June 2023 - PCRecruiter

It’s easy to see the appeal of a 360-degree recruitment cycle and the potential to earn big fees. But with recruiters focused on full-fee placements, firms can often miss out on the untapped value of internal splits. Sure, internal splits won’t suit every recruitment setup, but done right they can bring exceptional results. Just ask the Bowerman Group.

Rob Bowerman, President — The Bowerman Group

For the fourth year in a row, the Bowerman Group has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms. They’ve been using PCRecruiter for five years.

As a boutique search firm specializing in premium and luxury consumer brands, they’re experts in all things retail, ecommerce, and marketing. Not only that, they’ve got the workflow of internal split-desk recruitment down to a fine art.

Michelle Catucci, Executive Recruiter — The Bowerman Group

We recently discussed the topic of internal splits and their value to the recruitment business with President, Rob Bowerman, and Executive Recruiter, Michelle Catucci, to discover more about how they power their process with internal splits.

What is a split placement?

A split placement occurs when a job order is handled by two separate parties — typically the lead recruiter and the researcher. Each party takes charge of a different aspect of the placement.

The lead recruiter handles the client’s job order while the researcher supplies the candidates. When the placement is made, each person involved takes their cut of the fee. This can happen within a firm or between firms.

How do internal splits work?

While there’s definitely a place for inter-agency splits, the way Bowerman Group does it (and does so highly effectively) is through internal splits. Here’s how internal splits work:

When a search comes in to a recruiter, both the lead recruiter and the researcher are (ideally) part of the kick-off meeting. This is particularly important for the researcher, who needs to gather as much information as possible about the role before seeking potential candidates.

Bowerman Group begin their search inside PCRecruiter, having built up a private database of quality candidates over the years, but additional, high-caliber candidates are also sought out externally and added to the list. PCRecruiter’s PCR Capture is a great advantage here because it allows the researcher to quickly generate records for potential candidates from online sources such as LinkedIn.

All notes are kept inside the system, so previous correspondence or engagement with a particular candidate is instantly available. This is a time-saving advantage, as recently placed candidates or those who aren’t the right fit are easily dismissed, allowing engagement with the right ones more quickly.

“Copious notes go into PCRecruiter. So when I’m making a new search, if one of my colleagues has touched this area in the last year – it keeps me from wasting time with candidates who aren’t the right fit.”
– Michelle Catucci, Executive Recruiter, Bowerman Group

Once a successful match is made, the candidate is turned over to the lead recruiter with all the information they need to make their presentations. Throughout the process, candidates are tracked by the software, from first contact through to offers accepted.

When a placement is completed, the split is entered into PCRecruiter, identifying the lead recruiter and the researcher. At the Bowerman Group, it’s acknowledged that this is not always clear-cut, especially when someone else — often a research assistant or another recruiter — has made a contribution to the placement. So whenever necessary, they also credit a third person in the split when sharing with the accounting team. Users of the PCR Analytics can also log and report on these split calculations across time, reporting on team and team member contributions to KPIs.

Internal splits add all-round value

For the Bowerman Group and their clients, offering a single point of contact is essential. Within that client relationship, the firm will perform a variety of searches. They’ll cover a variety of open roles, from a training manager to an executive.

“Our number one tip for making splits a success? Have a really good process. That’s the key. Sometimes it feels like it’s patented because we now have it down to a science!”
– Rob Bowerman, President, Bowerman Group

Internally, responsibility for the research and screening will go to the person with the most relevant expertise, while the single point of contact is someone who knows the client and has built a relationship with them, This is maintained at all times. It’s hugely valuable because it means clients don’t feel as though they’re being ping-ponged from one person to another.

At the same time, this internal split means the lead recruiter can give the client access to the best possible expertise for a particular type of role. This helps to strengthen and increase the value of their relationship.

The Bowerman Group attributes much of their success to their process — something they’re worked hard to refine over the years. That includes a second screening with the lead recruiter, so they can confidently explain why someone is being presented as a good fit.

Making internal splits work for you

“I really enjoy digging into PCRecruiter and reformatting how we present candidates using a key points page, and resume page. The client can always see everything — there’s a link, so they can forward that link to anyone in the company who wants to look at it.”
– Michelle Catucci, Executive Recruiter, Bowerman Group

Internal splits allow recruiters to play to their strengths. It’s a collaborative model that also helps with economies of scale. At Bowerman Group, this model has evolved organically over time, with specialisms emerging based on background experience and personal preference. Those recruiters who thrive in frontend roles are given room to thrive, and those who enjoy the sourcing side are able to focus on their research efforts.

There are more formalized ways of working out there — such as the pod system — but ultimately it’s about finding a process that works for you and your clients. A simple-to-use ATS / Candidate Relationship Management system can help support your process so you can find the information you need when you need it the most.

PCRecruiter offers a visual and easy-to-follow pipeline that indicates every step of your process. Book a demo

Whether your recruiters are in the office or at home, the safety of candidate and company data is a priority. A breach can be costly for your recruitment efforts, your finances, and your reputation. As with any remote role, recruitment comes with its own risks. But with the correct knowledge, clear policies, and the right recruitment software, you and your remote recruitment team can keep data safe.

Risks To Data In Remote Recruiting

More and more people are getting used to remote interactions as part of the recruitment process and efforts to attract the best talent with a view to hiring them. The risks to data privacy in recruitment are similar to many other professions.

Remote lawyers, accountants — even mobile engineers — need systems for keeping data safe. Hardware risks arise when users bring their own device as opposed to a company-issued one. This isn’t a major issue for large enterprises that supply employees with equipment, but it may be a concern for third-party recruiters and smaller recruiting firms.

A home workstation (photo by Elle Hughes) — Working from home can be as secure as working from the office with the proper protocols in place.

Another obvious risk to data is when remote third-party recruiters work for multiple clients and potentially use data from one client to benefit another. For employers, there’s the inherent risk that an unscrupulous remote third-party recruiter, working on their behalf, might attempt to entice talent away to another client. This ethical (and possibly legal) problem is part of a more general challenge around the performance management of remote workers. This is especially relevant in recruitment niches where the key candidates and hiring authorities are well-known to major players.

Legal Implications

Remote recruiting often, but not always, aligns with recruiting across multiple jurisdictions with different employment and contracting laws. This too can create issues around compliance with different data privacy regulations – such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union (EU).

In the US, social security and financial account information are the only protected pieces of personal data. This is different in other parts of the world. At the same time, legal cases such as the commercial use of a subject’s data are constantly challenging what can and can’t be done with data. In short, recruiters need to be better informed about the candidates and companies they’re working with, and what the legal relationships are.

The good news is that Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and CRM like CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE have always been suitable for remote work. That’s because users can be in different locations when they sign in, but the database is centrally and securely located in one place.

9 Recruitment Data Security Considerations

If your team is going to be handling recruitment data remotely, here are nine key points you’ll want to bear in mind:

Technology: Getting your technology stack in order has to be the number one priority for all recruiters — not just those working remotely. This includes everything from communication platforms right through to trust and verification technology for managing performance metrics.
Legality: Alongside your tech stack, recruitment firms and in-house HR teams need to ensure clarity over legal requirements at local, national, and international levels. Ownership of the data is also important to fully understand — who owns it, who’s responsible for it, and which rules apply.
Form management: Another key consideration arises when your recruitment processes involves the distribution, management, and processing of forms. You’ll need to be certain that the data is securely transmitted, securely held, and be aware of who’s responsible for it.
Contractual obligations: Recruitment firms can also ensure that compensation for contractors or employees is dependent on their data compliance and classification. By making it a job requirement for data to be entered cleanly into the system, the sources and the audit trail are made transparent and complete.
Virtual Private Network (VPN): A core piece in remote security is the ability to lock down recruitment software within your company’s VPN and to and not store data like social security numbers unencrypted on a local device.
IP Restrictions: By imposing restrictions that only allow a specific range of IP addresses to access data, business owners can limit access. Using IP restrictions means that even a compromised password is cannot allow unauthorized users into the system.
Remote desktop: Running your work desktop remotely via another connected device is another option for controlling access to data and monitoring its use. This is less common today thanks to browser-based software, but tools like Chrome Remote Desktop have also made it more convenient.
Control measures: Establishing what the appropriate permissions are for each user of your recruitment software — and each kind of remote worker — ensures recruiters only see what they need to see, and can only access data that’s relevant to their role.
Data disposal: Different regulations exist determining record retention and destruction. Recruitment firms, as well as in-house teams, need to know how to store and destroy data accordingly. One example is the I9 form in the US, which must be kept for 3 years.

Considerations such as these need to be addressed at the contact stage between the customer and the vendor. That’s especially important when the data held is aggregated over an extended time period. A further consideration is the difference between data held online and data physically kept in disconnected cold storage.

The Security Features Recruiters Need

PCRecruiter’s built-in security functionality makes it the safe choice for remote recruiting. Here’s a list of some of the most popular security features:

IP whitelisting, which means only trusted IP addresses can access your recruitment data.
Permissions and preferences that enable you to impose limitations on a recruiter’s views and access to particular functions.
IP-tagged action logs so you can monitor where and when users are accessing the system, as well as what major actions are being taken.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) helps provide assurance that the loss of a password doesn’t automatically compromise your recruiter’s account.
Multi-database functionality allows you to keep datasets separate and secure from cross-contamination.
Field-level encryption means you can protect sensitive data in particular fields.
The ability to host PCRecruiter locally allows it to run on a private ‘air-gapped’ network where required.

When it comes to keeping data safe, remote recruiting is not substantially different from other forms of remote sales. In fact, the nature of remote recruiting encourages companies to more carefully consider the security of their recruitment practices.

These practices include the processes used to build and validate trust in remote workers. Of course, it also helps to choose a CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE vendor with highly-configurable security and remote features.

Managing remote recruiters? PCRecruiter can help keep data safe. Speak to our sales team. Contact us.

Today’s PCRecruiter software update includes a variety of issue corrections and performance enhancements, including subtle changes that are more important than they might seem at first glance.

A small change – an iceberg’s tip.

Eagle-eyed PCR users may notice the switch from rounded to more squared corners on buttons throughout the system in this update. While this may on it’s face appear to be a minor change, it’s actually one small piece of preparation for very big changes we’re working on for the future.

This alteration was a necessary part of code adjustments we’re doing on the system that help bring our PCR 9 code base in line with the newer frameworks we’re developing with for the eventual release of PCR 10. What looks like a simple button style change in this new release is actually a tiny piece of the groundwork we’re laying for some incredible new UX/UI improvements down the line!

Analytics Metrics Improvements

PCR Analytics users will note three new improvements when viewing the Metrics tables:

In earlier versions, Grand Totals appeared at the bottom of each column – for example, a total of ‘Email’ activities for all users. In our newest release, a Total for each row appears at the right side as well so that the total count of activities for each user is also present.
Column headings in the metrics can now be clicked on to sort the table by that selected column.
When using the ‘export’ feature, the data table output will be sorted in the same order as shown on the screen so that no re-sorting is required after opening the exported sheet.

Splits in the New Pipeline

Recruiters who have SplitDesk features enabled and configured can now enter and calculate splits in our newer Pipeline screens in the same fashion as the legacy Pipeline tools.

For most recruiters (and certainly HR), an Applicant Tracking System sits front and center in their recruitment tech stack. The ATS is much more than a repository of resumes and jobs. It’s a vital tool for streamlining day-to-day operations and optimizing the management of jobs, applicants, and employers.

Getting the best out of your ATS helps your recruiters make better hiring decisions and improve hiring efficiency. The trick is knowing how. Here are 5 tips for getting the best from your ATS.

1. Configure your ATS to fit your unique process

Every recruitment firm and HR team has its own unique workflow. There might be shared best practices, but no two recruiters do things in exactly the same way. For that reason, a good ATS should be customizable to your specific needs.

While ease of use is important, one common problem with out-of-the-box solutions is that they can be too streamlined and not flexible enough to match how you want to use them. At the same time, a solution that’s overly customizable can require time and effort to set up, which you may simply not have or which would be better spent making placements.

For most recruiters, the sweet spot is an ATS that can be easily customized and configured around their existing recruitment workflows. They also need a level of out-of-the-box functionality to save time and improve efficiency in certain areas like job postings and candidate communication.

2. Track recruitment metrics from day one

Recruitment is a data-rich industry. Whether you’re a new recruiter or you’ve been in the business a long time, data can give you a competitive advantage. In fact, there’s almost no end to the ways you can use it to enhance and refine what you do. It can show you where your successes are and give you a platform to build on.

With built-in analytics and reporting tools, your ATS can give you insights into any activity or any step in your hiring pipeline. These numbers can help you streamline your processes and even enable you to remove pieces that aren’t working. For instance, you might want to track the number of communications with different clients or candidates to figure out whether you’re contacting them too much or not enough. You could also see which communication channels are getting the most responses.

The PCR Analytics reporting system gives recruitment team leaders a graphic representation of KPIs.

Features like PCR Analytics help you go deeper into the details, surfacing insights from particular recruitment campaigns and showing you what’s successful so you can replicate it in the future. Not only can an ATS provide valuable data on your recruitment metrics, such as time-to-hire and cost-per-hire, but it can also be used to track the performance of certain teams or individuals to see where their strengths are.

The metrics you decide to track really depend on your business. However, it’s always worth keeping an eye on these numbers:

The number of placements you’re making for specific clients
How many candidates you’re reviewing for specific positions
How many interviews you’re doing, who’s doing them, and the success rate

3. Define a workflow and make it uniform

Following a standardized sequence also helps create consistency. After all, if everyone’s doing something slightly different, you won’t know what’s working properly and what needs to be adjusted. Ultimately, a team that makes more effective use of your ATS will improve your overall recruitment efforts.

It’s not uncommon to have multiple roles within one sourcing and placement workflow, so sequencing is also useful when different team members are working on different parts of the process. It’s important that your tools keep everyone involved in the process on the same page.

With PCRecruiter’s Sequencing Tool, you can make it easy for recruiters to get going with both the software and your recruitment processes at the same time. This is great for onboarding new recruiters, as they can simply open up their Tasks for the day and follow the instructions.

4. Keep your recruitment data updated

Currently in beta, the latest PCR Capture will help keep your database clear of duplicates.

With so many name records, company records, and position records flying about, it doesn’t take long for your recruitment data to become cluttered and outdated. Dirty data can slow down the hiring process because recruiters aren’t able to find what they need when they need it.

PCRecruiter has a number of tools for keeping your records updated – including reports which let you search for duplicate records and merge data fields quickly and easily. In fact, the upcoming version of PCR Capture slated for June 2023 identifies possible duplicates when candidate data is captured from an online source and allows users to select the most up-to-date data before merging them into a single record.

When it comes to recruitment data, the best practice is to schedule regular clean-ups of your data every few months or so, as incremental and regular cleanups are far easier than large and infrequent ones.

5. Train your recruiting team to use your ATS

With all of the functionality at their fingertips, training your recruitment team on the essentials is an important first step. Recruiters will be working in your ATS on a daily basis — in some cases never stepping outside of it — so it’s important to ensure that your team is trained on how to use it effectively. This includes how best to search for candidates, screen resumes, and schedule interviews.

No matter what ATS you use, take advantage of the support, documentation, and user training options available to you. Ask for best practices and tips on making your job easier. The software’s support team can often suggest methods that may not be immediately obvious, or help devise ways of achieving your goals more quickly.

A final word of ATS advice

It sounds obvious, but when you’re paying for an ATS, the best thing you can do is use it!

With so many features and options for enhancing the recruitment process, there will always be opportunities to optimize what you do and how you do it in order to improve the efficiency of your recruiting efforts.

Chances are if a part of your recruiting process is repetitive, there’s a way to automate it. The great thing about PCRecruiter is that our training and support team is always on hand to help simplify your day-to-day workflow with the simple click of a button.

See how to get the best from your ATS. Book a demo

Month: June 2023