Many of you in the recruitment market will have stopped email marketing, or maybe were about to begin, and stopped because someone told you thatGDPRmeans “no more email marketing”. This blog will tell what total rubbish that is AND why you should be email marketing more than ever before!
So, if you are a recruiter, recruitment marketer or recruitment leader, and:
want to generate more candidates
need more viable leads
should be attracting more recruiters to your recruitment business…
...read this blog!
The Myth of GDPR
GDPR has caused stupid amounts of disruption – too much disruption. Myths were created. Data was deleted. Business stopped… but at least we are all compliant, eh?
Meanwhile, a little regulation called PECR – (Guide to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations)has almost been ignored.
I’m going to quote the regs throughout so to avoid further myths and nail down facts.
This guide covers the latest version of PECR, which came into effect on 16 May 2016, with some updates to cover changes made by the GDPR from 25 May 2018. PECR cover marketing by phone, fax, email, text or any other type of ‘electronic mail’.
*I am not a lawyer – I am a mere mortal. I have read the regs and interpreted them to suit myself and my recruitment clients. Feel free to get them common-sense checked by someone.
Recruiters Need to Run Talent and Sector Surveys
First – if you are conducting genuine market research (and a good recruiter should!) then:
Genuine market research does not count as direct marketing. However, if a survey includes any promotional material or collects details to use in future marketing campaigns, the survey is for direct marketing purposes and the rules apply.
And
Routine customer service messages do not count as direct marketing – in other words, correspondence with customers to provide information they need about a current contract or past purchase (eg information about service interruptions, delivery arrangements, product safety, changes to terms and conditions, or tariffs). General branding, logos or straplines in these messages do not count as marketing. However, if the message includes any significant promotional material aimed at getting customers to buy extra products or services or to renew contracts that are coming to an end, that message includes marketing material and the rules apply.
But Recruiters Don’t Have Consent to Mail Clients and Candidates
How about if you want to send a mail / text, without consent? It’s not against the law!
An unsolicited message is any message that has not been specifically requested. So even if the customer has ‘opted in’ to receiving marketing from you, it still counts as unsolicited marketing. This does not make all unsolicited marketing unlawful. You can still send unsolicited marketing messages – as long as you comply with PECR.
This is interesting – note the word “often”:
You will often need a person’s consent before you can send them a marketing message.
But,
You must not send marketing emails or texts to individuals without specific consent. There is a limited exception for your own previous customers, often called the ‘soft opt-in’.
Recruiters Now Need to Rely on Being Soft!
Is this a proper “get out of jail free card”?
The rules on electronic mail marketing are in regulation 22. In short, you must not send electronic mail marketing to individuals, unless:
they have specifically consented to electronic mail from you; or
they are an existing customer who bought (or negotiated to buy) a similar product or service from you in the past, and you gave them a simple way to opt out both when you first collected their details and in every message you have sent
Hold on – you mean that if you have been dealing with someone already, they are a “soft” op-in? And you can mail them? Yes – as long as you make it easy to unsubscribe.
The term ‘soft opt-in’ is sometimes used to describe the rule about existing customers.
Existing customers, recruiters! What does this mean to you?
The idea is that if an individual bought something from you recently, gave you their details, and did not opt out of marketing messages, they are probably happy to receive marketing from you about similar products or services even if they haven’t specifically consented.
Probably happy! (Yes please!)
The soft opt-in rule means you may be able to email or text your own customers.
Read this:
You can also email or text an existing customer who has bought (or discussed buying) a similar product or service from you in the past – but only if you gave them a clear chance to opt out of getting marketing emails or texts when you collected their details, and in every message.
So Recruiters! What’s the Best Way to Create a Marketing List?
This paragraph had me clapping my hands… According to the ICO:
You may want to compile your own in-house marketing list using details of people who have bought goods or services in the past, or who have registered on your website or made an enquiry. However, you should not assume that everyone is happy to receive marketing just because they have provided their contact details.
So, basically, you can create email marketing lists from people who have not specifically consented!
But have a little think – your goal is longer term to create consent – to create really good email marketing campaigns to get them to say “don’t delete me – I think you’re great!” Then you can take that engaged mailing list to your sassy clients and ask them to pop that in their pipes and smoke it –whilst you place lots of candidates with them at your rack rate fees!
Now to Start Building an Email Marketing Strategy to Attract Your 3Cs
Recruiters! Candidates, clients, and colleagues (your 3Cs) need to hear from you! You need to maintain your legitimate interest in holding their data. You need to give them compelling reasons to stay on your mailing list - and your recruitment marketers have the keys to this!
We deliver coaching to recruiters and recruitment marketers to help them be really effective in email marketing. Read the above again, get confident and give us a call.
HIIT Us, Recruiters!
Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT - helps recruiters source, convert quicker, and develop healthy pipelines, and recruitment marketers attract, engage, and retain candidates, generate clients, and colleagues (3Cs).
TRY RECRUITMENT HIIT
BOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS MARKETING TRAINING
READ ABOUT OUR MARKETING TRAINING
media centre
Read more-
Blog
Automation RoI Webinar Series: Unlock Bullhorn Part 5 ~ Easy BD
Leaders and automators...Too many of your recruiters need a stronger BD strategy and process. When sales feels tough, it’s not always because the market is slow—it’s often because your data and processes aren’t working hard enough for you.Part 5 of our Unlock Bullhorn webinar series will share tips on how to turn Bullhorn Automation into a sales engine—and start winning more business. Our latest webinar will show you how to turn time-wasting tasks into seamless, automated workflows that free your recruiters to do what they do best—build relationships and win business.REGISTER NOW5️⃣Reasons Why Recruitment Automation is the Secret to Easy BDLook at the stats from Bullhorn / HubSpot / LinkedIn:📉 Recruiters spend up to 64% of their time on non-selling tasks. That’s the equivalent of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday being almost totally unproductive. Automation takes away the repetitive admin so recruiters can spend more time on revenue-generating BD.🌱 Leads nurtured via CRM systems make 47% larger purchases. Nurturing is where automation shines. Automated reminders, email cadences, and follow-ups keep you front of mind without the manual effort—and deliver bigger, better deals.📞 80% of sales require 5+ follow-ups—but 44% of recruiters give up after just one. Imagine the lost opportunities. With automation, follow-ups happen without fail, ensuring resilience is baked into your BD strategy.🎯 CRM users are 3x more likely to hit their sales targets. In fact, companies using CRM effectively are 86% more likely to surpass their goals. Combine CRM with automation, and your recruiters don’t just manage BD—they master it.⚡ Re-engaged clients in your CRM convert 2x faster than cold leads. But only if you find them and follow them up. Automation helps you spot these opportunities, re-engage warm relationships, and accelerate conversions.🧠What You’ll Learn in the Webinar - Starting and Stopping!"Join us for Part 5 of our Unlock Bullhorn with Automation Webinar Series, where we’ll show you:👍 Three things to start doing to drive your BD success.⛔ Three things to stop doing which may be hurting your BD efforts.💡 Nail the Stuff AI Can't Replace Automation isn’t about replacing recruiters or making your recruitment business feel robotic — it’s about empowering them to focus on the conversations, and creating more time and space for relationships - the bit that AI can't replace (yet).👉 Register now for our Bullhorn Automation webinar and learn how to make BD easier, smarter, and more profitable.🗓️Wednesday 15 October 15:00 BSTREGISTER NOWPS. Want to go even further? Check out our "Unlock Bullhorn with Automation" series.🔍 Automate sourcing to find qualified candidates faster and with less effort. Watch the recording💬 Engage with candidates on autopilot and nurture relationships effectively. Watch the recording📈 Sell easier and faster. Watch the recording💡 Place easier and faster. Watch the recording🎯Easy BD ~ 15 October 2025 Register NowAutomation Buddy / Bullhorn RoIWe are Automation Buddies set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses who want to increase speed and sales.We coach to inspire, and build your automations so you can recruit and sell!Plus, through our Bullhorn Vision service we help generate serious ROI from your Bullhorn, data, and people.READ MORE ABOUT OUR BULLHORN VISION SERVICEREAD ABOUT OUR AUTOMATION BUDDY SERVICEBOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
-
Blog
How to Remove People from Your LinkedIn Company Page
Recruitment leaders and marketers!I bet you have people on your LinkedIn Company Page who do not actually work for you. Maybe they did, but left. Maybe they never did! Here's how you remove someone from your LinkedIn company page.Removing Randoms from Your Company LinkedIn PageAs a recruiter, you’ll know that the lovely staff number you see at the top of the Company page on LinkedIn may not a true reflection of who actually works there. You’ll go to that space and attempt to source from it. You use it to help you head hunt talent and find new clients. If you’re a recruitment leader you’ll use it to source talent for your own businesses.If you’re a recruitment marketer or recruitment leader you’ll get pretty fed up of the fact that you can’t control who appears on your company page.You can’t stop anyone from adding themselves.And you can’t nip into a leavers’ profile and redact your company. We all know that someone’s LinkedIn profile is theirs and not even LinkedIn have the right to edit it.There is hope! You can actually get these "random" people who don't work for you removed. It takes a little time and effort, but it’s worth it.I get that this depends upon the size of your business. If you employ thousands of people across the globe, keeping track of your company employees on LinkedIn is a big ask. I’d at least suggest you have a more robust starters and leavers process – and ensure that someone (anyone!) has responsibility for this task. I often go into businesses (either staffing companies or business with in-house recruitment teams) who have no idea who this job would sit with, and the page is out of control.If you come across someone who doesn’t work in your business, you can begin the “removal of randoms” process by clicking this "Removing People from a LinkedIn Page" link.Have a Process for your LinkedIn Company PageThere’s nothing stopping you from having a monthly process for checking your company page and looking for those randoms. Be sure to spend a little time on this. Random staff can make your business look random. They can make your business look bloated with fakers, have sector specialisms which are not appropriate, and overall have a negative impact on your ability to be taken seriously and trade.Plus, via our Recruitment HIIT training platform, we deliver LinkedIn for Recruiter training for time-starved recruiters, who think they have a handle on LinkedIn, but want to improve their profile, increase their relevant application response and place more jobs. Recruitment and Bullhorn TrainingWe deliver the best live Bullhorn ROI webinar training, and you'll find other recruitment and RecTec tips and tricks in Recruitment HIIT, our online recruitment training platform.Plus, through our Bullhorn Vision service we help generate serious ROI from your Bullhorn, data, and people, so you have even less need for LinkedIn!TRY HIIT FREE HEREBOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
-
Downloads
Your Recruitment Training Playbook