Screening and software – when data is a recruiter’s friend

March 2nd, 2020 | Industry News

One of the most important developments in recruitment has been the effect of digital processes. Smart recruiters use recruitment agency software to identify candidates, streamline recruitment and follow up on placements. Increasingly, recruiters use web based recruitment software as a screening process to identify likely locations for strong candidates and to investigate their backgrounds. Regulatory regimes are tightening up on how recruiters can screen candidates at the same time as employers are demanding deeper and more powerful evaluations of candidates, including social media activity, before interview. SAAS recruitment agencies have a distinct advantage, because they can use real-time data to update and inform their candidate profiles and to share relevant information with employers before decisions are made.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has recently published a blog post talking about what people need to know before starting a recruitment business. The second heading in this blog is ‘Data is your friend’. For sure! While they go on to plug their reports – and at Recruit So Simple we agree that knowing your industry is vital to success – we’d say that “data is your friend” in a much more fundamental way, when it comes to recruitment. Recruitment software can make or break your business for three reasons:

1. In a big sector (one million people were found permanent roles by the recruitment industry in 2018/19) being able to differentiate yourself is vital. Good online recruitment software allows you to find out what you’re best at, where you’re different to the competition, and where your best opportunities lie.
2. During difficult times, people find it hard to change. Brexit etc can increase the difficulty in finding good candidates because people just don’t want to risk their current security (however low) for a promise of better (no matter how attractive). Good data, on the other hand, is pretty irresistible – it’s much easier to show people the benefits of finding a new job, hiring a new temp or creating a new department when you can show them strong data about how these things have benefitted others. And the best way to do that is to use your own recruiting software to generate strong case studies that will be appealing to people in your area.
3. Where you start out may not be where you need to be. The best recruitment software for agencies is consultative, it allows you to look at the past week or month, a specific sector or a group of candidates and explore performance. This gives recruiters the opportunity to explore issues like margin, growth, and churn, all of which help improve business performance.