The key selling point of automation for any industry appears to be the same across the board. You relieve your staff from repetitive and simple yet key tasks and optimise them to do more of the tasks that only they can do. As a result of automation the overall productivity and revenue generating potential increases. While this is hugely beneficial to the recruitment industry, it opens up a key area for improvement; the relationship between recruiters and their clients.

Speed Dating

This has been the reality of the recruiter/client relationship for several decades. Because the second the relationship starts, so does the invisible stopwatch. Time-to-Hire is everything and the longer the process the more it costs both client and recruiter. And there are multiple layers to these costs.

For the client, the longer they’re without staff the more it impacts their inner workings. Productivity slows at best, but depending on the vitality of the role, certain functions can grind to a halt at worst. The domino effect of this can heavily impact a business’s costs. Especially if the recruiter is on a day rate, in which case the longer the process the more the client is paying.

As far as the recruiter goes the phrase; “time is of the essence” is a more appropriate mantra than for perhaps any other professional. For recruiters, the quicker they can place candidates the more they can earn as they can quickly move on to the next client. This could be even more crucial if client payment is based on the role being managed. For recruitment agencies, often their main selling points revolve around two key factors: Cost-per-Hire and Time-to-Hire. Depending on the speed of the latter, the more clients they can take on. Increasing both their reputation and revenue earning potential and leading to further growth.

Given the length of the recruitment process, there’s only so much time for recruiters to dedicate to the relationships they have with their clients. Not without compromising on the precious speed of process that neither side wants to stretch out anymore than necessary. As a result, the recruiter/client relationship is often conducted in bare minimums. However, this could be compromising on something else; the clients receiving exactly what they need in a candidate.

What Recruiters and Clients have been Missing Out on

Since recruiters can only allot so much time to building their relationship with clients there are some significant attributes of this relationship being overlooked. In the past, clients brief recruiters on the requirements of the role they are seeking to fill. A job description that may contain a summary of the role, a breakdown of responsibilities, list of essential skills etc. Which is the universal yet minimalist approach to recruitment, but does it lead to the best candidates?

The quality of a job description is subjective to the client, but even the best of these may not lead to the best outcome. Mainly because often what employers want in a candidate may not be exactly what they need. Unless they are well-versed in recruitment best practice (and why would they be?) employers may always be over or under-reaching in their candidate criteria.

Alternatively, experienced recruiters who specialise in recruiting for specific industries may have a better grasp on the types of candidates employers need than even they do themselves. This type of business need assessment requires recruiters to dedicate more time to their clients. To delve deeper into their business and find out exactly what it is that they need in a candidate. One that will not only meet these needs but will add further value to the business as a whole.

Unfortunately, this is time recruiters often don’t have. Furthermore, clients who are interested in this usually end up paying more for this type of attention. As it is often positioned within recruitment as an additional service. However, in the future this may not be the case. Going forward, this could be a key feature of recruitment for every client. Thanks to a little technological advancement.

How Automation is bringing Clients and Recruiters Closer

Automation is a business favourite for lowering costs and improving productivity. In recruitment, we are seeing the automation of key top-of-funnel tasks that are boring, repetitive and time consuming. Emphasis on “time consuming”. Before now, recruiters had to block out significant time slots in their week to perform these vital tasks. CV sifting, ATS surfacing, candidate engagement, database updating, the list goes on. Now tech like ChatAutomation’s digital worker bot TalentSift, recruiters have more time.

The first benefit of automation within recruitment is that now recruiters can manage more clients and more roles. However, it also means that recruiters can dedicate more time to their existing clients. They can build stronger and more meaningful relationships with clients as they don’t have to worry about wasting valuable time. As spending more time understanding a client’s needs will no longer affect Time-to-Hire.

Recruiters can now collaborate with clients on building stronger job descriptions. That are put together from data provided by a thorough business need assessment. The process used to be the client telling their recruiter what they want in an ideal employee. And the recruiter would do their best to provide a suitable candidate. Now recruiters can work together with clients to assess what key business functions need performing. Then mutually agree on a criteria that will produce the right candidate that’ll add significant value to the company.

This is what the future of recruitment looks like. A collaborative process that enables recruiters to better use their experience and industry expertise to help clients add value through placing the right candidate for the job. Clients receive better candidates, in less time and in a way that previously would have cost them a lot more. All this is thanks to automation within recruitment.

If you want to start building your relationship with your clients and increase capacity while lowering Time-to-Hire, book a demo.