Article published on: 26/02/24
There are many ways to attract candidates for within your staffing agency, but what free options are out there and which are ultimately worth trying.
Social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer you a more simple way to post jobs. Once you have created a ‘we’re hiring’ template that captures the image and voice of your brand then you can use this to easily post job descriptions onto your social media business pages, or for use by your consultants to share to their networks. Social media is also a great way to ask your networks for referrals for roles within your staffing agency.
Don’t overlook how useful your website can be for posting jobs Whether you are looking for new people to join your team or finding candidates to fill your clients’ roles, a careers page is a great way to advertise your roles without any job board fees. There may be some monetary and time cost at the beginning if you need to hire a web developer to create a careers page for you, or if you decide to take the time to learn how to create one/update one yourself. However once this initial investment has happened, you’ll have a page you can post your roles onto without any job board fees or post restrictions. Often when you post on job boards, you’ll have to obtain a paid-for membership and adhere to certain posting guidelines, such as length and language used, but on your own website you are free to post your role how you want to.
Job fairs offer you the chance to meet candidates from all backgrounds and experience, they are actively there to apply for jobs and collect information on various employers in attendance, so this is a perfect opportunity to show case your agency. You may benefit from having business cards produced to hand out at the fair, however one way to have a similar effect for free is to use the QR code sharing function on your LinkedIn profile – of course this will only work if the person you are trying to connect with has a LinkedIn account, but it is one way for you to expand your agency network quickly.
Not only are job fairs a great way to meet candidates while you walk around, but you also have the opportunity to meet potential clients and scope out competing agencies in your sector.
One of the best ways you can gain more candidates, is by making your job posts as easy to find as possible. You can do this by using SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) best practices when writing your posts – and with a bit of research you can do this for free.
Wherever you post your job, whether its on your website, on a job board, or social media such as LinkedIn, you need to put the potential applicant first by using language and keywords that are easy to understand.
To use keywords effectively in your job titles and descriptions, you ideally need to conduct keyword research, this can be done for free in Google Keyword Planner, but make sure the keywords you use are relevant to the job you are posting and are easy to understand by the applicant. Steer clear of catchy titles like ‘digital ninja’ and ‘data wizard’ as this can not only confuse applicant and put them off applying but this can also negatively affect your SEO. Remember to be concise and clear, usually the most important key words will be the job title, location, remote/office-based status and number of hours, i.e. is it a part time/full time role so put these in the title or as close to the beginning of the job description as possible.
Maintaining an up-to-date candidate database is crucial for any agency as this gives you quick access to a bank of qualified potential candidates for any job. This ultimately can lead to better quality hires and improved hire time, as well as being more cost effective as you can delve through your existing talent pool first.
When starting out, to keep costs low, often agencies use Excel to manage candidate information, this can be cost effective but remember to keep a diligent eye out when it comes to compliance. To avoid fines, make sure all your candidates RTW and important documents are valid and renewed when needed. To keep on top of this, you may benefit from using database software such as an ATS (Applicant tracking software) or a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform.
If you would like to learn more about how Flo can help your recruitment agency thrive with our WorkFlo Software, you can contact us on 01827 438065 or email us on info@flo.co.uk
