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Marketing ideas for your staffing agency

5 Staffing Agency Marketing Ideas that Add Value

December 7/0 Comments/in Business Strategy, Marketing, Staffing and Temp Agencies /by Elizabeth

For the past several years staffing employment grew faster than the economy and employment overall. Here are five staffing agency marketing ideas that can help your agency stand out from the rest of the pack – and make it indispensable to your clients.

Add Value for Employers with Five Staffing Industry Marketing Ideas

According to IndustrySelect.com (and despite the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S. jobs market in 2020) the forecast for the staffing industry is projected to be $126.1 billion in 2020. While this represents a 17 percent decline from the previous year, it is still 4 percent higher than the original estimate of $119B.

With the economic recovery of the last decade came opportunities for recruiters, temporary employment and staffing agencies to rebound, big time. Not only were more jobs available overall, but many employers, unsure of how quickly the recovery would happen and whether it would last, were hesitant to hire regular employees, and so opted for temporary workers instead. It is reasonable to expect continued opportunity for temporary employment agencies as the economy comes out of COVID-19 slowdowns and shutdowns, since employers may be uncertain for some time what their “new normal” number of employees and jobs should be, or to hedge against additional short term temporary closures.

5 Ways to Make Your Staffing Agency Indispensable

1. Look for value beyond the skill set

As a staffing agency recruiter, you (or your software) may scan hundreds of resumes relative to the skills, software, and specialties of candidates. Bring candidates to the table for temporary employment or temp-to-hire placement opportunities that have what it takes not only to do the job, but who will enhance the culture of an organization, and who may possess valuable skills beyond those specified in the job description.

The more often you place candidates that produce well, bring additional value to and fit well within an organization, the more likely it is that employers will turn to you when the next hiring opportunity arises.

2. Network to fill your back pocket

Hiring can be an expensive, time consuming process. Temporary employment and staffing agencies that network well can create a pool of individuals who, while they may not be actively looking for a new position, would be open to considering a change for the right opportunity.

Reach out to already-employed people, not just those who are actively looking! 35 percent of workers say they would change their field of work if they lost their job. That means that more than 1 in 3 people currently employed might be interested in changing jobs if they had an opportunity to do something they are more interested in doing, or which represents a better path for professional growth in the future.

Being able to serve up one or two quality candidates for potential openings immediately could easily make your staffing agency more valuable to employers when the need to fill a position quickly is paramount.

3. Write better recruiting copy

When you have an awesome job opportunity to fill or an outstanding employer to recruit for, why would you write boring, cliché, job description-like copy? Set your staffing agency apart by writing recruiting copy that engages top candidates and creates intrigue so that they want to know more. Plus, when you talk up the brand of an employer in creative copy, you are telling candidates that you think the employer’s brand is just as special as they believe it to be!

4. Soften your approach

If you only reach out to employers with sales calls and emails, you are doing it wrong. You might get lucky by hitting someone up at the moment they need to fill a position once in a while, but you may well turn off the vast number of contacts on your list.

Soften your approach with employers and think about nurturing relationships instead of pursuing accounts. Reach out with information that people can use to build their businesses – interesting articles about their industries, information about their competitors they might not be aware of, and so on. Become so interesting and helpful that your clients will welcome your phone calls and open your emails and will keep you top of mind when opportunity arises.

5. Specialize

Instead of casting a wide net, carve out a name and a niche for your staffing agency by identifying industries which are emerging or evolving, which are underserved, or even better understanding which industries your own firm’s expertise is best-suited to serve. When you become the “go-to” for certain industries or certain types of temporary job openings, you build top of mind brand awareness that is invaluable in providing your staffing agency with opportunity to get the first shot at filling opportunities.

Many past temporary hires turned into regular employees as employers developed more confidence in the economy. While the job market rebounds, competition will also increase among staffing and temporary employment agencies as well.

For staffing and temporary employment services firms, competition can be a good thing! Not only does it reflect more opportunity overall, but competition can light a fire when it comes to continuous improvement within a staffing agency. For temp services and staffing firms that want to create a competitive advantage, it is vital to identify areas where they can become indispensable to their most valuable clients.

You might also like: Benefits of Factoring Staffing

7 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Cultivate a Niche and Grow

November 25/0 Comments/in Business Strategy, Marketing, Staffing and Temp Agencies /by Elizabeth

While it might seem counter-intuitive, staffing agencies that narrow their marketing focus could spur faster growth. Here are seven ways to carve out a staffing agency niche to grow your staffing, recruiting or temporary employment agency.

A Niche for Staffing Agencies – Narrow Your Focus to Expand Your Client Base

With a super-competitive staffing industry and double-digit growth projected in 2021, it’s more important than ever that staffing agencies carve out a niche where they can excel and thrive. With that in mind, here are seven ways that temporary employment services firms or staffing agencies can identify a niche where they can make a name for themselves and grow.

7 Ways to Cultivate a Staffing Agency Niche and Grow

Grow with seasonal staffing opportunities

Look for businesses that have seasonal ebbs and flows. These are the types of businesses that may also benefit from outsourcing to staffing agencies or using temporary workers instead of hiring their own employees.

Seed the market with PR

You can play a part in strengthening your own agency’s reputation by using PR tactics strategically. Publishing press releases helps to position your agency as an expert resource in a given employment niche. Likewise, placing ads and advertorial articles or writing general interest articles for publication in trade magazines can help to reinforce your agency’s reputation in industries where you want to carve out a niche for your staffing services.

Put your ear to the ground

Many of the most successful businesses became so because they were able to identify and act on emerging trends early on. Make sure that you are on the look-out for emerging new industries or industries that are evolving where your staffing agency can gain ground before competitors become aware.

COVID-19 might have put a damper on staffing industry growth in 2020, but there are several industries that are growing now and which are set to grow post COVID-19, such as:

Technology of all kinds – online meeting platforms, online e-education, online and remote work apps, etc.
Medical and healthcare staffing
Cloud computing and storage
Web and app development
E-commerce
Cybersecurity
Logistics, transportation and supply chain

Plant new locations for future growth

Communities and neighborhoods zoned for industrial and commercial development, or which may be expanding with tech companies may also represent locations where having a physical office for your staffing agency would give you a leg-up in booking new business.

Attract and engage with digital content

Just like consumers in general, B2B buyers often start their buying journey online and many even expect to be able to complete the buying process online in a digital self-service environment. Cater to digital B2B shoppers and buyers in the industries you most want to serve with a website that is optimized for search and blog articles that attract search and social media traffic and shares among those niche target audience members.

Dig in deep by increasing numbers of followers and subscribers

While some organizations that need temporary workers or staffing services may engage in short or only occasional buying cycles, others may need to be convinced of the benefits of outsourcing over time or may need a consistent stream of temporary employees. Gain and maintain top of mind brand awareness for your staffing or temporary employment services by constantly increasing the number of social followers and subscribers you have within your desired niche industries.

One way to do this is by consistently providing followers with added value in the form of email newsletters and social status updates that pertain to their industries. You may also be able to build your networks quickly using tactics that require online registration, such as contests and whitepapers.

Pre-seed the marketplace

Universities, colleges, vocational and trade schools, unions and even high schools are all representative of organizations where you can build your reputation within a staffing niche by pre-seeding the marketplace; i.e., introducing yourself to the people who represent the candidates and employers of the future, as well as the present.

You might also like: Benefits of Factoring Staffing

Staffing Industry Analysts say that while 2020 staffing is down from 2019 (due mainly to temporary job losses because of COVID-19) the forecast for 2021 is bright. SIA projects 11% growth in temporary staffing revenue and 19% expansion in place & search in 2021. With increased demand for temporary workers comes an influx of new agencies among temporary employment and staffing services.

In a more competitive landscape, temporary employment service firms and staffing agencies must develop strategies that help them grow, and they must be on top of their game. One way to become more profitable is by finding a staffing agency niche that allows them to successfully attract the best candidates for placement so they can build a strong reputation among employers.

7 Low-Cost Staffing Marketing Ideas Can Put Your Agency on Top

November 7/0 Comments/in Business Strategy, Marketing, Staffing and Temp Agencies /by Elizabeth

As the job market rebounds, competition will heat up among staffing and temporary employment agencies, too. Here are seven low-cost staffing marketing ideas that can help you put your staffing agency ahead of the competition.

Land More Leads with 7 Low-Cost Promotion Ideas for Staffing Agencies

It should not come as a big surprise that the staffing industry is a fiercely competitive marketplace at present, given the rebound in the job market of the past several years. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted that the staffing industry will grow faster, and add more jobs than nearly any other industry over the next decade. With competition high for landing easily place-able candidates as well as employer job listings, here are seven staffing marketing ideas that can help develop competitive advantages for your staffing agency, temporary services firm or professional recruiting services.

7 Low-Cost Staffing Marketing Ideas for Employment Agencies

Maximize Free Marketing Channels

Web content optimized to attract your ideal candidates or employers, social media, and good old-fashioned in-person networking with local business groups, Chambers of Commerce and other civic organizations can go a long way to building relationships with employers that put position openings on your books. Likewise, they can connect you with executives and other individuals whose skills are in high demand, so that when they are ready to make a move, they already know who to call.

Fill the Pipeline – Get As Many Subscribers As Possible

Every phone, web or email inquiry is an opportunity to add a new contact to your database. Every business card collected at a networking event represents a potential new subscriber. You can also use contests or gated web content such as white papers, videos and reports to bolster the size of your contact database over time.

Cultivate Relationships with Influencers

Formal influencers like HR staff and executives aren’t the only way that you can source listings. Thanks to social media, it’s never been so easy to find people who are willing to share social posts they feel might interest their own networks. Make sure your social posts reference cities or geographical areas and encourage people to share them with their own networks.

Reinforce social shares with a thank you, retweet, tag or mention (which will also increase their reach). If influencers produce real business with you, thank them with a gift card or some other small gesture — reward behavior you want more of!

Survey Client Satisfaction

It’s vital that you take the temperature from time to time when it comes to client satisfaction. Even long-term client relationships can go south quickly with a bad placement or failure to deliver fast enough. Clients may have new leaders who want to work with other agencies. Even if you do everything right, there could be client discontent brewing for many different reasons.

Be Present in the Community

If you are waiting for business to come to you, chances are you are being out-hustled by recruiters who are willing to roll up their sleeves and participate in community events, networking groups, churches, schools, charitable endeavors, Chambers of Commerce, and other activities in order to give back and build a strong network in the process.

Beat Your Competitors When it Comes to Following Through and Following Up

Placing your star candidate or putting the right person on the job for an employer isn’t enough; it’s simply meeting expectations. Go the extra mile in your process by doing more (whether that means prepping candidates better, completing the employer’s side of the paperwork, etc.) than competitors are doing. Don’t be afraid to come right out and ask your clients what else you can do to add value to the process. And once the placement is made, follow up as though your job depends on it, because the next job listing just might!

Thank you notes, “how did we do?” type of inquiries, solicitation of feedback by email initially and a few weeks later can all be invaluable relationship builders that let the client know you truly care about whether you provided a solution that brought them the success they wanted.

Stay in Touch Longer (Well, Forever)

Candidate placement and closing of the job ticket isn’t the end of the staffing marketing process; hopefully, it’s just the beginning of a long-term relationship with both the candidate and the employer. Stay in touch by moving contacts to a staffing marketing list that will put helpful tips, cartoons, entertaining stories, items of interest or added value into their inbox every few weeks over time.

The candidate you placed today may be looking for a new opportunity a few years down the road. The employer who hired them may not have other openings now, but 6, 9, 12, or 36 months later, they might be growing so fast that they can’t keep pace. Transitioning from a sales-oriented to a relationship-building staffing marketing plan is essential for clients or candidates “after the sale.”

Whether you are looking to attract job candidates or want to land more employers onto your staffing agency list of clients, these staffing marketing ideas can help. Add these staffing marketing ideas to your agency’s strategy to grow your temporary services firm, staffing agency or recruiting services.

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4 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Attract Top Talent Online – Infographic

November 19/0 Comments/in Hiring and Recruiting, Staffing and Temp Agencies /by Elizabeth

It’s not what you know or who you know, any longer, that gives job candidates the best chance of landing a dream job. Since job seekers say the internet is their most important resource, staffing agencies that want to attract top talent need to master the digital channels candidates are using today.

Internet, Not “Who You Know,” Best Resources for Job Seekers

Several years ago a Jobvite.com infographic featured by The Undercover Recruiter claimed that employee referrals dominated when it came to the channels job seekers found most effective in landing a new job. While career websites made the list of top five, twice as many attributed hires to referrals than career sites, and nearly three times as many said that having someone on the inside was more effective than job boards.

Staffing Agencies – Master Digital Hiring Strategies to Attract Top Talent Online

More recent data published by The Boston Consulting Group and Recruit Works Institute on staffingindustry.com says those numbers have flip-flopped, as more candidates not only use the internet to find new jobs, but rank it as the most effective job search channel as well. When asked which channels they used to find a new job, candidates listed the following:

55% – Internet job sites
36% – Paper media
33% – Referrals from people they know
24% – Direct inquiry
20% – Public services
17% – Permanent placement employment agencies
17% – Temporary placement employment agencies
9% – Alumni networks
7% – Job training programs

It’s no secret that people who are serious about finding a new job or just casually looking around to see what type of opportunities are available use the internet to discover position listings. While having someone on the inside who is willing to recommend you to a hiring manager is certainly a plus, data shows that a majority of candidates are uncovering and landing new jobs on their own. In the U.S., candidates said that the most effective channels in helping them obtain a new job as:

35% – Internet job sites
20% – Direct inquiry
19% – Referrals from people they know
9% – Paper media
4% – Temporary placement employment agencies
3% – Permanent placement employment agencies
3% – Public services
1% – Job training programs
4% – Alumni networks

When it comes to getting a job, it turns out that it’s not who you know, it’s what a talented candidate knows how to find online that matters most. Staffing agencies can improve their ability to land the talented candidates they need to compete and grow by reaching the passive talent pool as well as those actively seeking new opportunities and by mastering use of the same digital channels job seekers are using to uncover job openings online.

Looking for Top Talent in All the Wrong Places?

While fewer than 20 percent of those in the job market (either currently employed or looking for a job) are engaged in a proactive job search, the real size of the talent pool is much, much larger. Jobvite’s 2018 Job Seeker Nation Study indicated that as many as 82 percent of employed workers were open to new job opportunities.

Presumably, the internet will continue to be main a go-to resource for candidates, and especially for candidates who are just exploring the job market in a more passive way, and who might not want colleagues to know that they are considering other opportunities. Not only will they use the internet to uncover open positions, they will also use the internet to research companies where they want to work or who have listed job openings that interest them.

Recruiters, staffing agencies and temporary placement firms that get top talent on-board – whether they are actively looking for a new job or just testing the waters – have an advantage when it comes to persuading hiring managers to take a look at their candidates instead of conducting their own recruiting and hiring process. Here are four digital channels your staffing agency should master in order to engage active and passive candidates, earlier in the job search process.

4 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Attract Top Talent Online

1. Optimize Your Agency’s Position Listings for Online Search

Staffing agencies should optimize their own position listings just as if they were web pages designed to get found in local search. Instead of thinking about the listing in terms of the position’s responsibilities or candidate skills and abilities desired, content should be written to make it more likely for the listing to be discovered by potential candidates in an online search.

Include keywords and phrases that job candidates would be likely to type into a search browser
Use keywords in meta titles and descriptions
Use headlines with keywords to help get found in search and draw the site visitor in when they land on the listing

2. Write Like Marketers, not Hiring Managers

Be interesting! Candidates might read hundreds of position descriptions in the course of a job search. Write your online content so that it is engaging and memorable – or even entertaining. Send the message that the company you are representing is a great place to work and build a career. Talk about the organizational values that would make candidates a good fit for the employer. Create intrigue and interest.

3. Think Long Term Instead of One-and-Done

Build for the long term and get the opt-in. Make sure there’s a way for site visitors to subscribe to updates about a position, even if they are not ready to submit an application. Keep it short and simple so that you can build your contact database and engage with local talent via email so that when they are ready, they turn to your staffing agency for help.

4. Use Social Media to Expand Reach

Social networks like LinkedIn are not just great channels where staffing agencies can publicize openings, they can also be used to network with both active and passive candidates. Building reach on social networks comes down to increasing numbers of social followers for recruiting and staffing agencies as well as individual recruiting professionals themselves. In addition to posting engaging content, staffing and temp employers can also sponsor posts and social media ads to increase their ability to attract talented workers.

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