From zero to hero: the rise of the recruiter

Historically, the recruitment industry has been treated as the unsavoury black sheep of the professional services world. Recruiters have been labelled as unskilled money-grabbers, cold-callers with no scruples, rude and brash salespeople who never return calls…the list of mythical crimes is extensive. In fact, a quick online search of mass misconceptions about the recruitment industry will reveal that we’ve all been seen as (apparently) largely loathed admin workers with no morals to our name. If you’re curious about this, just type “recruiters are” into Google and let its suggestions paint you a vivid picture.

As unfair, unfounded and downright unreasonable as these old stereotypes are, it’s important to observe that they have become just that: old. Perceptions of recruitment are changing, and the industry has never faced a more promising future.

In fact, according to the 2015 UK Recruitment Trends Report from Bullhorn, 85% of UK recruitment agencies are confident that they will make a profit this year, and a further 93% expect to see an increase in revenue. More and more businesses are relying on recruiters to source their talent, and more and more professionals are opting to work in recruitment (with some 90,000 people at last count!) Albeit slowly, evidence suggests that the tide is turning, and recruitment is finally garnering the respect it deserves.

So, how is it that a profession has gone from zero to hero?

Top talent is hard to win in a candidate-drive market

With competition and opportunity high, today’s buoyant job market has thrown the multifarious difficulties of recruitment into bright light. Jobs are increasingly abundant as the majority of UK businesses seek growth, meaning that talented candidates are now very much in the driver’s seat when it comes to cherry-picking the most attractive roles. Simply put, employers looking to hire have found out first-hand that successful recruitment is no mean feat.

Recruiters can thank the flourishing seller’s market for subtly shifting industry perceptions. Research has highlighted that the majority of companies underestimate the cost of in-house recruitment by 90-95%, failing to take into account time lost, advertising costs and resources used. As well as that, over 70% of in-house solutions fail to source all, or even 90% of vacancies. Employers have now come to realise that they need recruiters: not only to win top talent in a tough market but also to save money in the hiring process.

The skills shortage has set obstacles in employment

As difficult as the skills shortage has made recruitment, it has also played a significant part in advancing how the industry is perceived. In what has been labelled ‘the worst skills shortage for 30 years’, UK employers are seriously struggling to find the key talent they need. The latest British Chambers of Commerce workforce survey revealed that 92% of businesses have identified a skills shortage among their workforce in at least one key area, and a recent CBI report has called the growing skills gap the number one workforce threat.

In this climate, finding the people with the required skillsets is extremely challenging. Where employers have frequently failed to fill roles, it is the expertise of recruiters which has found and delivered the necessary talent. Particularly for jobs in the IT and technical sectors, recruiters have been instrumental in sourcing the rare candidates that employers need to grow.

Recruitment has fast merged into marketing

In light of the challenging, skills-short job market, recruiters have had to become excellent marketers to stay ahead of the curve. Recruiters have traditionally been thought of as salespeople above all else, but the truth is that successful recruitment uniquely combines both sales and marketing in equal measures. The recruiters of today have to be proficient writers, social media moguls, brand ambassadors, clever communicators and digitally savvy direct and email marketers – as well as persuasive salespeople.

As the business world becomes increasingly aware of the broad range of skills required within recruitment, perceptions are inevitably starting to change for the better. Recruiters have adapted with the times and truly stepped up to the mark in difficult times, and it is this which has helped to open eyes about the industry.

True, some misplaced negativity still circles recruitment, but there are no industries which are not surrounded by stereotypes. There is still more to be done to change perceptions, but in recent years recruitment has come a long way in rising from zero to hero.

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Author bio: Roxanne Abercrombie is a professional copywriter and serial blogger. She works as PR, Content and Social Executive for Uniting Ambition, a specialist company that provides recruitment and talent management services to businesses at varying stages of growth, from start-up and medium sized enterprises through to global brands.

Blog your way to better candidate attraction

By Roxanne Abercrombie

With over 200 million blogs currently in existence and more being created by the minute, the blog is not only a popular vehicle for communication but also one which is highly powerful. In fact, research shows that 67% of businesses that blog generate more leads than those that don’t. For recruitment companies, the power of the blog can and should be harnessed to generate those all-important leads within a comprehensive candidate attraction strategy.

Fortunately, the recruitment industry isn’t trailing behind trends and the vast majority of consultancies have wised up and implemented a blog within their website. But if recruiters are only blogging when they have something to say rather than as part of a clear recruitment strategy, they will not win the desired results.

So, how can recruiters use blogs as a tool in their candidate attraction arsenal?

Share your insider expertise

As a recruiter, you know exactly what employers look for in employees. You know the perfect way to format a CV, the best possible way to answer interview questions, the ideal elevator pitch and the overused buzz words that should be avoided. In short, you have the kind of knowledge that every candidate would love to have.

By delivering regular blog posts in which you give candidates these expert tips and tricks, you are not only showcasing your range of expertise but also offering content of significant value to personal job-hunts. Candidates visiting your blog will leave armed with actionable information and an appreciation of your extensive recruitment know-how.

You may find this time-consuming, but the benefits of sharing your knowledge will impact enormously on both your personal brand and your business. Candidates will remember you, be inclined to work with you and therefore be more likely to apply for one of your vacancies. If you plan on being in recruitment for the long haul, this ultimately means more engaged talent, more wins and more profits.

Create a valued community

Broadly speaking, the recruitment industry has a poor reputation in the market when it comes to maintaining strong relationships with candidates after placement. Once a fee has been won, the prevailing perception is that recruiters no longer have any interest in the candidate.

Keeping in touch with the hundreds of candidates you’ve placed can understandably be a tricky task. With a blog, however, you have the perfect tool to create continuous dialogue and build a lasting bridge between consultant and candidate.

When you begin to grow your blog content, you begin to build a loyal following. You begin to build a community of candidates who come to you for advice and information, and you therefore build your recruitment business. Without having to send automated messages or make countless phone calls, a well populated and well maintained recruitment blog will keep candidates invested in your brand.

Drive return visits to your site

A common problem recruiters face is in garnering return visits from candidates. Since the vast majority of your vacancies will be found via job boards rather than directly from your site, there is little reason for candidates to keep coming back to the domain of the ‘middle man’ rather than the domain of the board or the employer.

By blogging, however, you are offering candidates a stream of fresh content to win their clicks. Research shows that 56% of businesses who blog on just a monthly basis acquire customers through their blogs. Even more persuasive, blogging three times a week increases this percentage to 70%, whilst daily blogging raises the figure to a staggering 78%. For recruiters, this means that regular blogging will win you more return traffic and more conversions.

With regular posts that are also shared via your social channels, candidates will keep coming back to read your content. Once they’re already prowling your pages, they will be more likely to view job listings and apply for roles directly through your website. As well as that, the biggest factor that goes into ranking well on Google is original, high-quality content. It really is simple: blogging will win you higher numbers of candidate applications and a higher SEO rank.

Well-known blogger Jason Calacanis once said that: ““The currency of blogging is authenticity and trust.” In an industry where authenticity and trust are absolutely key to success, this is a sentiment of value to recruiters. If executed correctly, a recruitment blog will not only attract more passive and active candidates but also foster that all-important trust that builds brands.

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Author bio: Roxanne Abercrombie is a professional copywriter and serial blogger. She works as PR, Content and Social Executive for Uniting Ambition, a specialist company that provides recruitment and talent management services to businesses at varying stages of growth, from start-up and medium sized enterprises through to global brands.

How to use Instagram as a powerful recruitment tool

By Roxanne Abercrombie, Uniting Ambition

The key to successful candidate attraction in 2015 is creativity. With hiring returning to pre-recession levels and an ever-shrinking talent pool, top candidates are now both sought after and fought after.  These choice professionals are receiving multiple offers and counter offers, enabling their selectiveness.  To stand out from the crowd and entice more of the right people, recruiters now need to think outside the box and show their difference. What quicker, more cost-effective way to do so than through Instagram?

Instagram boasts 300 million monthly active users, 70 million daily photograph uploads and 8500 likes per second. As well as that, Instagram is highly popular amongst the prized, socially-savvy Generation Y demographic. Evidently, it’s an opportune exposure platform and therein lies its advantage as a powerful recruitment tool.

Here’s some simple steps recruiters can take to harness that power, win results and attract candidates.

Build your connections

Use Instagram as an opportunity to both grow your network and engage with it in a new way. Follow talented candidates, follow your clients, follow industry leaders and follow candidates you’ve successfully placed. Doing so is an unexpected move for a recruiter and differentiates you as socially alert.

All recruiters have already used the tried and tested method of using LinkedIn as a social recruiting tool. Many are also using Twitter and Facebook. But few, exceptionally few in fact, are using Instagram as a strategic tool. As an informal, visual social media channel, Instagram will allow you to build those connections in a way that’s fresh and fun.

Maintain consistent activity

After you’ve established your all-important connections, you need to pique their interest with a regular output of visually stimulating images and videos. The beauty of Instagram as a recruitment tool is its capacity to show personality. Embrace this and share your behind the scenes reel, showing your network what a vibrant company you work for and putting a human face behind the brand.

Be versatile here. Share shots and quick videos of the team hard at work, of staff parties and of individual recruiters after making a deal. Post inspirational career quotes and relevant, news-related pictures accompanied with interesting industry updates. Record a weekly recruitment round-up delivered by your company CEO to show off your expertise in the field. This type of activity will increase your visibility and your brand awareness, making you come across as a fun but knowledgeable company that candidates would want to work with.

Drive engagement

As useful as catching the eye of your connections is, it won’t win deliver ROI until you begin to engage. This doesn’t just mean liking pictures and using hashtags (both of which you should do, however). It means actively seeking conversations with candidates by asking questions, posting comments and sending messages. For recruiters, this is a chance to get creative with your sourcing methods.

For example, if a talented candidate posts a picture of their birthday cake, you might want to message them with a quirky greeting saying something like:  “We hope you have a great day! If you want to celebrate with a brand new job, you know where we are.” If they’ve posted a picture of a meal, perhaps comment with something along the lines of: “Looks irresistible! Almost as irresistible as this job we’ve cherry-picked for you...”

Admittedly, this kind of activity is tongue-in-cheek, but so is the platform you’re using. With its informality, Instagram is the perfect place for a touch of humour.

Create recruitment competitions

Social recruitment competitions are where recruiters can get real leverage from Instagram. Not only are they innovative and quirky, they can also be highly effective when done well. For example, if you’re recruiting for a Lead Designer role, share a picture of yourself with a sign asking for Designers to share their best logo designs on Instagram, with the winner receiving an automatic interview. Perhaps post a video of yourself posing a killer interview question for a hot role and asking candidates to answer it using their own video reply. The key is to keep competitions light and fun enough to earn traction, whilst relevant enough to win engagement from desirable candidates.

Instagram recruitment campaigns are a real rarity in the industry and will set you apart as a leader, not a follower. They require no cost and very little effort on the recruiter’s part, but can still win fantastic results.

If you want to stay one step ahead of the game in the recruitment industry, it’s time to stop ignoring the sway of Instagram. It’s not just a fun social media state, it’s also a valid and highly valuable recruitment tool that will keep you current, competitive and attractive to candidates.

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Author bio: Roxanne Abercrombie is a professional copywriter and serial blogger. She works as PR, Content and Social Executive for Uniting Ambition, a specialist company that provides recruitment and talent management services to businesses at varying stages of growth, from start-up and medium sized enterprises through to global brands.