Your best recruiters have a little of everything – killer organization, dedicated work ethic, charm, and that X factor you can’t quite describe. But even your superstars will have performance dips. The key is to catch those dips before they become patterns and give your recruiters concrete solutions for getting back on top.
Let’s take a look at some ways you can boost recruiter performance quickly.
1. Add healthy competition
We don’t mean the cutthroat, unfriendly competition you see in movies like Wall Street or Glengarry Glen Ross. These days, the most successful firms are making competition entertaining with gamification and fun rewards.
Additionally, when your recruiters can log into a digital leaderboard updated in real-time to see where they land, they may up their game faster.
- Host a monthly competition. For example, April might be Placement Month — the recruiter with the most placements wins the month.
- Add useful prizes into the mix. Gift cards, an extra day off, or cash bonuses will always be appreciated.
- Post the results in real time. Whether on a digital dashboard or a whiteboard in your office, keep the competition fresh by updating in real time.
2. Simplify work processes
Nothing makes work more cumbersome than out-of-date tools or clunky processes. When’s the last time you conducted a full review of your software, along with your policies and procedures? You might find that you’ve been using old or irrelevant techniques that are slowing down and frustrating your recruiters.
- Create a simple survey to take your recruiters’ temperature. Ask them what tools and processes are working for them — and which ones could be replaced.
- At least once a year, conduct a full, company-wide review of your software, technology, and routines to make sure you’re still efficient and on the cutting edge.
- Subscribe to newsletters and resources in your industry, like StaffingHub or SIA. You might not know what you’re missing until it’s in your inbox.
3. Collect and share feedback — good and bad
Without frequent candidate feedback, your recruiters’ performance could be sliding without you even realizing it. Conversely, your star recruiters may feel underappreciated because they’re not getting the kudos they deserve.
To solve this, snag feedback from candidates at every stage of their journey with you. You’ll catch problems before they unravel and also grab glowing comments from happy candidates through the process.
- Make feedback easy to give. Send brief surveys throughout the candidate journey, and leave an open link to a feedback form in your email signature and on your website.
- Dish out feedback to your recruiters in real time. As the comments roll in, take this opportunity to pivot on potential problems, as well as add some sunshine into your recruiters’ days.
- Monitor outside review sites and social media. Sometimes you don’t hear from an unhappy candidate until they drop a 1-star review. Make sure you’re watching all possible feedback avenues so you can stay on top of the situation.
4. Offer better incentives and benefits
Sometimes your recruiters are lagging because they don’t feel appreciated and may need a little extra push. Often they’ll feel more respected when the benefits and incentives you offer match their performance.
Take a hard look at what you offer. Are your incentives in line with what other firms boast? Are your benefits inclusive and empathetic of all your recruiters?
- Consider making your family leave policy more progressive. Google found that the retention rate of new mothers jumped to 50% simply by adding extra paid time off.
- Allow recruiters to work from home. By making this flexible change, two-thirds of managers found their employees were infinitely more productive than when stuck in the office.
- Encourage rest and recharging by offering a travel stipend. AirBnB offers a $2000 stipend each year to their employees and consistently is listed on the Best Places to Work.
5. Introduce hard data and analytics
Seeing the proof in numbers can often clarify the big picture for your recruiters. For example, you might tell your recruiters that placements are lagging and they need to improve them, but it’s more effective if you’re able to give actual numbers.
A recruiter who knows that placements have dropped 10% and you want them to back up in three months will have a concrete goal to work towards. Be as specific as you can.
- Use an online tool that collects data in easy-to-read formats. For example, if you want to track candidate happiness level, use an online reputation management tool that aggregates and displays feedback in real time.
- Be transparent with your quarterly financials. Now, you don’t need to go too in-depth. But if they have a general idea of the ebb and flow of the business, they’ll be more likely to feel invested in the firm’s overall success.
- Have your recruiters present their own data a few times a year. This data might be the number of phone calls or texts each month or even minutes spent per candidate. By having them own a part of their data, your recruiters will be more willing to pivot when they need to fix an issue.
6. Include continuing education
The recruiting industry changes quickly. New tools and trends pop up each year, and it’s crucial your recruiters stay modern. Make sure resources and learning opportunities are accessible to them — financially and otherwise.
- Send your recruiters to industry conferences each year, like StaffingTec and SourceCon. Conferences are the fastest way for your recruiters to get the scoop on trends and shifts in the industry.
- Offer webinars and training. Make it easy for your recruiters to pop into online training during the day to supplement their education.
- Send along links and articles you come across. Not every recruiter will have the time to search for the latest industry news. Email or post articles to an internal message board.
7. Tackle your online reputation
Your recruiters want to be proud to work for your firm. Their work is a huge part of their lives — and if your firm has a muddy or sketchy online reputation, your recruiters won’t want to do their best for a company they feel isn’t doing their best.
So make sure you’re on top of your online reputation.
- Turn on Google Alerts for your staffing firm’s name and the names of everyone who works at your company. You’ll get daily emails alerting you to what people are saying about you so you can tackle problems right away.
- Control your profile on external review sites, like Yelp or Glassdoor. You can do this by creating a business profile on those sites and populating those profiles with happy candidate stories and positive anecdotes about your firm.
- Moderate your social media. Nix offensive comments. Often social media is a candidate’s first experience with your firm.
Speaking of that last point — want to learn how you can improve your online reputation? Request a demo of our online tool today.
