Why small recruitment agencies should embrace automation

From pre-screening to onboarding to placement, automation can revolutionise every stage of the recruitment lifecycle. A recent survey of recruitment agencies revealed that those experiencing revenue growth in 2023 are 32% more likely to have automated candidate screening.

To compete with larger rivals, small recruitment agencies must adopt automation to streamline candidate sourcing, foster lasting relationships with both talent and clients and differentiate themselves from the competition.

The Benefits of Automation

Automating repetitive tasks in the hiring process allows recruiters to save valuable time, enabling them to concentrate on the human-centric aspects of recruitment. With the pressure to deliver rapid results, automation enhances efficiency, empowering recruiters to excel in their roles. This ensures a seamless experience for candidates and high-quality results for clients.

Which key processes typically need automation, and which can make the most significant impact for small recruitment agencies?

Candidate Communication

The ability to quickly sift through and match CVs, along with scheduling interviews, reduces the administrative burden on recruitment teams. Automating reminders for candidate interviews and scheduling follow-up calls with clients ensures recruiters stay on top of every crucial detail and the status of each candidate's application. This allows for timely feedback to candidates, maintaining a smooth process and preventing applicants from dropping out.

Communicating with candidates who didn’t make it through the selection process is equally important, as they may be suitable for future roles. Managing relationships with all candidates, not just those placed, is vital for your company’s brand reputation. Keeping candidates informed at all stages and sending them new job alerts creates a positive impression. In today’s highly competitive hiring landscape, every detail matters.

Many recruiters fall short due to a lack of communication. Candidates may feel "ghosted" if they don’t hear back after applying for a job. Automation can prevent this by ensuring all candidates receive timely updates. When handled with care and sensitivity, automation ensures that even unplaced candidates feel valued, leaving the process with a positive experience.

Efficiency and Productivity Gains

Video interviewing can revolutionise the screening process, helping recruiters qualify and identify the right candidates for their roles. By sending candidates a simple link with some questions to complete at their convenience from anywhere in the world, recruiters can gain a more comprehensive understanding of a candidate's interpersonal skills. More importantly, it alleviates the scheduling challenges recruiters face, particularly with calls outside traditional working hours.

Using recruitment software to automate job postings allows recruiters to quickly distribute roles across global job boards, social media, and search engines. This software can 'multi-post' jobs to various platforms, saving recruiters the time spent on individual uploads. Additionally, recruiters can track and measure performance, ranking candidates and identifying the best-performing channels. These insights are crucial for optimising budget allocation and maximising returns.

When selecting the right recruitment technology, small agencies must research to find affordable solutions that meet their needs. This may involve initially automating one or two key parts of the recruitment process. Demonstrating a return on investment can justify further budget allocation into other areas of the business.

Time Savings

Automation offers numerous benefits for smaller recruitment agencies, with the greatest being its potential to save time. Saving just one hour each day translates to over 250 hours a year, approximately a month's work for each recruiter.

In most cases, the investment in technology automation will pay for itself over time. Ultimately, if small recruitment agencies don't embrace automation, they risk losing out on connecting with top talent and partnering with key clients.