In an effort to support our clients and recruiters in general, Placement Partner has launched this new initiative. Born from the motor racing “safety car” analogy which Martin previously shared with us all, the aim is to guide recruitment businesses to not only survive the pandemic, but to come out stronger than ever before.
Shirley Anderson recently interviewed Placement Partner’s Managing Director, Martin Venkov to find out more. With more than 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry, working closely with a wide range of recruitment professionals, Martin has a wealth of knowledge and insight to share with us. Placement Partner has been built specifically for the South African business environment, which is notoriously rocky terrain. Despite the challenges, we have weathered the storms well within our team and with our clients too and have learnt some valuable lessons which we’d like to share.
The initiative presents 4 phases – Fuel Up, Warm Up, Be Ready and Keep Going. The purpose of these steps is to position ourselves for the best chance of survival and future success. There will be a spike in demand once the National Lockdown has come to an end and those who are well-prepared will really be able to capitalize on the opportunities which arise.
How can we be prepared?
In the interview below, Martin discusses the first phase – refueling. He identifies the 3 main areas where recruiters and businesses on the whole are particularly depleted and in need of refueling:
- Business confidence
- Communication and human contact
- Information sharing within teams
How can we refuel?
Martin presents a number of interesting and well-grounded points for us to focus on to remedy and replenish with regards to the challenges listed above:
- Firstly, ensure that you are in close, constant contact with your team. Keep the conversation around difficulties presented by the new way of working open and do everything you can to keep them in a positive state of mind.
- Stay in close contact with your clients and candidates too. Discuss their current situation as well as their future plans so that you are able to prepare accordingly. Use the opportunity to build relationships with those who were previously very difficult to reach.
- Use the time to perform quality assurance on your existing database and take stock of your talent during this quiet time.
- Actively advertise your talent. Use your Placement Partner Top Talent List to update your clients about your talent pool by sending out a newsletter, an SMS campaign and your Hot Candidates list on your company website. The goal here is to stay top of mind and to help your clients prepare for the future. You may even be approached by candidates looking to be featured on this exclusive list.
- Pre-screen your candidates using your Video Interview Tool or other video calling tools such as Skype or Zoom. Conducting interviews during this time will save you time and streamline the hiring process when things open back up, giving you the competitive edge.
What are the benefits?
It’s a widely accepted fact: Preparation is an essential ingredient for success in the future.
“Prepare yourself for Future Success”
There are many benefits to fueling up as Martin suggests. The most important of all is remaining close to your clients and candidates so that you are their number one choice when the time comes. This slow-down gives us the opportunity to build stronger, closer relationships with clients and if we remain diligent in these efforts, we may also reach and attract new clients in the process.
Remain positive and productive during this time and bear in mind the goal is to be able to maximise on opportunities when demand is back up.
Watch the full interview here to catch more of Martin’s Top Tips for the week!
