See what staffing and recruitment firms across the country are planning for 2021. With over 70% of our survey respondents expecting to grow significantly this year, we breakdown how businesses are preparing to increase revenue. Plus, see the technology and culture trends that are breaking out and making the most impact on business.
Results from those staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
Results pertaining to 2021 Growth from those staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
With over 70% of survey respondents expecting their business and revenue to grow significantly, 2021 is not the year to retreat. Staffing and recruiting firms across industries and cities will need to pay close attention to their recruitment strategy, processes, infrastructure, technology, and more.
Additionally, we should consider the industry specific growth factors, according to the American Staffing Association, including “an aging population—which will likely contribute to an increasing number of chronic health conditions; rising enrollments in postsecondary education; an increase in construction laborers; more food preparation and serving-related jobs; and continued demand for computer systems design, consulting, and staffing services.”
Keep scrolling for our breakdown of the top implementations of growth anticipated in 2021.
Automation Technology and Streamlined Recruitment Processes go hand-in-hand with the right recruitment and staffing tools. When a firm utilizes automation sequences and integrated technology to streamline processes, they are able to give their production teams hours back in their day, so they can spend more time impacting the bottom line.
Further, steamlined processes for any team help create standard protocols that take the guesswork out of what to do next. Using your ATS or CRM to do this allows every recruiter and sales person to follow a pre-defined process and use standardized (and often automated) flows to increase productivity and reduce admin time.
According to statistics from G2, “over 98% of fortune 500 companies use recruitment software.”
Successful firms will continue to build on their marketing and sales programs; utilizing technology and software to do this will be key.
Surveyed Staffing and Recruiting Firms Chose All Growth Tactics They Plan to Use in 2021 – Show as Percentage Ranking
Employment Growth By Industry. (n.d.). Retrieved December 22, 2020, from www.asa-digital.net/amstaffingassoc/2020_staffing_industry_playbook/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1621696
Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Growth isn’t just about landing new clients and feeding the talent pipeline. It’s about building a business infrastructure. “Staffing firms need a scalable organization.”
Results pertaining to 2021 Technology Needs and Plans from those staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
From candidate sourcing, to applicant management and onboarding, staffing and recruitment firms need these processes integrated and as automated as possible. With the right ATS/CRM, teams can utilize features such as job board integrated searches, watchdogs, and onboarding automation sequences to save time, streamline processes, scale and grow.
With sales and marketing automation integrated into your businesses CRM, firms are able to expertly match open job reqs to candidates, as well as implement automation sequences and drip campaigns to nurture sales leads as well as passive candidates.
In order to stay competitive in 2021, firms will have to embrace technology for scalable automation that will amplify the impact of each recruiter (and salesperson).
Surveyed Staffing and Recruiting Firms Chose Top 3 Recruitment Software Features Needed for Growth in 2021 – Show as Percentage Ranking
Automation increases the productivity of your recruiters by streamlining repetitive tasks such as follow-up emails, contact or candidate status updates, onboarding communication sequences, data entry, and so on.
When your sales CRM is integrated with your candidate CRM and ATS, without having to buy and manage dozens of semi-connected applications, your processes are inherently more effective and easier to use.
Marketing automation not only helps your entire organization increase engagement and conversions, but it also helps you build more personalized communication paths for your client and candidates, and smarter segmentation.
See how firms surveyed predict their recruitment and sales focus to be split in 2021
A quarter of firms surveyed anticipate candidate sourcing, recruitment and nurturing to be the focus of 2021
Majority of firms surveyed anticipate a fairly even split between recruitment efforts and business development needs
Many firms anticipate more focus on sales and getting orders, with their industry’s market flush with candidates
The results of this question show a shift in focus for many in the recruitment and staffing industry.
“68% of recruiting professionals say that the best way to improve recruiting performance over the next five years is by investing in new recruiting technology,” according to data from G2.
We are seeing less intent on more traditional recruitment methods like direct mail and job fairs, and much more significance in company website and digital recruitment methods. Firms are seeing that they need to invest in the equity of their own job postings and digital assets.
Powering your digital recruitment strategy.
The best way to power these digital assets is through integration with an intuitive and connected recruitment software that includes functionality for applicant tracking (ATS) as well as integrated sales CRM.
Most Important/Effective Recruitment Tactics for 2021
Least Important/Effective Recruitment Tactics for 2021
Results from those staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
Surveyed Staffing and Recruiting Firms Chose Top 3 Recruitment Tactics They Plan to Utilize in 2021 – Shown as Percentage Ranking
The results of this question show a more direct and personal sales and business development approach versus a blanket approach.
With inbound marketing and sales becoming more well understood as an approach, a companies website and content promotion (through social media, email, and more), is going to continue to be important for client prospect awareness, consideration and conversions.
Bonus points for using technology to help customize and personalize your segmentation, targeting and messaging.
Most Important/Effective Sales Tactics for 2021
Least Important/Effective Sales Tactics for 2021
Results from those staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
Surveyed Staffing and Recruiting Firms Chose Top 3 Sales Tactics They Plan to Utilize in 2021 – Shown as Percentage Ranking
“You can use technology to remove friction anywhere across the system,” says Delle Donne. “It’s all about streamlining, making things convenient, and robotically processing things that are mundane and time consuming and repetitive.”
Results pertaining to 2021 Culture Insight from those staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
What are the implications?
The forced working-from-home arrangement brought on by the pandemic of 2020 will continue to have lasting impressions on staffing and recruiting firms. Many leadership teams are finding production to be just-as-good or better than when everyone was in the office. And, according to insight from Flexjobs, “businesses lose $600 billion a year to workplace distractions, and that remote workers are 35% to 40% more productive than their in-office counterparts.”
Productivity is extremely important.
But, how about the implications on candidate and client experience? How do we create the same warm engagements and assessments when we are remote, while staying productive and remote? Many staffing and recruiting firms are leaning on technology for creating better relationships through strategic and personalized nurturing, digital transformation, video interview software, and more.
With 83% of staffing and recruiting firm survey respondents ranking relationship building as “extremely important” and another 12% ranking it “very important”, it is no surprise that we are in an era that is hyper focused on candidate experience and satisfaction.
This is terrific news.
The question (and opportunity) becomes how do you maximize candidate experience when you are working from home, not traveling or interviewing in person, and working in a technology-centric world.
Here are some tips:
Building better relationships through technology is key.
As reported by G2, “63% of job seekers will likely reject a job offer because of a bad candidate experience.” This is huge as most staffing and recruiting firms have a finite talent pool to work from, plus with social media and reviews, no one can afford a bad experience.
So how to make sure all candidates and applicants have a great experience? Technology can help. The right technology can really help.
Using recruitment software to streamline and automate standard communications paths and personalize sequences can ensure no candidate falls through the cracks, gets a bad email, or misses out on a new job opportunity with your firm. Further, the right software will save your recruiters tons of time.
“Automation transforms staffing so recruiters spend less time on administrative tasks and more time ensuring client satisfaction, recruiting new workers, and building lasting relationships. Screening, scheduling, onboarding, and many other tasks can now be automated through technology.”
Advance Partners – https://www.advancepartners.com/beyond-pricing-whitepaper
Results pertaining to staffing and recruitment firms surveyed by the Tracker 2020-2021 Recruitment Trends Survey.
Check out how our integrated ATS, CRM and Recruitment Automation Software helps your team create better relationships, processes, and more.