We’re excited to announce GR Certified for 2023!
This certification is more than just an award. It’s a recognition of the staffing firms who have gone above and beyond to gather feedback and continually improve the experiences they create.
To be considered as Great Recruiter Certified 2023, recruiting firms must meet the following criteria:
- Minimum 6 months on the Great Recruiters platform
- Regularly soliciting feedback from job-seekers and placed talent
- 4.6 average Great Recruiters rating
- 33% of the agency’s recruiting team must be individually GR Certified
But why is this important? What benefit does GR Certified offer for the winning staffing firms? Read on to find out.
Why is GR Certified different from other awards?
There are a lot of companies out there—both inside and outside the staffing industry—who give out awards. Often, it’s unclear who chooses the winners, whether companies pay to be on the list, or whether the awards signify real accomplishments.
With GR Certified, we don’t do that. We tell you exactly who qualifies and who doesn’t. That’s because to become GR Certified, you have to meet objective criteria derived from the real-world feedback you receive.
If you aren’t creating great experiences among candidates, clients, and placed talent, you won’t get the positive reviews. Which, in turn, means you won’t become GR Certified.
GR Certified is more than a badge on a website or email signature. It’s a promise: a promise that the staffing agency you’re engaging with truly puts their money where their mouth is.
4 benefits your firm gets from being GR Certified
So how does GR Certified actually impact your bottom line? Here are a few of the most important reasons.
1. Build trust among your target audience
We live in a reviews economy. Even outside of recruiting, the more positive reviews a company has, the more they’re seen as trusted and the more likely they are to attract business.
In fact, the data is startling. 97% of consumers say customer reviews factor into their buying decisions. And 92% hesitate to make a purchase when there are no customer reviews.
So what does this mean for recruiters? If you aren’t proactively gathering and sharing feedback, then you’re going to have a hard time attracting the modern recruiter.
GR Certified shows that you’re committed to being transparent and listening to feedback from candidates, clients, and placed talent. This is huge toward building trust in the current market.
2. Build an “experience-first” brand
GR Certified staffing firms don’t just collect feedback. They act on it. They use it to improve their internal processes and the experiences they create.
In fact, if you want to build a brand that screams “we put our people first,” then you need to become GR Certified.
A lot of companies talk about the experiences they create and the way they value their people. But it’s one thing to put copy on your website. It’s another thing to have your candidates, clients, and customers say the same thing over and over again.
Consider the following review examples from some of our GR Certified staffing firms:
“Claudia has been great so far with helping me get my first contract secured and set-up! She is friendly, remembers details, and is very transparent! Excited to start my first contract with her and then start looking for my second!”
“Carlan has been extremely helpful and was very knowledgeable and found me the perfect fit for the position. I am very happy with the outcome.”
“I’m so proud to have Lindsay as my recruiter. She is attentive, she listens and she works with me to find solutions…She communicates with me when I reach out to her and that’s very important to me. Thank you Lindsay! ????”
You can’t buy that kind of marketing. It’s only through quality experiences, human-to-human engagement, and proactive review capture that you can build that testimonial engine.
Don’t just say you create great experiences. Prove it.
3. Build morale among your employees
Everyone loves to work at a great company. But just like your candidates, your internal team could use some external validation to know they’re doing a great job.
Because GR Certified is based on objective feedback, reviews, and ratings, there’s no question that firms that achieve this distinction are high quality. As such, it can be a great way to encourage and support the team—something everyone can stand a little more of in this tough market.
Don’t forget: in addition to company-wide GR Certified, individuals can become GR Certified as well. This can be a great way to boost employee engagement and even gamify candidate experiences.
4. Build more referral opportunities
Let’s face it: people like to work with firms they trust. If you’re a GR Certified staffing firm, then people are going to be more likely to refer you to their friends and colleagues.
When people give recommendations, they want to know that the companies they recommend are doing a good job. Otherwise, it reflects poorly on them. GR Certified is a good way to save referrers the time and effort to validate the claims you make on your website—because your reviewers do it for them.
Final thoughts on GR Certified
Becoming GR Certified isn’t something that happens overnight. As we mentioned above, it takes at least six months to earn this distinction. But given the benefits to your staffing firm, it’s a powerful and important way to demonstrate your commitment to the quality of the experiences you create.
If you’re interested in learning more about how GR Certified can help your firm in 2023, get in touch with Great Recruiters today.
