can deliver exceptional results, without burdening your workforce (HINT: Give us a shout and we’ll show you how).
This one goes hand in hand with #6 for sure. Redeployment is an untapped gold mine for many staffing firms, whose rates hover around 5% of contractors, according to our research.
That means 95% of your placements are never placed again. Talk about untapped potential!
Even a slight increase in your redeployment rate could result in a tremendous impact on your revenue in 2020. To start, be sure you’re measuring redeployment. You need to know where you’re starting if you’re going to improve.
Then, set a realistic goal. What kind of increase would make a noticeable impact on your bottom line?
Finally, work backwards. from that goal. What will it take to reach it? How can you better leverage your current resources and strategically add new ones in order to reach that goal?
Although we spend a lot of time talking about texting, email is not dead. In fact, email often plays an important role in a cohesive engagement strategy.
But many staffing firms are struggling to write and send emails that are actually opened, let alone read. Receiving a response? Be still my heart!
The average email open rate is only 20%.
The average email response rate is only 6%!
You may have already refreshed your email content as part of the second resolution. Or perhaps you haven’t gotten to email yet. Regardless, I ask you to pause and think about how you could better integrate email into your engagement strategy. Then, use this advice to craft emails that are welcomed, opened and read.
One of the BEST ways to stay at the forefront of our industry is to attend conferences and events (including online events and webinars). The staffing industry is filled with amazing leaders and educators, and we love getting together to share our knowledge and experiences, don’t we?
Let’s not underestimate how nice it is, in our digital world, to see each other now and again. The staffing and recruiting industry has some amazing events in some incredible locations around the world!
If you’re still looking for inspiration to fill in your calendar during the early part of 2020, here are some of our favorite events coming up.
It seems like everyone either has a podcast or is listening to one (or more) nowadays. There are podcasts for all of your new year’s resolutions, from fitness and physical health, to mental health, parenting and much more -- including (of course) staffing and recruiting!
Podcasts provide short, digestible and actionable insights that you can take with you to work each morning. Whether in the car, at the gym or even at your desk, you can absolutely find the time to squeeze in a few podcasts each week.
Not sure which podcasts to queue up in your playlist? Here are some of our favorite resources.
Our technology was built specifically for the staffing industry. We understand your challenges and are here to cheer for you as you reach your goals. From candidate engagement to analytics and so much more, we’ll help you maximize your technology investment in 2020 and beyond. Contact us to schedule a demo and learn more.
