Don’t get any CRM, get the right CRM
If at any point you find that your chosen CRM isn’t making your people more productive, dump it immediately and run for the hills. The very purpose of recruitment software is to find, manage and process your candidates faster than or competitors. It should be working as a lead generator, the holy bible and the reason candidates love working with your business. Each business is so different and therefore your CRM has to be right for your goals, service and the way you operate.
Get someone else to screen your candidates
That doesn’t mean you need to hire another body, but it does mean you should get the right software in to do this. Candidate screening software is designed to give as much time back to your recruiters as possible, running pre-employment background checks while complying with regulations, speeding up the entire process and allowing you to reduce time to hire.
Start collaborating and stop working alone
Collaboration is proven to improve productivity by 30% so start rearranging your organisation to encourage a collaborative environment. In addition, use collaboration tools to implement this practice, allowing your teams to work from one platform creating a shared workspace that tracks progress and deadlines. You can also complete projects together quickly and in actual real-time, including giving access to external stakeholders to allow full collaboration with contractors or clients, keeping everyone on the same page.
Use analytics to make decisions
We live in a time of data and information and so this should now be a number one practice in all agencies. Implement the right business intelligence software to give you key insights about your business quickly, and in real-time. Many CRMs will link analytics software so that you can customise dashboards and gain visibility on all recruitment metrics such as KPIs, interviews booked, placements made and registered applicants. Once you have the information in front of you, use it to make the right judgement calls. Pull recruiters off projects if they’re taking too long, realign tasks, stop doing whatever isn’t working and place more of your resources on the parts that are working. Your business is like a chess board, start playing to your strengths.
Use your back-office in the right way
The systems and tools your back-office rely on should be able to integrate with all front-office technology. The disconnect that can often happen between billing and non-billing individuals in a business is largely fostered by miscommunication and separate working habits. Bring both departments together with the right technology so that they’re working from the same systems. Just because sales and finance are doing different jobs, doesn’t mean they can’ be signing from the same hymn sheet, and in fact, should be. Less time will be lost chasing invoices, working out miscommunications and chasing one another. Software like pay and bill will keep control of client billings, contractor payments and wages, accurately keeping your finance teams working to their highest productivity while gaining the right information they need from the sales teams.
Productivity isn’t easy to get right, and there isn’t a magic pill. It’s always in transition, constantly changing and you and your business have to run just as fast to keep up with it. But technology is one area that can help you out and make your productivity challenge a lot easier.