While traditional ways of a recruitment firm still hold relevance to our current times, significant shifts have undeniably affected how hiring was done, especially in the past 20 months.
Recruiters had to adjust to the work-from-home setup, making the hiring process entirely online. Additionally, discoveries related to mental health and the public outcry online about inequality continuously shape how modern professionals view the world, their potential workplace included.
Everything we do is now online, even managing our reputation. The fundamentals of a good reputation may not have changed, but handling an online one? It’s a different ball game. Achieving a positive online reputation will entail a different set of steps to integrate into your recruiting strategy.
To equip you in the coming year, here are some trends that will make you want to rethink why having a good online reputation and boosting it is essential to your firm’s success in the foreseeable future.
Misinformation is a threat to your online reputation.
Fake news and misinformation have found their way to people’s awareness in the past years. Sadly, companies are not safe from peddlers of twisted facts. Some Fortune 500 companies, like HP and Google, fell victim to several fake online articles that utilized information from social media.1 These big companies can be more susceptible to such maltreatment, yet their massive online reputation may have saved them. Authentic reviews from customers and a strong social media presence contribute to an almost impenetrable online reputation.
How is this relevant to your recruitment firm? Negative reviews in staffing procedures may be blown out of proportion by disgruntled applicants. They may also post about your agency on multiple sites, with narrations including blown-up facts and exaggerations your recruitment firm doesn’t deserve. With social media up and about, this misinformation can spread like wildfire and put your staffing agency in a bad light.
Be wary of fake content in your reviews and devise a way to counter them. Here are some tips you can follow to handle the situation proactively:
- Do a regular Google search of your firm. Since this is a straightforward task, anyone in the agency can do it. Regular searching can help you keep up with content posted online and respond to them immediately.
- Set up Google Alerts. It is a free service wherein you can input actual text to be searched online, like the name of your recruitment agency. Specifics like region and language can be personalized, too. You can also set up how often you will be notified and have all mentions collected via email.
- Plan out a response system. Once you have pinpointed rantings of an unhappy applicant, apologize for the experience, and gauge what action has to be taken. Serious complaints may need a personal approach, such as reaching out to the person, while menial lapses may just be appeased through a simple apology. Comment publicly to show readers that your firm is acknowledging the error and will do something about it.
Please don’t forget that it’s not only the negative reviews that need a response. Happier candidates would appreciate the boost of a thankful response from your firm. It also gives the impression that your agency is actively looking out for your online reputation.
Work culture and inclusivity are taking center stage.
Aside from the pandemic throwing everyone into a frenzy of health and safety precautions, other aspects of awareness also caught the world’s attention. A wave of support in the form of advocacies such as Black Lives Matter and the Me Too Movement have affected different facets of everyday life.
Also, the term “languishing” found its way into everyone’s vocabulary and has explained why it’s so hard to function nowadays, especially with work. Many companies have put up wellness programs to battle languishing and improve general work culture. In fact, according to a study, to help employees during the pandemic, 68% of companies included at least one wellness benefit by March 2020.2
Companies who stay mum about these issues are receiving a bad rap from current and former employees, and such online content will keep you from reaching your potential hires. Some of you might think that it’s not your agency’s problem anymore once the candidate gets hired. However, part of what you do is selling your client’s image to your potential hires, so they become enticed to apply, and your client gets the workforce they pay your firm to build. Thus, being proactive in highlighting your client’s policies and stance on mentioned issues could bode well for you and your client’s online reputation.
Nowadays, company prestige and pay grades are only becoming second to a job seeker’s pursuit of a healthy and welcoming work environment. Knowing that the company values wellness is a plus, so make sure to communicate this well to your potential hires. Be ready with the information you may gather as mentioned below, as it would be nice to include them in your job posts.
- Ask about the company’s take on inclusivity and diversity. Get to know how your client is promoting a workplace that is welcoming to everyone, whatever their background is. This might be a difficult and sensitive topic, so no need to get into specifics. A simple question on how the company welcomes diversity and inclusivity will do.
- Let them elaborate on their wellness programs. Most likely, your client has put in place various changes in their policies or benefits that will support employees’ well-being. Take note of these as well, and always be prepared to share them with your applicants.
Reviews have an even louder voice nowadays.
Everyone is using social media as a means to build an online presence or get to know which products or services to avail of. Therefore, your recruitment firm has to make an extra effort to generate traction with potential clients and create an online reputation that speaks well of your superb services. To do this, you have to know what’s happening during the hiring process. The best approach? Reviews collection.
Great Recruiters is your go-to software in setting up a regular reviews collection process. As the #1 experience and reputation management platform for staffing agencies, it is the perfect tool to ask applicants how the hiring process went and collect data for further analysis.
Whether you are tech-savvy or not, your firm will be introduced to the software through a 48-hour onboarding program designed to introduce the platform’s sophisticated design. Great Recruiter’s vivid visualization and user-friendly dashboard will enable ease in navigation. With scheduled review requests during particular points in the hiring process, everyone in the staffing agency can just wait for feedback to come in. Its advanced data evaluation can help you easily identify which steps in the hiring process need to be fixed or maintained.
The future of your firm’s online reputation is your responsibility, and Great Recruiters is here to help. Book a demo now to know-how.
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