Are you struggling to convert your recruitment efforts into successful placements? In this eye-opening episode of the Recruitment CEO’s Guide podcast, industry veterans Katy and Kate share their hard-won wisdom on maximising team performance and boosting placement rates. With over four decades of combined experience, they reveal the often-overlooked strategies that can transform your recruitment process and skyrocket your success rate.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn why most recruiters only convert 10-20% of opportunities and how to dramatically improve those numbers
- Discover the critical questions you should ask candidates at every stage to prevent last-minute dropouts
- Understand the power of knowing your candidates’ true motivators, beyond just their CV and salary expectations
- Explore effective techniques to neutralise counter-offers before they derail your placements
- Uncover the simple yet powerful strategies that helped our guest build a 7-figure recruitment business in just four years
Resource Mentioned:
Tune in to this episode and arm yourself with the knowledge to take your recruitment business to the next level. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, you’ll find actionable tips to immediately boost your conversion rates and build lasting relationships with both candidates and clients. Don’t let another placement slip through your fingers – listen now and start transforming your recruitment approach today.
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► Want Help Scaling Your Recruitment Business to 7-Figures (and beyond)?
Great! I have plenty of FREE RESOURCES that you can check out to see if this is something that can work in your business.
Watch our free training and get a proven system that helps your team make 5, 10 or 20 extra placements a month reliably and predictably in next 30 days: Attract, Convert and Deliver. Watch now https://learn.centredexcellence.co.uk/vsl-youtube61658857
Join our Recruitment Business Accelerator Community on Facebook. Where smart Recruitment and Executive Search Business Owners come to level up their skills and knowledge to build 7+ figure recruitment businesses: https://www.facebook.com/groups/526435818123500
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Let’s have a chat to see IF or HOW this can work for your recruitment or executive search business, apply here and give me some details about your business: https://profitaccelerator.centredexcellence.co.uk/apply
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Kate Bagnall’s Background
Starting Her Own Business
Kate Bagnall’s journey in the recruitment industry spans over two decades, with a significant milestone being the establishment of her own recruitment business. After gaining valuable experience and becoming a top biller in a large recruitment firm, Kate took the bold step of launching her own venture approximately 15 years ago. This decision marked a pivotal moment in her career, allowing her to apply the skills and knowledge she had accumulated over the years in a more autonomous and entrepreneurial setting.
Running her own recruitment business for 14 years provided Kate with invaluable insights into the challenges and opportunities within the industry. This experience likely deepened her understanding of the intricacies of managing client relationships, developing effective recruitment strategies, and navigating the complexities of the job market from a business owner’s perspective. The hands-on experience of building and sustaining her own successful recruitment operation undoubtedly contributed to Kate’s comprehensive understanding of the industry, which she now shares with others in her current role.
Joining the Centred Excellence Team
Approximately four years ago, Kate Bagnall made the decision to join the Centred Excellence team as a strategy coach. This move represents a transition from running her own recruitment business to leveraging her extensive experience to help other recruitment professionals and business owners achieve their goals. In her role at Centred Excellence, Kate focuses on assisting clients in growing their businesses, drawing upon her wealth of knowledge gained from both her time as an employee in a large recruitment firm and her experience as a business owner.
Kate’s position as a strategy coach allows her to share her insights and practical expertise with a wider audience of recruitment professionals. Her approach likely combines the strategic thinking required to run a successful recruitment business with the tactical know-how gained from years of hands-on experience in the field. By joining Centred Excellence, Kate has positioned herself as not just a practitioner but also a mentor and guide for others in the industry, helping them navigate the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities within the ever-evolving recruitment landscape.
Building Rapport and Effective Communication
Building Relationships With Candidates
Kate Bagnall emphasises the importance of building strong relationships with candidates throughout the recruitment process. She shares a personal anecdote from her early days in recruitment, where she worked with entry-level candidates earning less than £12,000 per year. Kate’s approach was to learn intimate details about their lives, including their dog’s name, their mother’s name, and even the bus routes they would use to commute to potential jobs. This level of personal engagement allowed her to understand her candidates’ motivations and preferences on a deeper level.
By investing time in getting to know candidates personally, recruiters can establish a strong foundation of trust and rapport. This approach not only helps in finding the right job fit but also increases the likelihood of candidate loyalty and successful placements. Kate suggests that this personal touch can make a significant difference in a competitive market where candidates might not even remember which agency placed them in a role.
Demonstrating Expertise Through Meaningful Questions
Kate highlights the critical role of asking meaningful questions in showcasing a recruiter’s expertise and building credibility with both candidates and clients. She argues that by asking insightful, probing questions, recruiters demonstrate their genuine interest and understanding of the candidate’s situation. This approach goes beyond simply gathering information about a candidate’s experience or qualifications; it involves delving into their motivations, career aspirations, and personal circumstances that might influence their job decisions.
Meaningful questioning also helps recruiters to anticipate potential issues that might arise during the recruitment process. By being ‘one step ahead’, as Kate puts it, recruiters can address concerns proactively and guide candidates through the process more effectively. This level of engagement not only impresses candidates but also positions the recruiter as a trusted advisor rather than just a facilitator of job applications.
Extracting Important Information From Candidates
One of the key skills Kate emphasises is the ability to extract crucial information from candidates that might not be immediately obvious or volunteered. She stresses the importance of looking beyond the surface-level details provided in CVs or initial conversations. This involves asking targeted questions about a candidate’s true motivations, their potential reactions to counter-offers, and any other opportunities they might be considering.
Kate suggests that recruiters should assume things will change during the recruitment process and consistently check in with candidates about any new developments. Katy recommends asking questions like “What’s changed since we last spoke?” at every interaction. This approach helps recruiters stay informed about any shifts in the candidate’s situation or mindset, allowing them to adapt their strategy accordingly and avoid last-minute surprises that could derail a placement.
Maintaining Control in the Recruitment Process
Kate emphasises the importance of maintaining control throughout the recruitment process to ensure successful outcomes. She likens this to a game of chess, where recruiters need to think several moves ahead and anticipate potential challenges. This involves not only asking the right questions but also guiding candidates through each stage of the process with confidence and expertise.
To maintain control, Kate recommends creating a structured process with specific questions and checkpoints at each stage. This might include role-playing potential scenarios, such as how a candidate would respond to a counter-offer from their current employer. By addressing these situations proactively, recruiters can better prepare candidates and reduce the likelihood of unexpected issues arising at crucial moments. Kate also stresses the importance of consistently reinforcing key messages and reminding candidates of their initial motivations for seeking a new role, especially when faced with potentially derailing factors like counter-offers.
Identifying and Solving Recruitment Issues
Wasting Time
Kate Bagnall addresses the common frustration of time wastage in the recruitment process. She points out that many recruiters find themselves investing significant time and energy into candidates and roles, only to see their efforts yield no results. This inefficiency can be particularly demoralising in contingent recruitment markets, where the work is often speculative.
To combat this issue, Kate suggests implementing a structured process that focuses on asking the right questions at each stage of the recruitment journey. By gathering more comprehensive information about candidates’ motivations and circumstances, recruiters can better predict potential issues and focus their time on the most promising opportunities. This approach not only reduces time wastage but also increases the likelihood of successful placements, ultimately improving the overall efficiency of the recruitment process.
Candidate Dropouts
One of the most challenging issues faced by recruiters is candidate dropouts, especially in the later stages of the recruitment process. Kate highlights how frustrating it can be when a seemingly perfect candidate suddenly withdraws from consideration, often due to factors that weren’t initially disclosed.
To mitigate this risk, Kate recommends maintaining regular communication with candidates throughout the process and consistently asking probing questions about any changes in their circumstances. Katy suggests using questions like “What’s changed since we last spoke?” to uncover new information that might impact the candidate’s decision. By staying ahead of potential issues and addressing concerns proactively, recruiters can significantly reduce the likelihood of last-minute dropouts and increase their placement success rate.
Clients Backing Out
Kate also addresses the issue of clients backing out of the recruitment process, which can be equally frustrating for recruiters. This situation often arises when there’s a mismatch between the client’s expectations and the candidates presented, or when the client’s needs change during the recruitment process.
To prevent clients from backing out, Kate emphasises the importance of thoroughly understanding the client’s requirements and regularly checking in to ensure these haven’t changed. She suggests asking detailed questions about the role, the team, and the company culture to ensure a comprehensive understanding of what the client is looking for. By maintaining open lines of communication and addressing any concerns promptly, recruiters can reduce the risk of clients withdrawing from the process unexpectedly.
Morale and Motivation Issues
Kate touches on the negative impact that unsuccessful placements and wasted efforts can have on team morale and motivation. When recruiters consistently see their hard work fail to yield results, it can lead to frustration, decreased job satisfaction, and potentially higher staff turnover.
To address these morale issues, Kate suggests fostering a culture of continuous improvement and learning within the recruitment team. By implementing effective processes and providing team members with the tools and training they need to succeed, businesses can boost confidence and job satisfaction. Additionally, celebrating small wins and recognising the effort that goes into the recruitment process, even when it doesn’t result in a placement, can help maintain team motivation.
Wasted Resources
Kate discusses the significant issue of wasted resources in recruitment, both in terms of time and money. She points out that when recruiters invest considerable effort into candidates or roles that don’t result in placements, it represents a substantial opportunity cost for the business.
To minimise resource wastage, Kate advocates for a more strategic approach to recruitment. This involves carefully qualifying both candidates and clients at the outset of the process, regularly reassessing the viability of opportunities, and focusing efforts on the most promising prospects. By implementing more efficient processes and empowering recruiters with effective questioning techniques, businesses can ensure that their resources are being used in the most productive way possible, ultimately leading to better outcomes and improved profitability.
Data-Driven Solutions
Pinpointing Reasons for Lost Opportunities
Kate Bagnall emphasises the importance of using data to identify the specific reasons for lost opportunities in the recruitment process. She suggests that recruitment businesses should carefully analyse their recent failures, perhaps focusing on the last 10 lost opportunities in the past month. By doing so, they can build a comprehensive list of the exact reasons why placements didn’t materialise, both from candidate and client perspectives.
This data-driven approach allows recruitment teams to move beyond guesswork and assumptions, providing concrete insights into where the process is breaking down. Kate argues that by understanding these specific pain points, recruiters can develop targeted strategies to address them. For instance, if the data shows that candidates frequently drop out at the offer stage due to counter-offers from their current employers, the team can implement specific tactics to anticipate and mitigate this risk earlier in the process.
Conducting Virtual Brainstorming Sessions
In light of the increasing prevalence of remote work, Kate suggests leveraging virtual platforms to conduct team brainstorming sessions. These sessions can be crucial for analysing the recruitment process and identifying areas for improvement. She recommends using tools like Zoom and virtual whiteboards or post-it note applications to facilitate collaborative problem-solving.
During these virtual brainstorming sessions, Kate advises involving the entire team to gather diverse perspectives and insights. This collaborative approach not only helps in identifying potential issues but also ensures buy-in from all team members when implementing new strategies. By tapping into the collective experience and knowledge of the team, recruitment businesses can develop more comprehensive and effective solutions to the challenges they face.
Mapping Out the Recruitment Process
Kate stresses the importance of thoroughly mapping out every step of the recruitment process. This involves creating a detailed flowchart or diagram that outlines each stage, from initial candidate contact through to placement and beyond. She suggests that this mapping exercise should be done collaboratively with the team to ensure all perspectives and potential issues are considered.
By visualising the entire process, recruitment teams can more easily identify potential bottlenecks, gaps in communication, or areas where candidates or clients might be likely to drop out. This comprehensive overview allows for a more strategic approach to process improvement, ensuring that no crucial steps are overlooked. Kate recommends using this map as a foundation for developing standardised procedures and checklists that can guide recruiters through each stage of the process consistently and effectively.
Establishing Questions for Each Stage
Once the recruitment process has been mapped out, Kate advises establishing a set of specific, targeted questions for each stage. These questions should be designed to elicit crucial information from both candidates and clients, helping to uncover potential issues early and maintain control of the process throughout.
Kate emphasises that these questions should go beyond surface-level inquiries about experience and qualifications. Instead, they should delve into motivations, potential obstacles, and decision-making factors. For example, at the initial candidate interview stage, questions might include probing into the candidate’s long-term career goals, their reasons for considering a move, and any potential influences on their decision-making process. By standardising these questions across the team, recruitment businesses can ensure consistency in their approach and improve their ability to predict and prevent potential issues.
Identifying and Addressing Touch Points
Kate highlights the importance of identifying all the touch points in the recruitment process where recruiters interact with candidates and clients. These touch points represent critical opportunities to gather information, build relationships, and maintain control of the process. She suggests that each touch point should be carefully analysed to determine what information needs to be gathered and what messages need to be reinforced.
By focusing on these touch points, recruitment teams can ensure that they are maximising every interaction with candidates and clients. Kate recommends developing specific strategies for each touch point, such as preparing targeted questions, anticipating potential concerns, and planning how to reinforce key messages. This structured approach helps to ensure that no opportunities are missed to gather crucial information or to guide the process towards a successful outcome. Additionally, by consistently addressing potential issues at each touch point, recruiters can build stronger relationships with both candidates and clients, increasing the likelihood of successful placements.
