What is recruiting outreach?

In this article, we'll take a look at 10 top recruit outreach strategies, based on expert advice shared in a webinar jointly hosted by Ringover and Vincere. Keep reading to get insight into how you can improve your recruiting outreach and get the best candidates on board.

10 ways to optimise recruiting outreach

1. What are emerging needs and preferences of staffing clients and candidates in 2024?

One common need uniting staffing and recruiting agencies is to drive new business. Therefore, the key priority is transitioning recruiters to focus on high-value activities, such as face-to-face and interpersonal interactions. Given the huge amount of digital activity candidates and clients face, they are often craving a personalised touch only possible via trusting relationships.

Therefore, staffing and recruiting agencies should take into account this strong preference on the part of candidates and clients, and understand this is a huge differentiating factor. Luckily, this high standard for relationships is more and more realistic thanks to efficiencies gained via technology like VoIP phones and professional staffing solutions.

2. Are there any unique channels that are really helpful in engaging clients/candidates?

If you reach candidates outside of the usual channels like videoconferences, text messages, you can set yourself apart from competitors. Though it may seem old-fashioned, physical mail allows you to deliver unique and creative marketing materials that go beyond simple flyers or the one-dimensionality of corporate email.

Of course, this type of relationship building requires certain data, which can be captured with CRMs or ATS. Beyond just the physical address, these software allow you to capture information about interests beyond just professional concerns or needs. Knowing when the candidates' or clients' birthday is, what sports team they love, or even what their next professional step is allows you to branch out from the topics discussed by other companies operating in your sector.

But while these actions can be highly impactful, a simple phone call or even a voice note can still begin establishing or further a strong candidate relationship. Having a business phone system on hand allows you to efficiently and systematically reach out to contacts and keep them engaged.

3. How important is personalization in outreach?

Candidates and clients take personalization for granted, to the point that it's expected. They are so used to it in fact, they hardly notice it–unless it's done poorly.

So when you start looking at the personalization you do or would like to do, ensuring that the personalization is done well is of utmost importance. Personalization takes many forms, but even something as simple as providing your agents with context can go a long way. For example, Ringover's feature CTI screen pop appears whenever you receive a call from a client or candidate, and provides a brief selection of information about them. With the caller's history and information readable at a glance, the agent can pick up a conversation seamlessly.

4. How does the understanding of candidate trends or vertical-specific challenges affect recruiting outreach?

Tailoring your approach is key when approaching candidates, as you'll get the most effective recruitment if you meet them where they are, via their preferred channel. For instance, younger people don't always go into the office, and aren't necessarily attracted to large-scale events. So if you're looking to attract candidates from those generations, you will need to prioritise the channels they're already on, like Discord and TikTok, to get them to events that resonate with them.

One challenge that remains a brainteaser for recruiting agencies is how to increase diversity. The persistence can be explained in part because of human subjectivity, which can come into play despite best intentions. That's why incorporating tools like the ATS Vincere can bring structure to the recruitment process, taking into account people with unique backgrounds and decreasing the likelihood of unconscious bias.

5. What are innovative tech tools, platforms, or solutions that can be used to streamline communication education & follow up?

One common side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was large investments in tech stacks–even to the point of creating a tech stack that compromised efficiency because it was too complex. So before looking at what to add to your tech stack, reorient your thinking. Instead of wondering what you can add, challenge yourself to make it more efficient.

When it comes to managing customer relationships and candidate experience, having a single source of truth can be invaluable for agents trying to keep up with many profiles. So, turning to VoIP software like Ringover, which integrates with other invaluable tools like ATS or even CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce, allows you to do more with less. You'll be able to keep key SaaS metrics like cost-per-user down, but still improve efficiency and effectiveness.

If you take a close look to determine what supports talking and engaging with candidates, you'll quickly see Ringover puts all communication in one place, including important tools like call logs, click-to-call, text message, social media messaging, and more.

This range of options gets at the difference between greater effectiveness and improved efficiency. After all, you may gain time from certain tech tools, but if they don't also improve effectiveness, you won't be able to leverage that time gain for significant gains. For instance, you can use Ringover to disseminate the message, drive outreach, and then close the loop by following up.

6. What metrics should agencies track to understand the impact of their engagement strategy?

Understanding your engagement strategy and the ROI of the tools you use can't be done without tracking metrics. A few of the most important ones are:

• Time spent on phone
• Time spent in video calls
• Missed calls

Looking at communications efficiency helps to understand how recruiters can eliminate tiresome manual processes and use their time in more valuable ways, like developing relationships with clients and candidates. Allowing everyone access to data at the individual and upper levels develops a global understanding of how even marginal gains can impact the bottom line.

7. What are the benefits of integrating your engagement technology with an ATS or CRM?

There are several key benefits yielded by integrations between engagement software like Ringover and an ATS such as Vincere.

• Seamless flow of data throughout the front and back office, allowing for improved operations
• Scale more easily and with more control thanks to automatizations
• Ease the data flow thanks to automatic data synchronisation automatic data collection like call logs, call transcriptions, call recordings, etc.

8. Where should an agency start to build an influential brand online?

To develop your digital brand, begin by articulating your teams' strengths and values. These are the themes that will form the foundation of your subject matter. In order to successfully communicate your message, you'll need to stay consistent even though it may seem repetitive.

The way to keep your content interesting and engaging while staying focused on your topics is to vary the content style, its format, and the channel used. Bring a good balance of humour, thought leadership, and sincerity. And finally, be sure you are tracking the content performance via analytics so you can understand what messaging and channels resonate with which target audience.

9. What is the biggest challenge when it comes to client and candidate outreach and engagement?

The challenge that staffing and recruiting agencies regularly face is how to stand out in a crowded field. But there are a few factors that can help you make your mark.

• Having a clearly defined target audience
• Strong brand with clear ways of expressing brand values and value proposition
• Consistency

One tool that can give you a significant advantage when it comes to client and candidate outreach is Ringover's omnichannel contact centre software. This tool allows you to personalise omnichannel communications, identify the right channels for each client, and establish credibility over time.

10. To what extent can AI and automation be used with an ATS to streamline tasks, reduce bias, and improve the candidate experience?

Having AI-based tools which ensure you have data easily available, and you're able to leverage it, you and your team will see immediate benefits.

One popular tool is Empower by Ringover, which is an AI-based conversation intelligence software. Empower not only automatically summarises and transcribes calls, but also identifies keywords, allowing you to easily search through conversations based on key terms you set.

Plus, the tool also employs AI business tool sentiment analysis, which identifies emotions expressed by the speakers. That way, your agents can easily pinpoint what's happening on the client or candidate's end and adjust as needed.

In terms of the ATS itself, it will be able to automatically populate data fields and documents regardless of format, so agents don't have to process resumes one by one. The ATS can also automatically send notifications depending on certain triggers, like sending a document for signature or onboarding materials.

Recruiting Outreach FAQ

What is recruiting outreach?

Recruiting outreach refers to connecting with candidates to convince them to apply for an open position. This process can be carried out by a company for its own workforce, or by a staffing firm on behalf of a client.

What is an example of recruiter outreach?

Here's an example of recruiting outreach, a common process used by staffing agencies:

Would you be available to chat this week about our open position [job name] and why we have top rated reviews as an employer on Glassdoor? After taking a look at your experience at [previous employer], I know you could excel in that position! I would love to dig into your career goals in more detail. Are you free [specific date] at [specific time]?

What is an outreach strategy?

Outreach strategy refers to planned processes and actions which have the goal of attracting candidates. Your outreach strategy will reflect your recruitment goals and needs, so you can build a highly qualified and cohesive team.