Do you need a specialist recruiter?

May 28th, 2019 | Industry News

Every industry claims to have unique elements – but to what extent is that true and how much does it affect the recruitment process? Web based recruitment software comes in two forms, generic or bespoke. The advantage of bespoke software is that you can have it designed to your specific circumstances, but the disadvantage is that this can substantially limit your recruiting potential.

If you choose generic online recruitment software, will it meet your needs?

The best recruitment CRM should be customisable to a degree that allows your organisation to tailor its usage to your own needs. An example – retail is a huge industry, with a $26 trillion turnover predicted by the end of this year. It’s also hugely diverse: a specialist electronics retailer doesn’t need the same kind of staff as a retro womenswear boutique, experience in FMCG doesn’t translate into selling cars. And everybody thinks they can sell, so recruiters get high volumes of applicants for every job. Good recruitment agency software needs to be easy to update and have the capacity to sift masses of data rapidly if it’s to function for retail. But some of that data is translatable skills, so the recruiting software needs to be sensitive enough to spot where crossover skills exist or even to flag potential crossover candidates so they can have a personal assessment from a consultant.

Let’s look at another industry – hospitality. This is an industry where recruiters also need high applicant volumes and often find themselves dealing with temp to perm contracting. In a recent High Court case, claimants claimed they had been exploited and that their contractual rights had been breached. Not only did they win, but the directors of a supply company, along with the directors of the employing company were both found to be liable for contract and statutory rights breaches because the supply company directors were deemed to have induced the employing company to breach employment contracts. It’s a frightening scenario which has woken several agencies up to potential risk.

Recruitment management software should easily protect directors from such risks by (a) instituting minimum statutory requirements in all contractual arrangements as standard and (b) using automation features to – for example – send out a nudge email that checks whether temp to perm contractors have signed a new permanent contract with their new employer, thereby absolving the agency of any commitment under a former temporary contract.