Blogs by tag - blog · Barclay Jones

Recruitment and Marketing Blogs

Why AI Might Not Fix Recruitment Productivity

Recruitment Leaders - are you looking to engage with tech to help you drive productivity? Are you needing significant RoI from your tech stack? Be careful you don't fall into the pit of "tech before process".In the 2 decades we've been working in recruitment, a persistent, cyclical problem is starting over again — and it's being amplified by the advent of new technology like AI.😔History Repeating Itself: Tech Before ProcessMy team has watched a trend unfold: the belief that simply "buying data and tech and throwing it at a problem" will magically fix it.Unfortunately, it rarely does, and I fear we are seeing this pattern play out again with Artificial Intelligence.The core issue is that the recruitment industry often engages with technology without truly engaging with the process the technology is supposed to fix.We get why. A LOT has happened in and to the recruitment sector in the last 2 decades - it's a big ask for leaders to stand back from the coal face and really invest time in the problem when it's been so disruptive...But, we've seen this cycle before:The CRM wave: A sophisticated recruitment system is bought, added to the recruitment business, and recruiters are told to use it, often without a fundamental change to the underlying workflow.The Automation trend: Tools are purchased to automate tasks, but the initial problem (unproductive activities) remains because the why and how of the automation weren't properly addressed.Now, AI: In the rush to purchase the latest AI tools, many recruitment firms are overlooking the essential step of asking: "What problem are we trying to solve, and how will this technology specifically help me do that?"🤔Purchase V ProblemI recently said to a client who was trying to get buy-in from his recruiters for the AI tools he's bought:Are you processing the AI, or AI-ing the process?One way is wrong, the other right. Food for thought...This focus on the purchase over the problem means we miss the fundamental goal:Fixing recruitment productivity. Empowering recruiters to do the right things at the right time.🙋 WIIFM? What’s In It For Me? The Missing LinkA healthy skepticism - or outright fear - exists among many average recruitment consultants about what AI and automation are really there to do for them.If you're an innovation leader, your mind is likely 20 steps ahead, focused on the competitive edge, efficiency metrics, future-proofing, and adding value to your business. But when introducing new technology, you must take it back to basics and think with the recruitment consultant / resourcer / manager in mind.You need to answer the crucial question for them: "What’s in it for me (the consultant)?" - WIIFM?Stop talking about backend efficiencies and start talking about the individual's tangible benefits:"This will help you make more money.""This will enable you to take a longer lunch break.""This will free you up to see your kids' school plays."Ultimately, this tech is meant to enable recruiters to spend less time on low-value, time-consuming tasks (often up to 80% of their day) and more time on high-impact, revenue-generating activities. Because right now, the stats clearly show they are incredibly busy... potentially doing the wrong stuff.If you want technology to succeed, you have to connect it directly to the recruiter’s personal and professional drivers.What are your thoughts?What is the biggest barrier to getting your recruiters to use new technology effectively?And how will you ensure that you get true value from your tech, data, and people in the next year, and beyond?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
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
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?
4 Bullhorn for BD Tips for Recruiters: Convert, Cleanse, Process, Forgive

In today's turbulent recruitment market, Business Development (BD) has never been more vital—or more challenging.With the economy unstable and client attention easily diverted, successful BD can't rely on guesswork or chasing cold leads. It demands:A deliberate strategy...Plus, leveraging your existing technology.In our recent free Bullhorn 4 BD webinar, we discussed how to use your Bullhorn system, automation, and AI not just as separate tools, but as one unified sales engine. Here are the key takeaways you can implement today to make BD easier, quicker, and more rewarding.WATCH THE BULLHORN 4 BD TIPS WEBINAR♻️ Convert Candidates to Contacts: Monetise Your SuccessWe highlighted the single biggest Bullhorn tip for BD: converting placed candidates into sales contacts.Think about it: you've guided a candidate through interviews, secured them a great offer, and got them their dream job. They think you're fantastic! Why wouldn't they want to work with you when they start hiring in their new role?This is a 15-second job in Bullhorn (via the Actions menu) and immediately gives you a "warm" BD contact who is already familiar with your value. It’s the easiest way to turn one placement into three.🧹 Stop Wasting Time: Cleanse Your Data for ProfitWhile mass mailing and automation are powerful, they are useless with dirty data. We stressed the need to monetise hard bounces and unsubscribes.Most recruiters simply move on from a hard bounce (email address doesn't exist) or an unsubscribe. This is a missed opportunity!Investigate Bounces: A hard bounce often means the person has left the company, which signals a potential new BD lead (where did they go?) and a vacancy at their old firm.Track Unsubscribes: An unsubscribe might not be genuine; it could be a manager clearing out a departed employee’s inbox. Follow the contact to find their new details.We do this ourselves. We build time into our diaries to track the "money" in bounces and unsubscribes weekly, often resulting in new placements. It’s not about buying more data; it's about making your existing data work harder.🏃‍➡️‍Strategise Your Tech: Are You AI'ing the Process?When it comes to your Bullhorn investment—including Automation, Analytics, and AI—you must ask: "Are we AI'ing the process, or processing the AI?"Technology should be implemented as a tool to do specific jobs, not just as a piece of technology you feel obligated to use.Use AI to Enhance, Not ReplaceBullhorn’s AI Assistant is designed to speed up the mundane, time-consuming parts of BD:Email Generation: Need to ask a sales contact about hiring plans? The AI can quickly draft the email, setting the tone, length, and language. Crucially, it's a start point, not an end point. You add the relationship grabbers and personalisation.Candidate Pitches: The AI can generate a candidate pitch based on both the candidate’s profile and the client’s profile, potentially halving the 5–10 minutes it typically takes to craft a strong, tailored email.If you leverage AI for the baseline work, you free your recruiters to focus on the human element that AI can't replace.🤖Get Tenacious: Let Automation Forgive the Follow-UpThe data shows that most recruiters give up way too soon—a lack of tenacity that costs the industry millions.Automation can forgive this common human failing.Advanced Note Search: Use Bullhorn's advanced search feature to find out who you haven't spoken to in three, six, or 12 months, and specifically search notes for old conversations (e.g., "mentioned hiring in Q4"). This instantly generates a warm call list.Automated Follow-Up: Use the Follow Up Sales Contact Call automation (which should be built into your system). When a recruiter logs a BD call, the system automatically sends a follow-up email and sets a task reminder for the next touchpoint. This ensures the required 7 touchpoints to make a sale are hit without the recruiter having to track every single one manually.Stop doing the admin, and start having the right conversations.💡Next Steps for Recruitment Leaders and RecruitersWe run these free recruiter tips webinar to help leaders, like you, turn the market chaos and distractions into a competitive advantage. If your team needs to shift their mindset and skill set, our programmes focus on Bullhorn ROI, Automation, Analytics, and Recruiter Training.Let us help you drive growth by focusing on the right strategic investments.READ MORE ABOUT OUR BULLHORN VISION SERVICEREAD ABOUT OUR AUTOMATION / ANALYTICS BUDDY SERVICEBOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
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
Tired of Unsubscribes? 5 Email Tips Every Recruiter Should Know

Recruiters, marketers, automators... If you’re running regular email campaigns to candidates or clients, with tech like Bullhorn Automation, unsubscribes are either a fact of life or something you dread, and may even be the reason you are not ambitious enough with your outreach.Through the free consultation calls I have with recruiter / leaders / automators who have Bullhorn, I’ve been finding myself talking a lot about managing recruitment campaign outputs, and dreaded unsubscribes.Unsubscribes can feel like a blow to your efforts, but there are ways to prevent them which I'll explore below.💡Be sure to also read my other blog: How Recruiters Can Turn Bounces and Unsubscribes into $£€- so that when you get an unsubscribe or hard bounce, you could actually create more recruitment opportunities.5 Ways to Reduce Your Candidates and Clients from UnsubscribingI've got lots of tips to share, that we coach in our Automation Buddy programs, but here's 5 to get you started today.1️⃣Clean up / segment your data I guarantee you have data which you no longer need (old sectors / job titles you no longer recruit for).Perhaps the data you need isn't coded well enough for you to segment it, hence you risk hitting parts of your community with the wrong content.But, don't procrastinate over this - you don't need a 100% clean database to start a campaign, or to make an approach. Clean up some data, and hit it. Then move on to the next layer to attack.2️⃣Subject lines need to punch above their weightKeep them short and sweet, but personalised (about them, not you (or recruitment) and relevant to your community.Think "mobile first" and ensure that your subject line can actually be read on a mobile device. For example, the Mail app on iPhones displays up to 78 characters in the subject line area.Emojis can help you stand out in a big list of emails, too.3️⃣Content, creating contentment (not consternation)I'm still seeing way too much recruitment content online, and not enough sector-specific content form recruiters.I yawn at interview tips / what to wear to interviews etc... It works less well than content aimed at your sector and job titles.At a stretch "Interview tips for Accountants" is better than a more generic topic, but even so, if that's the best content you can create, you need to try harder.What tech does your community use? Find out and talk about it.How is AI / world events affecting them? Find out and talk about it.It's never been easier to find out more about what makes your community tick - ask them, ask Google, ask AI!4️⃣Formatting to attract attention (but be WCAG-aware)I recently spotted a recruitment campaign where the email content was centred throughout and black and white - very uninspiring, and actually quite difficult to engage with.In the very least breath your brand colours into your content and check WCAG guidelines to ensure that you're not inadvertently muting your content.If your community uses Instagram / Facebook etc... be sure that they expect your content to have a life beyond black and white copy. Colour, emojis, personality - shine!5️⃣"Pitch" the unsubscribeWhat does the unsubscribe footer in your mailers look like?Is it simply an invite to unsubscribe? Or have you pitched that if they do, they'll miss out on future helpful content, and life-changing jobs?I see way too many campaigns that look like the goal is to generate unsubscribes! Ironically the footer is often more engaging than the mailer itself."We're fixated on helping our teaching community stay up to speed with the best tips, tricks, and jobs. You can unsubscribe, but then you may miss your next best teaching hack, or career move"...is better than..."Unsubscribe".A great tip is to allow candidates and clients to "Update their Preferences" which can provide your community with a way to help you make ore relevant the communications you are sending to them and/or update you on what they do find interesting. This can be done within Bullhorn Automation and is a useful way to reduce the Unsubscribes.📍Final Thought: Create Recruitment Campaigns to Keep Your Community SubscribedYour data, message, design are crucial to keeping your community from opting out.By keeping your content relevant, valuable, and human—you’ll build a database that’s active, engaged, and ready to work with you.Want help building an automation and outreach strategy to keep your community of candidates and clients opted in? Let’s talk.I offer free consultations to help leaders / recruiters / automators unlock the power of their Bullhorn database and create opportunities .BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
How Recruiters Can Turn Bounces and Unsubscribes into $£€

Recruiters, marketers, automators... If you’re regularly emailing candidates or clients—especially using tools like Bullhorn Automation - you’ve likely become familiar with two things: unsubscribes and hard bounces.At first glance, they can feel like a blow to your efforts—but they’re not always what they seem. In fact, how you respond to them is where the real sourcing and sales opportunities lie.Through the free consultation calls I have with recruiters who have Bullhorn, a hot topic is unsubscribes and hard bounces. Neither outcome gives a nice fuzzy feeling. If someone unsubscribes it limits your chances of reaching out to them again.If you get a hard bounce, their email has failed or the server has blocked you.But rather than get frustrated, slowing down your marketing / automation efforts, get active and turn these apparent dead ends into business opportunities. I've got some tips to help you monetise the "no"!💡Be sure to also read my other blog: Tired of Unsubscribes? 5 Email Tips Every Recruiter Should Knowto help you reduce the volume of unsubscribes.Unsubscribes and Hard Bounces Aren’t Always the EndTake it from someone who sends regular campaigns with Bullhorn/Automation/Sales/Sourcing tips. Here’s what I’ve learned:When you start poking around a database that hasn’t been touched in a while, you need to plan for:Inevitable bad, dirty dataLow trust due to radio silence / low communication volumeBounces and unsubscribesSo:1️⃣ Don’t burn out your entire database all at once and overwhelm your recruiters with pointless "leads". A flood of bounces and unsubscribes is overwhelming—and tempting to ignore. Instead, work with your recruiters to identify the data that matters most (roles, skills, locations), so responses are relevant and recruiters engage.2️⃣ Stagger your outreach. A gradual send schedule helps you build a better picture of your data, keeps your sender reputation healthy, and gives you the time to review and action what’s coming back.3️⃣ Use and A/B testing to tell you what works (and what bombs).4️⃣Then, and this bit is crucial, have a battle plan to turn what seems like a "no" into an opportunity.Not Every Unsubscribe or Hard Bounce is Final🏴Unsubscribes: What we often see—especially in recruitment—is that many unsubscribes are "false flags". It’s not the person opting out; it’s often their old email being shut down or a system admin / manager clearing mailboxes.Often, that person hasn’t unsubscribed —they’ve moved to another company.⛔Hard bounces should be an opportunity to follow the follow the leaver to their new company - and rekindle a relationship.Instead of blindly trusting your email system, build a workflow to monetise the "no".Here’s how I manage unsubscribes at Barclay Jones:Two months after each mailer, I check the unsubscribes.I investigate if they’ve left the company or simply moved jobs.If they’ve moved, I update their details in the CRM and re-engage them.I do the same with hard bounces by checking LinkedIn and updating records.Recruiters can recover valuable contacts this way—some of those “dead” leads could be placements waiting to happen! 💸Campaign the Clean ~ Create the Opps!Treat every email/automation campaign not just as marketing—but as a data quality (and data wealth) activity.Hard bounces? Check if the contact has left.Unsubscribes? Investigate the source.Build this into your CRM workflows—it doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming.With the right process, they’re signals—not setbacks.Want help building an outreach and automation strategy to keep candidates and clients opted in?📅 Let’s talk!I offer free consultations to help leaders, recruiters, and automators unlock the power of their Bullhorn database.BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
Bullhorn Tip - Source (and KIT) with Advanced Notes

We've got a simple Bullhorn1-minute tip to help you source quicker and stay in touch with your candidates and clients. One of our favourite Bullhorn features is its Advanced Notes search.(If you haven't got this feature ask your Bullhorn admin to add it for you...) ❓Why Use Advanced Notes for Sourcing and KIT Activities?Staying organised and keeping your candidates and clients engaged is key... Why?📉57% of candidates say they lose interest when communication drops off. That’s over half your shortlist potentially ghosting you.⏳ The best candidates are off the market in just 10 days—meaning delayed client feedback or disjointed processes can kill your placement before it even starts.💼80% of placements come from just 20% of your Bullhorn database—so if you’re only looking outward and not reactivating past candidates, you’re leaving money on the table.🧠60% of clients say they want better communication from their recruiter. Not more CVs—more value.💑 Only 29% of customers are fully engaged.So, it's key that you use Bullhorn to easily find and manage your candidate and client data.We love how Bullhorn's Advanced Note search helps recruiters and resourcers source, but also how it helps find candidates (and clients) that have not been spoken to in a while and need to be kept in touch with (KIT).Simple! Watch our 1-minute Bullhorn tip - then log in to Bullhorn and try it. Who can you find? Who do you need to KIT (keep in touch) with? Watch My Bullhorn Tip on How to Use Advanced Notes to Source and KITNeed more LinkedIn / Bullhorn / Automation / Recruitment Tips?Try our 1-minute tips.Be sure to sign up for (or watch the recordings of) our regular free Bullhorn and Automation webinars.CHECK OUT OUR WEBINARSBullhorn ROI + Trained Happy Recruiters = More SalesWe pride ourselves on helping recruitment leaders achieve Bullhorn ROI. We create a Bullhorn1st vision, reduce the need for other tech, optimise Bullhorn, automate their sales-prevention processes and data, and train recruiters to trust it and use it.ARRANGE A FREE CONSULTATION NOWTry our Recruitment Training platform for free, for the best Recruitment, Bullhorn, Analytics, LinkedIn, MS Teams, and Automation tips.TRY HIIT FREE HERE
How to Maximise the Productivity of Your Remote and WFH Recruiters

The recruitment world has changed—and whether your team is hybrid, remote-first, or fully virtual, one thing hasn’t: performance still matters. But without the buzz of an office, the whiteboards, and the shoulder taps, the Mars Bar incentives, how do you keep productivity high without becoming a recruitment micromanager?With so much tech and data, it's easy for procrastination and "admin-first" mentality to sneak in - and phone and face time with candidates and client suffers - and pipelines are not robust enough.But as a leader of a recruitment team or firm, I bet you're still waiting for the memo on how to manage your teams to max productivity...Here are some thoughts on recruitment leaders can set up their remote / hybrid teams for success—with clarity, connection, and commercial focus.1. Shift the Focus to Outcomes, Not HoursThe most productive recruiters aren’t always the ones who log on early or appear busy all day—they’re the ones who deliver results. Set expectations around outcomes: interviews booked, candidates submitted, jobs filled. Productivity isn’t about presenteeism; it’s about performance.You can call these KPIs, or simply "brilliant basics" - call them what you need to but, be clear on your goals and expectations. 2. Run Daily Huddles to Set the PaceA short 10–15 minute morning huddle can align the team around daily goals, hot jobs, and potential roadblocks. It keeps activity visible and creates a sense of shared momentum, even across screens. Don't scrimp on these kick offs / cool downs - they are vital to help your team (and you) stay connected.3. Use Dashboards to Drive ConversationsLive dashboards in your CRM (like Bullhorn) are powerful tools—but only if used constructively. Track key KPIs / Analytics / deliverables like CVs sent, interviews scheduled, and pipeline activity. Ensure that your tech can easily track these goals to ensure that your CRM/ATS is a single source of truth.4. Coach in the MomentFeedback shouldn't wait for end-of-week reviews. If a recruiter is struggling with outreach, sourcing, or conversion—jump on a quick call or screen-share. Remote doesn’t have to mean distant.5. Over-Communicate (Yes, Really)In an office, information travels quickly. Remotely, you need to be intentional. Encourage regular Slack / MS Teams / Zoom etc... updates, team chats, even voice notes. It’s not about overloading people—it’s about keeping everyone in the loop and engaged.6. Structure the Day for SuccessHelp recruiters design their day with clear time blocks: sourcing, BD, admin, follow-up. Get these diarised and transparent. Without the natural rhythm of an office, distractions creep in. Time-blocking restores focus.7. Celebrate the Small WinsThat candidate who finally returned the call? The new job lead from an old client? Shout it out! Wins matter more than ever when working remotely—recognition drives motivation and retention.We recommend, for example, an MS Teams channel devoted to team / people successes. And ensure that the team feel empowered to shout out each other's successes.8. Check In (Not Just Check On)Don’t just ask for numbers. It's too easy, when managing people remotely, to focus on the work outputs - as a leader you need to be better / different. Ask how they’re doing. Engage in what makes them tick. Remote work can feel isolating, for both you an them, especially in high-pressure sales environments. Regular check-ins help uncover hidden blockers—and show that you care.9. Give Them the Right Tools (and Training)Make sure your recruiters and resourcers have access to the tools they need—video calling platforms, up-to-date CRM access, and workflow automation. Then layer in continuous training so they can use the tools confidently and commercially. This is especially important if you have AI / Automation tools. Training on the why, as well as the how, can be empowering and drive change quicker. Simply turning them on with minimal training risks "buy-out".10. Keep the Culture AliveFrom monthly leaderboards to virtual quizzes and Friday wrap-ups, make space for team bonding. How about a weekly quiz, using Kahoot or MS Teams, and each week a different team member runs it? High-performing teams thrive on connection—don’t let geography erode your culture.Final Thought: Set the Standard, Then Drive ItRemote recruitment teams thrive when there’s clarity and consistency.Create a simple “how we work” playbook—when check-ins happen, how KPIs are tracked, what good looks like.Then empower your recruiters to own their day, backed by your coaching and tools.The market won’t wait—and neither should your recruitment team. Productivity is a habit, and with the right leadership, remote recruiters can be a super-powerful asset.Want help building a remote recruitment process or smarter Bullhorn workflows? Let’s talk. I offer free consultations to help leaders like you unlock better performance—wherever your team logs in from.BOOK YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
Why Recruitment Data Health is Critical, 3 Ways to Long-Term Data Wealth

Recruitment and it's tech is moving faster than ever. But if your ATS/CRM is full of duplicates, outdated records, or incomplete contact details, you’re not just losing time—you’re losing revenue.Plus, Lisa recently attended Bullhorn's Automation and AI summit and the key "disabler" for engaging effectively with automation and AI was data health (or lack of!)Data Stealth or Data Wealth?As a recruitment leader, you rely on your CRM to power your recruiters' productivity, candidate/client experience, and bottom-line performance. But how confident are you in the health / quality of your data?Why does data health matter?💩 30% of CRM data becomes outdated each year🐌 Recruiters lose 4.3 hours/week to manual data issues📉 Dirty data can slash revenue by 12%😱 51% of UK firms say their CRM data isn't accurate enough to use🤒 Only 30% of CRM records are fully up to date🥳 Clean data boosts productivity by 14.6%(Sources: IBM / Experian / Bullhorn)In short: Bad data = missed placements, wasted time, lost revenue.If your Recruitment CRM has incomplete profiles, inconsistent job titles, or duplicate records, it’s not just frustrating—it’s slowing your team down.And if your candidate and client pools aren’t engaged, you're working blindfolded, hands tied behind your back, in a storm. (Metaphors galore!)1 Word to Describe Your DataWe asked recruiters to give us one word to describe their Bullhorn data and they said... Oh dear...Pointless Strategies to Clean Your Recruitment DataSome "popular" (but pointless) strategies include:Handing it to a temp / admin with zero sector knowledgeAsking recruiters to do it in their "free time"Ignoring it and piling in more dataThese are great strategies if you have money and time to burn, and data accuracy is not a goal.Our Winning 3-Step TLC Strategy for Data Health and WealthCleaning up your recruitment data involves more than simply giving it a spring clean every now and again. Your data needs to feed today's, tomorrow's, and next year's pipeline.We help recruitment businesses turn messy Bullhorn CRMs into clean, revenue-generating machines with a simple framework:Train recruiters on the “What’s in it for me?” angle so they take ownership of their data.Legacy cleanse: deduplicate, delete, or reactivate cold records.Campaign: engage and enrich new data automatically.No expensive tools. No time-zapping system overhauls. Just smart fixes that work with what you already have.📍 Book a Free Recruitment Data Health ConsultationI’d love to hear how you’re tackling data challenges—and pay it forward with a free 30-minute call to share ideas and insights from the 1000s of recruiters we've work with.Identify quick-win cleanup opportunitiesShare smart tools and automation optionsWhether your recruiters and resourcers struggle with poor candidate matches, too many duplicate records, or “ghost” contacts no one has touched in over a year, we can help you build a practical, recruiter-friendly fix.Ready to clean up your data, reduce costs, and speed up your placements?BOOK YOUR FREE DATA HEALTH CONSULTATION🚀 Why Now?Because recruitment is too competitive to be slowed down by bad data. The difference between making a placement and missing out is often just how quickly and accurately you can find and reach the right person.If your consultants / resourcers are wasting time cleaning up data manually—or worse, avoiding your Bullhorn CRM altogether—this is your chance to fix it for good.Clean recruitment data isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s a competitive advantage. Let’s get yours working the way it should.
Bullhorn Tip - Convert Candidates to Sales Contacts

We've got an easy Bullhorn 1-minute tip to help you easily get more sales leads. Nice!Picking up the phone and building, driving, and monetising your relationships is key to a successful recruitment desk.Cold calling is crucial of course... But warm calling may be better and more effective.Question: How many candidates have you placed, or got interviews for, that you could work as sales contacts? Likely plenty?Easy Sales Leads for RecruitersFocussing on the candidates you have helped and converting them into sales contacts is a must. Using Bullhorn to do this makes this task a breeze! This is a really fast and really simple tip to help you with your business development.By using your existing data, your candidates don't just have to be limited to generating new fees. By placing them, you could convert them into sales contacts in Bullhorn to create brand new leads and brand new opportunities to work. Let's see How to convert your candidates into sales contacts. Watch our 1-minute Bullhorn tip - then log in to Bullhorn and find your warm candidates. How many do you have? Which ones are your fans? Who can you call to get intel, referrals and leads from? Watch Our 1-Minute Bullhorn Tip to Help You Get More Sales LeadsNeed more LinkedIn / Bullhorn / Automation / Recruitment Tips? Try our 1-minute tips.Be sure to sign up for (or watch the recordings of) our regular free Bullhorn and Automation webinars.CHECK OUT OUR WEBINARSRecruitment 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
3 Ways Recruitment Automation Can Help Increase Recruitment Sales

Recruiters! With 80% of your day spent doing the wrong things, having to network around 7 people per sale, and the growing trend on relying on DATA to make your sale, what's does this year look like, and how can you use recruitment automation to generate more speed and pipeline?My Interview With Billy at Bullhorn AutomationI spoke with Billy Davis at Bullhorn Automation - who's mission it is to revolutionise the recruitment industry. We've been working closely with him help our mutual clients to automate their recruitment processes. I asked Billy 3 questions about how recruitment automation can help drive sales (and productivity).1. Billy, what are your thoughts B2B sales about how to use automation for data-based selling?I think providing a great experience will always have a positive place in sales. With the advancement of AI and machine learning I can see a time in which data becomes the biggest decision making factor in the sales process. We already see some of those shifts in the market today. Poor data quality undermines the effectiveness of AI and machine learning. The biggest benefit of Automation will be the increase in data quality. Identifying and fixing incomplete records, reducing manual data entry, and copying information already known from one area and transporting it to another are just a few mechanisms to achieve this. 2. Billy, how can recruitment automation help "nail the sale"?The most important advice here is to create a personal or employment brand so compelling that it can reach all those levels of connections. Recruitment automation can help in two critical capacities. It can act as your megaphone to the market and amplify your reach. It can ensure fantastic experience for candidates/clients so you have as many promoters as possible. 3. Billy, how can automation help recruiters focus on what they need to do to attract, engage, convert, and retain – rather than procrastinate?Automation is a tool to solve this problem. Not a solution in and of itself. Understanding the difference between value and non-value activities and coming up with a strategy to change existing behaviour is the ultimate solution. Automation can accelerate that strategy when deployed correctly. Examples include; Eliminating busywork, real time reminders/alerts with process instructions, client/candidate journeys to eliminate lack of communication at any recruitment stage, placement check ins and touchpoints, activity/behaviour driven communication and follow up, and freeing up time for relationship building. ---Monetise and Weaponise Your Recruitment Data, Time, and TargetsI'm excited about how recruitment automation positively impacts on the day of a recruiter - generating more time, better 3Cs (candidates, clients, colleague) expectations and experience - and really help the industry get back on track after such a disruptive few years.We help recruiters via our Automation Buddy Programs to really monetise and weaponise their data, time, and targets.READ ABOUT RECRUITMENT AUTOMATIONBOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS BULLHORN AND BULLHORN AUTOMATION