Recruitment Leaders want to inject more value into their staffing companies, and often recruitment awards are seen as an obvious tactic. We have 9 tips to share to help you win a recruitment award.
Winning a recruitment award can increase the value of your business by 37%.
Plus they can make your business attractive to your 3Cs (candidates, clients, colleagues).
We have been a judge for some of the best recruitment awards, so wanted share our insights whilst being a judge, sharing time with other judges, and being on panels interviewing recruitment leaders.
What Judges Say and Think Whilst Judging Recruitment Awards
Take note of the list below. It gives some insight into what you need to do with your award entries to make them at least become shortlisted.
I like the way they’ve structured this – it makes it easier to read
This has caught my attention
The client testimonial is anonymous!
Where are the financials?
This is different and interesting
This is difficult to read
Nice and succinct case study
Did anyone actually proof read this?
Paying the minimum wage – when did this become award-winning?
I like the way they seem to be really proud of what they’ve done
There’s quite a lot here that you would hope that everyone does…
I like how they have got their internal stakeholders testifying
This one is really personal – I like how they are telling me about the individuals in the business
My 9 Tips to Help You Craft a Winning Recruitment Award Entry
Let's summarise some key rules for recruitment award submissions:
Don’t use only 800 words when you are given 1000 words, unless you totally nail it.
Don't leave it to your marketing department to draft your entry. An awards entry is a business case for winning, so the business needs to be involved, especially the stakeholders.
Don't turn your submission into a clickfest with lots of links!
Be passionate and real. Be proud. A passionate entry is more compelling than one simply based on facts.
Stick to sanity stats (sales, speed, cost, growth) and if you need to add vanity stats (web clicks, social media engagement), show how the vanity translated into sanity.
If you can, format it cleverly and ensure accessible. Make it an engaging read.
Read the question, and answer it. Then once you've answered it, read the question again and critically and coldly judge your answer.
If you are asked to provide financials, add them. I've seen submissions thrown out when these vital facts are missing or glossed over.
If you say you have improved, increased, decreased, reduced, be sure to evidence these statements with facts and / or testimonials.
The ONE Recruitment Award that Every Recruiter Needs to Win
And a bonus tip for recruiters who want to use awards to improve their business. Focus on the awards that your candidate and client communities value. Read my blog "How to Use Awards for Sourcing and Selling" for tips on generating ROI. We also talk about how to find awards that could add the most value to your business. (Hint - they are NOT the usual recruitment awards...)
Good luck!
Recruitment Training
We are passionate about training recruiters. We deliver the best Recruitment Training through live webinars and our online training platform Recruitment HIIT.
Our recruitment training helps new and experienced recruiters qualify their jobs, speedily source and advertise, and improve their screening. It boosts CV to interview ratios, whilst giving great tips to prevent counter offers, and secure the placement and beyond.
Plus, if you have Bullhorn, Analytics, Automation, SourceBreaker, LinkedIn, Calendly, Teams, Daxtra, Broadbean, idibu, Hinterview, Paiger, Adapt, and more... we train on those too!
TRY HIIT FREE HERE
Recruitment Blogs / Tips / Webinars
Read more-
Blog
5 Tips for LinkedIn Jedi Masters (and Recruiters)
Recruiters need more of the 3Cs – candidates, clients and colleagues. Jedi need more rebels to help them defeat The Empire! I often compare Recruiters to Jedi – they both use dark forces to control the universe! And they both have some significant tech at their disposal which can make a massive difference.Follow these Jedi tricks for Recruiting Smarter with LinkedInBeing a Star Wars fan at Barclay Jones may not be a prerequisite, but it goes along way if you hate movies 1-3! And with Star Wars Day being an annual event (like International Recruiter’s Day) I’ve penned some power user (Jedi) tricks for Recruiters using LinkedIn:Get your Profile Headline actually saying what you do rather than what’s on your business card – Recruiter at ABC Resourcing means nothing and is likely to be missed in favour of “Specialist in SAP Recruitment, working across the UK with SAP Contractors” – god forbid you actually come up in candidate searches…!But how could they be jamming us if they don’t know… that we’re… coming?Increase your sector-specific contacts – the global average for recruiters is 650… poor “must try harder”. Spend 10 mins a day looking for the coffees you want to have with clients and candidates and make it happen – don’t just source for the vacancy you have today. Your clients and candidates expect (and pay) you to be better than them.Do, or do not do. There is no try.Running a crap group? Shut it down or gear it up – don’t let it dangle.What a piece of junk!Attract the followers of your clients’ company pages – 71% of them are candidates wanting to work there (according to stats from LinkedIn). Post something there or comment on their content.Travelling through hyperspace ain’t like dustin’ crops, boy!Save your searches (3 for people, 10 for jobs and if you have paid for accounts even more). Get the data coming to you – you’re not measured on how long you spend on LinkedIn!The ability to speak does not make you intelligent. Now get out of here.I was going to end this blog with “may The Force be with you” but that would be just too obvious, instead,This is Red 5, I’m going in.(If I’m honest, I feel a little dirty now!) And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.Bullhorn ATS / Analytics / Automation RoIWe are Automation and Analytics Buddies (and Jedi!) set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses who want to increase speed and sales.We coach to inspire, and build your automations and metrics so you can recruit and sell!Plus, through our Bullhorn Vision service we help generate serious ROI from your Bullhorn, data, and people.READ ABOUT OUR AUTOMATION / ANALYTICS BUDDY SERVICEBOOK A FREE BULLHORN ROI CONSULTATION
-
Blog
4 Mistakes You’re Making with Your Recruitment Website
With data sinks, AI, rising recruitment costs, and the world generally feeling like an insane asylum, recruitment leaders are under pressure to build sustainable business models. Consequently, your website has moved front and centre of your marketing strategy. You need it to generate revenue, not simply build "brand" and "clicks."I’ve identified 4 mistakes that almost every recruitment website makes. The good news is, they are easy to rectify. Are you making them?Recruitment Websites Need to Make Money!We regularly help recruiters with the project management of recruitment websites, and what we can the "5-A strategy" (ATS/Analytics/Automation/Adoption/AI). We know that any Finance or Managing Director who has freed up budget for a new site wants more than just an online brochure - they want candidates, clients, colleagues, and cash.But they also need a connected tech stack, driving data health, data wealth, and productive recruiters.Recruitment Website Mistake 1 – "We" EverywhereWith GDPR and AI, the focus on the 3Cs, brand has never been more important. However, the content on many sites is all about you and not the people you support. Your website needs to be a passionate advocate for your sector and a roadmap for how you help your community.📌 Action: Look through your site now. Is it a monologue about your company, or do you have "social proof" from candidates and clients to act as hooks for your ideal audience?Recruitment Website Mistake 2 – Ignoring your 404 PageThis is the page you’d rather people didn't see—the error page they hit when a link is broken or a job has been filled. Why do so many recruitment websites simply go “Doh!” and miss the opportunity to drive the user somewhere useful?Check out this blog about great 404 pages and then check out Barclay Jones’404 page– we loved creating this one for our very own Barclay Jones 404 error page.If someone cares enough to visit your site, don't greet them with a "computer says no" message. Use that space to redirect them to your latest jobs or top resources.📌 Action: Go to a dead page on your website right now. Does your 404 page provide a path back to revenue, or is it a dead end?Recruitment Website Mistake 3 – Your Website is an OutlierIs your website connected to your processes and tech stack, or is it something you simply "post to and pray"? To drive revenue, your site must be integrated. For example:Do you know who signs up for Job Alerts so you can engage them immediately?Do you have trackers telling you who is engaging so you can follow up?Are you sharing blogs to social media with the specific goal of luring your community back to your site?Have you tested your Chatbot recently to ensure it’s actually helpful?📌 Action: Ask where your website "sits" in your business process. What changes do you need to make so that marketers and recruiters are actively mining data from it?Recruitment Website Mistake 4 – Contact Us – Or Rather, Kill the Lead!You spend a fortune in time and emotion getting people to your site. They surf around, and bingo—they want to talk! The "Contact Us" page is arguably the most important page on your site. They are walking into your shop asking for help.Yet, so many contact pages are uninspiring, "templatey," and actually discourage people from reaching out. Your goal is to convert. You want them to "buy" into a job application or, dare we suggest, pick up the phone.📌 Action: Look at your Contact Us page. Is it relevant and engaging, or does it get in the way of a conversation?Let’s Make Recruitment Websites Great AgainI couldn’t resist the "Trumpism." Take a look at your site, figure out which pages you really want people to visit, and ask yourself: Are they working hard enough? Don't be afraid to use a little personality to drive those conversions.Recruitment TakeawaysStop "we-ing" all over your visitors.Capitalise on error pages.Connect your website to your people and processes.Make contacting you the easiest part of their day.Bullhorn ATS / Analytics / Automation RoIWe are Automation and Analytics Buddies set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses who want to increase speed and sales.We coach to inspire, and build your automations and metrics so you can recruit and sell!Plus, through our Bullhorn Vision service we help generate serious ROI from your Bullhorn, data, and people.READ ABOUT OUR AUTOMATION / ANALYTICS BUDDY SERVICEBOOK A FREE BULLHORN ROI CONSULTATION