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There’s no doubt that AI is reshaping recruitment—but is the recruitment industry truly ready for it?
In a recent battle planning chat with a client, I raised concerns about the readiness of most recruitment businesses to adopt AI meaningfully. While AI is already being used for tasks like note-taking, blog writing, research, creating prompts to help with screening and sales, I think that real transformation requires much more thought and time.
For most recruitment firms, poor data quality and fragmented recruitment processes remain major barriers. If 2024 was the year of AI curiosity, 2025 needs to be the year of AI readiness.
Get Your Recruitment House in Order First
I think that recruitment leaders need to use the next 6–12 months to improve internal systems, particularly focusing on data hygiene (data wealth) and process automation. Too many firms are chasing shiny AI tools before ensuring their candidate and client data is clean, current, and usable. In fact, many recruitment CRMs are disorganised—polls show that messy and unstable databases are the norm, not the exception.
You could start by booking a free 30-minute Bullhorn RoI consult with my team - Bullhorn adoption ideas / automation strategies / data health insight etc..
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Automation Struggles
Even the biggest players are feeling the pinch. I often hear of large enterprises struggling to get automation really driving performance due to internal resistance and territorial "leave my data alone" behaviour. Siloed departments, and change-averse individuals can inadvertently block progress, making it difficult to implement even basic automations and change.
Plus, as much as the industry is keen to adopt efficiencies and tech, it's often not driving change through continuous, engaging, recruitment training.
Automation and AI needs to be "sold" to recruiters with a WIIFM (What's in it for me?) approach. Even the best-intentioned recruiter may find it hard to step into the space that automation and AI creates for them.
Have you been hired, or been the one doing the hiring, in the last 5 years? The turbulence, blind-siding, speed of change, means that stopping to take a breath and ensure best practice is a big ask!
AI Can’t Replace Relationships (Yet!)
My client gave a compelling example of AI not really driving the best outcome when their client was trying to use AI instead of their recruitment business.
Luckily my client had the time and knowledge to step in and prevent their client from making a mistake.
AI had failed to select the right candidate for a role, missing vital nuances only a seasoned recruitment consultant would catch. They campaigned for the candidate that AI had rejected. The client interviewed and offered!
It’s a strong reminder that recruitment remains a relationship-driven business. AI can support consultants, but it can’t replace their ability to read people, understand market subtleties, or build long-term trust. (Yet...)
Getting Back to Being Recruitment CONSULTANTS
I encourage recruitment leaders to rethink traditional recruiting models—especially the classic 360 / 180 recruitment role.
With automation and AI streamlining admin and sourcing, do you really need consultants to do everything? This could be the moment to specialise, refocus roles, and hire people who are better suited to today’s more tech-enabled recruitment landscape.
There are way too many recruitment consultants who are actually recruitment co-ordinators / administrators. Large, dirty data sets, managed by untrained recruiters makes for a very transactional process, and this is at a time when recruiters really need to get back to consulting. (The clue is in the job title...)
From Vicious to Virtuous
The recruitment industry’s heavy reliance on LinkedIn— which I think is one of the dirtiest databases—is another sign that recruiting firms aren’t maximising their own data or opportunity. The irony? Many of the best candidates are already sitting in your CRMs, but are overlooked in favour of job boards and external sourcing. This results in a vicious cycle of wasted time, rising costs, and lost opportunities.
A recent poll confirmed this.
Instead, recruitment businesses must create a virtuous cycle: invest in clean data, automate wisely, and help consultants to focus on consulting. With proper engagement, re-engaged candidates and clients can convert faster and generate more revenue than cold leads.
The Road Ahead for Recruiters
My client summed it up well: their goals for the next six months are about efficiency, pushing back against unfair client demands, and focusing on higher-value deals.
Yes! This is the mindset the industry needs.
AI isn’t magic—but with smart preparation, clean data, and clear processes, it can be a game-changer for recruitment. Let 2025 be the year your recruitment business gets truly AI-ready.
You could start by booking a free 30-minute Bullhorn RoI consult with my team - Bullhorn adoption ideas / automation strategies / data health insight etc..
BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
Automation Buddy / Bullhorn RoI
We 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 ABOUT OUR AUTOMATION BUDDY SERVICE
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Lisa Jones
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Recruiters! Is the Myth of GPDR Holding You Back?
Recruiters / Leaders / Marketers... Are you nervous of contacting candidates and clients without having their express consent?The advent of GDPR created some myths including “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 candidatesNeed more viable leadsShould be attracting more recruiters to your recruitment businessWant to be smart and use automation / email / WhatsApp / or dare I suggest, the phone…...you need to read this blog!🤔The Myth of GDPRGDPR has caused stupid amounts of disruption and confusion. 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 covers 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.🔮Recruiters Need to Run Talent and Sector SurveysFirst – 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.AndRoutine 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 (Or Do They?)How about if you want to send a mail / text / automated campaign, 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; orthey 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 sentHold 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 and Use Automation to Drive Comms? 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, and 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 and Automation Strategy to Attract Your 3CsRecruiters!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!Automation 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
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Wayne Barclay
Blog
Stop Automating Chaos: Why You Need a Strategy for Recruitment BD Success
As a recruitment leader, you know the drill: the market shifts, sales feel tough, and the immediate instinct is to buy a new piece of tech or blindly activate every automation feature available in your Bullhorn or CRM.A potential outcome? A flurry of activity, confused recruiters, and ultimately, zero measurable ROI.😱(I saw this with CRM, then Automation, and now AI... history repeating itself.)Automation is a sales engine, but like any powerful machine, it requires a careful, deliberate strategy to run efficiently. Simply turning it on often leads to automating poor processes, resulting in spam, bad data, and wasted money.If you’re ready to turn that engine into a competitive advantage, you need to step back and apply this 9-point strategy to your Business Development (BD) automation strategy.💡My 9-Point Strategy for Automation Success1️⃣ Agree on Your Strategy and PlanBefore you click ‘Activate,’ define your objectives.Are you focused on converting candidates to contacts? Re-engaging lapsed clients? Generating referrals?Your plan must clearly outline the who, what, and when of every automated action to ensure alignment with your overall BD goals.2️⃣ Define OwnershipChaos reigns when responsibility is murky. You must clearly define who owns the data and relationships you are selling.Is it the marketing team, the BD manager, or the individual recruiter?Establishing clear ownership prevents duplicate outreach, inconsistent messaging, and ensures accountability for follow-up.3️⃣ Get Buy-In: Educate Your TeamA great strategy is useless if your recruiters don't trust it. You must actively educate your team on the why behind the change.Show them how automation will take the admin burden away, allowing them to focus on high-value relationship building—the part of BD they actually enjoy. Without genuine buy-in, they will always revert to manual, time-consuming habits.4️⃣ Test and Setup TrialsNever roll out a massive change across the entire firm at once. Setup trials with a small, engaged group first. Test the message cadence, measure the response rate, and iterate quickly. This limits risk and generates early success stories you can use to persuade the rest of the company.5️⃣ PR: Celebrate SuccessesRecruiters are motivated by success.Use your test group’s wins—a faster BD conversion, a higher email open rate, or a cleaner call list—as internal PR. Celebrate these successes openly to generate FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and drive wider adoption.6️⃣ Data Wealth: The Opportunity to CleanseAutomation and data quality are two sides of the same coin.Automating outreach to a dirty database only accelerates your move toward the spam folder. Use the setup phase as an opportunity to cleanse data, confirming emails, purging old contacts, and identifying incomplete records. Clean data is not just healthy; it's profitable.7️⃣ Cadence: Establish Weekly BD SessionsAutomation is a tool, not a replacement for human effort.To embed the strategy, implement weekly BD sessions. Use this dedicated time to review the automated pipeline, address bottlenecks, practice outreach, and ensure the technology is being used correctly to drive human conversation.8️⃣ Score! Set KPIs and GamificationWhat gets measured gets done.Set clear KPIs for your automation success—not just activity, but results (e.g., number of re-engaged clients, contacts moved to the "warm" status). Use Analytics to gamify the process, creating healthy competition that encourages consistent use of the new platform and strategy.9️⃣ Turn A No into Some $£€! Monetise Bounces and UnsubsDon't view hard bounces and unsubscribes as dead ends; view them as sales intelligence and opportunities.Monetise the bounces and unsubs by investigating them. A hard bounce might mean a contact has moved companies—a prime BD opportunity! An unsubscribe could be a flag for a poor sales approach. Use this feedback loop to keep your data fresh and your strategy sharp.Strategise the CashflowBy following these 9️⃣ strategic steps, you ensure:Investment in BD automation delivers maximum return,Saving your recruiters a whopping 64% of their non-selling time...Allowing them to focus on what they do best......Building the relationships that drive placements and profit.Nice! ☎️I'd love to pay it forward to chat with you about your automation / BD strategy.BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION👇Scroll down for a cute graphic of my 9-point strategy.🏃➡️PS. Want to go even further?Check out our "Unlock Bullhorn with Automation" and Optimise Bullhorn for Recruiters webinars here.Automation 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 CONSULTATIONGrab My 9-Point Strategy for Automation Success Below - Which can you tick off or need to do?
