3 Things That Kill a Recruiter’s Productivity

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Let’s face it – recruiting is challenging. Between sourcing candidates, interviewing them, and submitting them for placements, recruiters must also balance streams of email, telephone conversations, and social media research. Plus, they must collaborate with sales teams to address client needs and align on business metrics.

Outside of their offices, recruiters also face a number of industry challenges, including a global talent shortage and new technology trends in automation and machine learning that are revolutionizing their roles. To successfully overcome these obstacles, recruiters need to work as efficiently and as effectively as possible, leaving no time for tasks that don’t produce strategic value for their firms.

Time is of the essence when recruiting in the labor market. When the right opportunity arises for the right candidate, recruiters must expeditiously work to submit them, completing relevant tasks with even more urgency. What happens when inefficient processes stall recruiters’ work? Or when recruiters use ineffective technology? In those cases, recruiters can’t get their work done quickly, which negatively impacts the firm.

To generate their best results, todays recruiters need to ensure maximum productivity. Here are three common productivity-killing obstacles recruiters face and some advice on how to address them:

1. Relying Too Much on Phone Calls 

Phone calls are great, especially for screening and interview preparation, but text messaging allows recruiters to get in touch with candidates even more quickly. If you need to urgently reach candidates, SMS is an unobtrusive, easy-to-use communication tool.

Candidates can easily ignore phone calls, and they often do not return calls immediately. A simple text message, on the other hand, can keep the conversation going and relay important messages in real time.

One of the most powerful benefits of SMS is that it’s personal. Because of this, SMS communication can help recruiters build strong relationships with candidates.

2. Using Disconnected CRMs and ATSs 

Using disconnected, disparate software often requires manual data entry, which is prone to redundancies and errors. Recruiters don’t have time to manually enter data, log into different systems to view clients’ requests, or generate reports from various sources. CRMs and ATSs that work with each other enable both sales teams and recruiters to stay aligned with client and candidate needs. These connected systems also give sales and recruiting teams access to valuable data regarding forecast pipeline and revenue growth – metrics that not only empower recruiters to make better decisions, but also enable firms to make faster, smarter business decisions that lead to real company growth.

3. Using Software That Isn’t Optimized for Mobile

Recruiters aren’t always at their desks. Mobile-optimized software allows recruiters to work on the go, eliminating wasted time by giving recruiters constant access to candidates, contacts, jobs, placements, email, and calendar activity.

Mobile-optimized tech allows recruiters to enter data into their ATSs immediately, thereby capturing details that might otherwise have been lost before the recruiter could return to their desk. If a firm’s recruiting software isn’t mobile-optimized, recruiters won’t have candidate insights ready at their fingertips. This slows down the recruiting process overall and forces recruiters to make decisions based on limited information.

Today’s talent market demands incredible productivity from recruiters. They can’t waste time on inefficient processes and cumbersome technology. Today’s recruiters need the right tools to optimize their firms’ operations and place candidates even faster. The right opportunities don’t last long for the best talent.

Matt Fischer is president and chief technology officer of Bullhorn. 

By Matt Fischer