Recruitment agencies can up their game with modern communications

James Passingham

James Passingham looks at recent advances in communications technology.

With the UK employment market on the way back up, many recruitment agencies will be looking at how modern communications technology can help them compete even more effectively – attracting employers and good candidates while also enhancing the productivity of their consultants.

Because technology has advanced so much during recent recessionary times, modern communications systems are light years away from what their historical counterparts could offer back in 2008.  With the right telephony system in place, recruitment agencies can now get answers to burning questions such as:

– Just how productive are my recruitment consultants? 

– Could they operate even faster and more efficiently, given the right telephony tools?

– Can I get visibility of our telephony activity with accurate and timely call logging and reporting – on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?

– Can we save money on our telephony but at the same time increase our overall productivity through new features?

Cloud computing has had a major impact on the delivery of modern IT infrastructure services and this has been facilitated by the availability of affordable access circuits enabling companies to connect at high speed to the Internet. Cloud vendors provide their “software as a service”, removing many of the issues associated with traditional infrastructures. This means that businesses can manage their technical operations without needing specialist skills in-house. 

The same is true of telephony because the cloud removes many of the traditional logistical requirements and challenges associated with building and managing a telecoms infrastructure.

The major differences between modern telephony and what recruitment agencies might have invested in previously are cost, flexibility and a host of new features that provide greater transparency and control.

Employment heading up, but costs can come down

A hosted telephony system requires no capital outlay and that means minimal up front expenditure as there is no need to invest in an expensive onsite telephony system.

And because hosted systems can scale up or down, on demand, recruitment agencies no longer need to build in capacity overhead for growth or try to predict what their business needs will be in the future to protect their investment. If fewer extensions are needed, costs automatically come down. If an agency is growing and requires more extensions to accommodate more consultants, the system can be scaled up as required.

Easy, flexible and reliable

Unlike traditional systems, hosted telephony is very easy to set up. Extensions and fully featured systems can be deployed in just a few minutes – not days or weeks – reducing lead times and detailed planning requirements. Furthermore, a hosted deployment is far less likely to suffer implementation issues as the system is already built and ready.

The flexibility offered by hosted telephony also means that businesses can adapt to changing circumstances. For example, if something happens to the office, like a flood or power failure that would otherwise incapacitate a traditional system, consultants can continue to operate because hosted telephony is not dependent on a physical PBX and location.

Integrate, log, report and save time

With modern telephony systems, feature richness often comes as standard and a good hosted system will offer all the features of ‘on premise’ systems, and access to these features will be at a far lower cost. Such features provide recruitment agencies with a plethora of communications tools that they can use to good effect.

– Call logging for transparency and data control – Timely and accurate call logging and reporting can provide an agency with complete visibility on each of its consultant’s telephony activity – on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This is possible through an easy to use management portal that may be accessed from any location.

– Cross platform integration to increase consultants’ productivity – By easily integrating telephony with other desktop applications and systems, such as CRM, an agency can have a better view of its candidates and prospects rather than using a static database. Furthermore, consultants spend far less time entering phone numbers – they can click to dial numbers straight from their desktop to reach candidates faster.

– Call recording to save time – Hosted call recording also relieves the need for note taking and inputting information because calls may be securely recorded and instantly retrievable from corresponding support tickets.

These are just a handful of the features that can enable a recruitment agency to become even more productive and competitive in a rosier looking employment market.

Time to employ modern telephony?

According to the latest statistics issued by the ONS (Office for National Statistics), the number of people out of work fell by 161,000 to 2.16 million, bringing unemployment down to 6.6%. In contrast, the number of people in work rose by a record 345,000, to 30.5 million, most of which are in full-time employment. The total number of people out of work is now at its lowest level for more than five years.

These welcome trends are set to continue as September and October are expected to be the next busy period for UK recruitment agencies. The time could be right to review exactly what new communications technologies are available to help them to gain share, empower their consultants and improve the performance of their business.

James Passingham is technical director of communication systems integrator Foehn.