Everyone’s situation is, of course, different, but there are general factors that impact all staffing agencies, such as:
Economic downturn
Even though the economy has been steady, it’s just recently become less stable. An economic downturn usually means a decreased demand for temporary and contract workers, which further minimizes your offering.
Legal and regulatory changes
Strengthened labor laws and regulations can increase the cost of doing business, impacting your ability to spend your budget on business development.
Changes in the workforce
The rise of the gig economy and the increasing popularity of remote work have led to changes in how people work, making it more difficult to match candidates with job openings.
Lack of focus
Staffing agencies that try to be everything to everyone may spread themselves too thin. A lack of focus and inability to provide specialized services to specific industries or niches may result in decreased attention from candidates and clients.
Failure to adapt
Lastly, staffing agencies that fail to adapt to changes in the industry, such as the rise of new technologies or changes in the workforce, will struggle to remain competitive.
How you respond to these changes is imminent for your continuous success. Let’s see what you can do to prevail and remain current.
Marketing
Take a good look at the inner workings of your agency, from internal operations to external. That great team of yours, do you manage to reflect that in your marketing? What does your branding and messaging look and sound like? Your brand’s voice should be clear and concise in everything from your website to your job ads. Does your outward communication differentiate you from competitors, and does it clearly communicate the value you offer to clients and job seekers? If not, take help from a branding agency that can help you with your brand. Oftentimes it’s better to have someone from the outside help portray you. Perhaps it’s even time to try a new niche?
Technology
The recruitment industry is flooded with new digital tools that drive efficiency in ways you are yet to experience. Invest in technology and automation to streamline your processes and improve both efficiency and quality. The initial investment aside, it will help you scale your business and reduce costs in the long run. Examples of useful technology are:
Automate repetitive tasks
There are many tasks that can and should be automated, such as sending follow-up emails, scheduling interviews, and sending job offers. By automating these tasks, you free up your staff's time to focus on more important and value-adding activities.
Video interviewing
You can use video interviewing software to conduct initial interviews with candidates, saving you time in the initial screening phase. It also makes it a whole lot easier for the candidates since they can schedule an interview when it suits them.
Conversational screening AI
Hubert, for example, conducts structured text-based screening interviews with every applicant. After the interview, Hubert provides a shortlist of the most suitable candidates. By taking a quick look at the shortlist, you’ll know who you should contact and move forward with. Candidates who don’t fit the employers’ criteria will be notified immediately during the interview.
Chatbots as recruitment assistants
Have a chatbot do the groundwork for you and have it answer the most common question a candidate might have regarding salary, flex hours, parental leave, etc.
ChatGPT
If you lack the skills/passion for writing job ads, pitches for clients, website copy, or any text, you can use ChatGPT (an AI chatbot that knows everything) to get inspired and be helped with bringing your idea alive. You can ask ChatGPT questions and write prompts. Everything from “How do I write the best resume?” to “Explain our solar system” to “Write a screenplay about a staffing agency in Canada” to “Write a job ad for a computer engineer in the US and write it as if a child wrote it.” Once ChatGPT starts writing, you can also ask it to elaborate on certain paragraphs.
These examples are a bow to the new era of technology, not as a foe but as a means of betterment, efficiency, and quality. Computers work much faster than humans, and it would be silly not to take the help; in fact, the businesses that don’t will fall behind and most likely become obsolete, to put it bluntly. Those who learn how to leverage technology will be the ones leaving as winners in business. If you’re not that person, take help from a tech-savvy person, there are plenty of those!
Apart from checking in on your brand and the technology you use, make sure to get out and network to build relationships with key decision-makers in your target industries and companies to generate leads and opportunities for your agency. Human connections and skilled networkers will hopefully never become a thing of the past; perhaps they will become even more important the more we accelerate into technology.
You can also conduct a trend analysis to help you navigate your industry's landscape. What are your competitors doing and why? Have you picked up on something from candidates or clients that might give you a hunch of what’s to come? For example, would it be beneficial for you to pay your candidates a small salary while you find them a job? Who knows! Think of new ways to attract candidates, and make sure you shout it out with splendid messaging, in social media ads and on your website.
