Crawford Thomas Recruiting, a full service staffing agency supporting multiple offices from the southeast to midwest United States, was seeking a better way to access and interview a talent pool of premium candidates for clients across geographical barriers.
Their primary pain point was struggling to find an effective and timely way to identify who to advance in the screening process, when in-person interviews were not possible.
One-on-one interviews already add an average of 4.1 to 5.3 days to the interviewing process, according to Glassdoor’s Why is Hiring Taking Longer? report. When staffing agencies need to place candidates quickly, especially across time zones, they cannot afford any more time-consuming obstacles.
Crawford Thomas Recruiting decided to try a video interviewing platform. It allowed them to harness the power of long-distance screening and assess the best quality talent for their clients. As a result, they were able to build and maintain a talent pool of premium candidates. They even landed a big client in Canada.
You should be promoting your proven techniques and tools to access top candidates for seasonal hiring needs. Here are the three benefits your clients need to know about:
Access Premium Candidates Easily
As a staffing professional, you already know your clients’ preferences and the industry inside and out. And you consistently cover both the active and passive talent market.
Use this as leverage when talking to clients about seasonal hiring needs. Let them know you are able to exceed their expectations because you are already so deeply invested in the market.
Takeaway: Show clients how easily they can access a talent pool of premium candidates through your already well-established video interview library. Do this by showing sample video interviews of highly qualified seasonal hires. This not only reinforces your understanding of industry demands, but also increases your chances of up-selling other services as you build trust.
Make Hires More Quickly
If your clients have only used your services for traditional placements, they may not know using a staffing agency can increase the odds of a fast and affordable turnaround for seasonal hiring needs.
Remind clients you make their job easier by doing the grunt work of sourcing and screening candidates to identify the best of the best. They are already burdened enough with increased workloads during these demanding time periods.
Show them facts and figures from previous seasonal placements to validate how you can provide fast turnaround times. This is especially valuable if their major projects are short-term and require urgent placement.
Takeaway: Seasonal staffing requires the ability to adjust processes quickly and easily fluctuate between talent pools. Staffing agencies are helpful even after the seasonal hiring influx. Advise your clients that staffing agencies can help to secure an extra hand during lengthy employee illnesses, special projects, or sudden staff departures.
Keep Projects on Budget
Time is absolutely of the essence when hiring seasonally. Your clients will be considering how timely hires keep the budget in check. They also want to ensure top talent will not be scooped up quickly by the competition.
The best way to sell clients on your seasonal hiring services is to reinforce you are the expert at quickly screening and handling rapid placements. As a result, this can save them money.
In fact, a June 2015 survey conducted by Glassdoor reports the average interview processes have grown by 3.3 to 3.7 days since 2009. The report also states the length of the interview process is largely due to hiring policies of employers.
A lengthy interview process increases expense. The Bersin by Deloitte Talent Acquisition Factbook 2015 report revealed U.S. companies increased their average talent acquisition costs 7 percent from 2013 to 2014, driven in part by an increase of nearly $4,000 per hire
Ensure clients that staffing agencies alleviate the burden of getting talent working faster. This allows them to focus on what they’re good at: their business. This not only saves on recruiting and hiring costs, but also improves productivity, making them money.
Many clients may not be interested in purchasing recruiting tools for recurring use. However, they are also not certain of what the best budget-friendly alternatives may be. Make them aware of the resources your staffing services provide for their seasonal hiring needs at no additional cost.
Takeaway: Video interviews should be a part of the packages you offer to clients. This resource allows clients to gain insight on candidates in far less time than traditional screenings. Point out that they can review candidates more in depth and in less time.
Ultimately, you are the best resource for your clients to meet their seasonal hiring needs. Remind them that you can help to easily access a talent pool of premium candidates, hire A players more quickly, and keep projects on budget no matter what the challenge.