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In the recruitment world, we are currently "tech-rich but time-poor."
The recruitment market is currently flooded with "cool tools" and creating the risk of a fragmented tech stack, which ironically creates more process lag.
As recruitment agency owners, you’ve likely been told for years that the right tech is the silver bullet for your growth.
Perhaps you’ve invested in:
The best CRMs.
The latest AI sourcing tools.
And cutting-edge automation and analytics platforms.
But for many of you, instead of a streamlined powerhouse, you may have ended up with a "Frankenstein’s Monster" - a collection of brilliant tools that don’t talk to each other (and a team of "disconnected recruiters" with the best will in the world still delivering relatively manual processes.)
The next Power Hive eventswill dive into how you move past the hype to find the actual gold. Because here is the hard truth: RoI isn't found in the features of a single tool; it’s found in the flow between them.
The Problem: Integration Debt
When your tech stack is fragmented, your team pays the price in "manual labour".
If a recruiter has to spend 20 minutes a day moving data from a sourcing tool to a CRM, or manually updating a spreadsheet to track marketing leads, or worse, paralysed by choices and poor data, you aren't just losing time, you’re losing the very RoI you bought the tech to generate.
📌Technology is not as a standalone pillar. It's the engine that powers your Recruitment Business, Recruiters, and Marketing. If the engine isn't connected to the wheels, you aren't going anywhere.
3️⃣Pillars for Maximum Tech RoI
To get a real return on your investment, your ecosystem needs to solve 3 specific challenges...
1. The "Single Source of Truth"
RoI starts with data and process integrity.
If your rectec tool finds a "purple unicorn" candidate but that data doesn't instantly sync to your CRM, that candidate is essentially invisible to the rest of your business.
📌To maximise RoI, your CRM must be the heart of the business, with every other tool acting as a limb that feeds it information in real-time.
2. Reclaiming the "Human" in Recruitment
I'm delighted to be a part of The Power Hive. It's built on the mission of Making Human Connections.
Ironically, the best way to be more human is to be more automated. Maximum RoI happens when tech removes the "click-work." Imagine a world where a candidate applies, an AI agent screens them, a calendar invite is sent, and the CRM is updated, all while your recruiter is on the phone actually consulting. That is where the profit lies: buying back your people’s time so they can do what they do best.
📌Move beyond the theory that tech "roboticises" recruitment, and move towards it rehumanising the process - which is the one goal most of my clients have.
3. The Closed Feedback Loop
When tech is connected, you can run faster, make data-driven decisions, and can see which source (Marketing) actually leads to a placement (Revenue).
📌You can’t calculate RoI if you can’t track the journey from lead to cash.
The "Power Move": Audit Your Stack (and Expect More!)
Before you buy the next "shiny object" in recruitment, perform a quick audit of your current setup. Ask yourself: Keep, Kill, or Connect?
Keep: Is it being used to its full potential?
Kill: Is it a standalone "silo" that adds more work than it saves?
Connect: Can this tool be integrated via API or middleware (like Zapier or Make) to automate a manual task?
📌And rinse and repeat this process every year, even if you have no intention of buying new tech. It's just good sense to look your tech in the eye and ensure it is fulfilling it's purpose.
Join the Conversation
At the upcoming events in Leeds and Manchester, we’re going to look at the practical "how-to" of connecting these dots. Some thmese will be:
People - How do you get your people performing better?
Technology - How do you get more efficiency from your technology stack for a better RoI?
The goal isn't to have the most tech; it’s to have the most connected tech and recruiters. Have confidence that when the tech works, the people (and you) win.
Find out more about the events here. Perhaps I'll see you there?
Bullhorn ATS / Analytics / Automation / AI RoI
We are Bullhorn experts set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses to increase speed and sales.
We help you weaponise your people, data, time, and tech, so you can recruit and sell!
Our Bullhorn Vision and Buddy service helps generate best-in-class processes, adoption, head space, and ROI.
BOOK A FREE BULLHORN ROI CONSULTATION
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Lisa Jones
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Vodcast: Rehumanising Recruitment ~ Recruiters Versus Tech
I recently had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with a true recruitment "myth and legend," Keith Southern.For those who don't know Keith, he was the seventh person to join Progressive - the company that eventually became the global powerhouse S3.With a career spanning back to the early 90s, he has seen it all: the highs, the recessions, and the technological revolutions.Today, Keith leads The Power Hive, a community of over 170 recruitment leaders dedicated to helping agency owners move from just working in their business to working on it.Over a speedy 19minutes, we dove deep into why the "old school" ways, coupled with data, automation, and AI, might actually be the key to every recruitment leaders' future.Beyond ROI: The Power of "Return on Effort"We started by discussing a concept close to both of our hearts: Return on Effort (ROE). In an industry obsessed with the next shiny recruitment tech tool, many recruitment leaders are accidentally building what we called "Frankenstein tech stacks" - collections of expensive tools and data that don't talk to each other and often create "integration debt" and more admin than they solve. (I call this "Admin Tax".)We talked about how many sales floors today are eerily quiet because recruiters are hiding behind CRMs and marketing tech instead of picking up the phone, and Kevin's ideas for:Using recruitment tech to free your consultants up to have more human conversations (and removing the "admin tax").Auditing your tech stack to see if you’re actually using what you’re paying for, or whether you're actually in "integration debt".Turning Old Data into GoldOne of the most striking parts of our conversation was about the "gold nuggets" sitting right under our noses. Your "old to gold" could be data, processes, tech, people...Keith argues that most agencies already have 95% of the data they need in their own CRM, yet they continue to spend a fortune on expensive external job boards and LinkedIn licenses.We discussed "rehumanising" the process by using technology to lift the heavy weights so that recruiters can focus on building resilience and genuine relationships.We chatted about how to:Preventing your recruiters heading straight to LinkedIn / Job Boards to resource instead of looking "back home" at your own database.Training your recruiters to master the fundamental tasks, like a perfect candidate interview prep, before moving to the next part of the process.Are You the Recruiter Your Website Says You Are?We ended with a challenge for the industry. Many agencies claim to be "at the heart of their sector" on their websites, but the reality is often a messy database and a reliance on reactive advertising. Keith’s advice for this year is simple: stop the abdication to technology and start driving your business with strategy again.This vodcast was a masterclass in recruitment leadership. Watch it to hear more about Keith's "war stories" from the S3 days and how to weaponise the data, systems, and people you already have.Ready to put the world to rights with us? Watch the full 19minute vodcast now.Bullhorn ATS / Analytics / Automation / AI RoIWe are Bullhorn experts set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses to increase speed and sales.We help you weaponise your people, data, time, and tech, so you can recruit and sell!Our Bullhorn Vision and Buddy service helps generate best-in-class processes, adoption, head space, and ROI.BOOK A FREE BULLHORN ROI CONSULTATION
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Lisa Jones
Blog
Are Hairdressers Putting Your Recruitment Business at Risk?
Many recruitment leaders I work with want their recruitment CRM to generate fees, but often recruiters are all too happy to jump back into spreadsheets, LinkedIn, notebooks and “going by memory” rather than use their CRM system properly. This blog is a quick 3-minute read to create some perspective and give you some ideas for a “CRMFirst” strategy.The above results in a nightmare for recruitment leaders who are looking to grow their business, become “GDPR-proof”, use AI, Analytics, and Automation to be more efficient and productive, and of course become more profitable.It above also results in a problem I call “Hairdresser Syndrome” – a term I’ve used for many years to describe a recruitment business that needs to get a grip on its processes and data to see real growth and ROI.(Note: I originally wrote this blog in 2018. Many years have passed and so much has happened to recruitment, but I've barely needed to update this content...)Do You Have a Recruitment Firm, or an Office Full of Desks For Rent?I have been with my hairdresser for 8 years. He knows my taste in magazines, some of my secrets and all of my roots. A few years ago he was based in a large salon in the city, where he rented a chair.The rest of the salon staff barely knew I was there, and I didn’t really notice them either – zero interaction. Perhaps if I was lucky my hair would be washed by one of the juniors. I’d pay the girl at the till on the way out, but my hairdresser was my only real contact at the salon.One day he very quietly commented that he was opening his own salon, and would I like to move with him? I bit his hand off – why wouldn’t I? I had no relationship with the salon. They kept no details on me, perhaps they didn’t even know I existed. Would they miss my business?For me, he was the salon.Are Your Recruiters Hairdressers?Can you see any similarities between your recruitment consultants and my hair dresser?They have exclusive relationships with the clients. Are you simply the “girl” taking my money at the till?Do they use stuff in your business, such as hair washers, tea makers, reception (IT, HR, Finance, Admin) that their fees contribute to, but that I am totally oblivious to?Are your consultants simply logging data at the point of sale to get the cash in but the juicy stuff which is about me, what I like, how I buy is in his/her head?If they left and took “clients” with them, would you know? And don’t forget you’ll only know what data they’ve taken and who’s migrated with them if they told you about these relationships in the first place.Even if you had the data on the client, would it be enough for you to continue the relationship going forward?Are your clients engaging with your business or the consultant? Are their loyalties to the brand or their perceived face of the brand, the consultant (the hairdresser)?I’m still seeing “30-second recruiters” who enter a candidate in the CRM just to place them and board the invoice. That may work for them in the short term, but they’re missing out on opportunities to be more effective and profitable whilst putting the business at risk.CRMFirst (Bullhorn1st): Hairdresser Prevention for Recruitment LeadersThis year needs to be about CRMFirst ~ Bullhorn1st ~ getting your candidates, clients and consultants addicted to your systems.It needs to be about data hygiene, recruiters building effective, retained relationships and recruitment firms focusing on effectiveness and growth.A CRMFirst (BullhornFirst) culture can create a valuable pool of great data that will put you ahead of your competition and create a hidden asset that your clients (and prospective clients!) want access to.Your recruitment CRM should be a USP – a unique selling point. Your recruitment software can be an addiction for your recruiters, your clients, candidates, and investors. All of which does the one job you bought it for – to make your life easier and make you more money.Swap the Salon Culture for CRMFirst Culture…Instilling a culture of data quality is challenging, but highly rewarding. Define the strategy, instil this into your culture and reduce the risk of bad data impacting the recruitment business.Get your recruitment consultants engaged with your system and train them on best practice so they understand why great recruitment process is profitable for them, as well as your business.📌Stop them from simply renting a desk.Once they can see and feel the benefits of following your processes (improving performance, profit, and ROI for themselves as well as the business) then your CRM can become a business growth tool, rather than an expensive data dump.Bullhorn ATS / Analytics / Automation / AI RoIWe are Bullhorn experts set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses to increase speed and sales.We help you weaponise your people, data, time, and tech, so you can recruit and sell!Our Bullhorn Vision and Buddy service helps generate best-in-class processes, adoption, head space, and ROI.BOOK A FREE BULLHORN ROI CONSULTATION
