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How to differentiate yourself in a crowded Recruitment market is an interesting topic to cover in the current competitive market many of us inhabit.
There are several ways that you can do this or minimize the challenge of differentiation and start to stand out to candidates because the truth is differentiation is hard in a market that is so competitive.
The outcome of your service is similar; you match candidates with clients. Some of you are doing it better than others.
So, rather than traditionally differentiating yourself, you can focus on becoming distinctive so that you stand out from your competitors.
You do that by demonstrating you are someone who can help them because you know what you are doing; you are an expert.
Here is the thing: You can stand out as someone who can help people by actually helping them through the value and insights you have.
Communicate The True Value You Offer
One of the things that I want to talk about when it comes to differentiation is that many good, experienced recruiters don’t communicate well when creating demand for their service. Fundamentally, they don’t share how good they are.
They don’t communicate all the things that are part of their service.
- They don’t communicate the difference that they make to their clients and their
Candidates’ lives. - They don’t communicate that their average placement stays around with their employer.
for 8, 9, and 10 years. - They don’t communicate their expertise.
We feel very blessed here at Superfast Recruitment because we work with some amazing people. We tend to work with experienced recruiters who have an issue standing out in their market when they come to us.
So, what we have designed and developed as part of Superfast Circle, our marketing programme, is a specific process to help people stand out.
It is called the “edge.” I’m not going into all the details because it’s part of being a member of Superfast Circle, where we work with people to help them hone their edge.
What we do there is help people pull out all the unique things about them that they can share with people to put across the experience and results they will have when they work with them.
Be a Niche Expert
The next area to help with differentiation is specialization and niche because I know that people don’t have a niche in many markets.
For example, if you know that you have all the experience there is to know about the engineering sector, then, logically, a company will come to you rather than to Hays or Adecco where engineering is just part of something they do.
Make sure you highlight your knowledge and understanding by being a niche expert.
The thing is, when you’re a specialist in a market, then you can demonstrate the in-depth knowledge and understanding that your clients and the candidates want.
This leads to something else.
Brand Presence With Messaging That Is Clear and Specific
Something else is having a strong brand, marketing, and messaging that matches your market. Again, I will say that because there was a lot of alliteration there, you might have missed it.
Develop messaging that matches your market.
I’m talking about messaging that helps connect with your clients and candidates so they know you understand them.
Often, you’ll hear us talk about the fact that we work with very experienced recruiters. They’ve often been around for a long time. They tend to be micro and small.
All our messaging and everything we share on social media shout out that that is who we are. When they come to us, people know the type of individual we work with, which makes us quite distinctive.
I wonder if your messaging is bland and not helping you stand out.
As a recruitment marketer, I visit many recruiting websites, and most of the time, when I visit a site, it takes me quite a while to find out, “What sector are these people working in?”
So many people use that classic line that we provide recruitment solutions 🤦♀️
Everyone provides recruitment solutions, but who do you provide them for, and how do you
do it?
Remember, when people first land on your website, they have three unconscious questions. We’ve shared this in other posts as well.
It’s about what you are communicating.
This is who we are, who we help, and how we can help you.
Of course, this is not only for your website. This is to be communicated in your emails. That place that I will be talking about next week is social media and your social media channels because often, remember, many of your prospective candidates and clients will be on social media.
They will be on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and other places. They will see you there, so you need to ensure that your brand communicates your key messages there as well.
What next? The next thing is candidate and client experience.
Candidate and Client Experience
Many of you will hold your hand and say, “Yes, I know I do, Denise. I do need to work on my candidate experience. It’s not the best. I could get better at that.” That’s good.
However, some of you may not be working particularly well with the client experience you deliver either.
Are you offering additional support and help to your clients? Are you providing different assessment tools and different ways of working that will support their talent acquisition process?
There are so many different things that often recruiters aren’t doing in the way they could.
Remember those dark days a few years ago of COVID, when I suddenly thought it hit people that, “Hey, I’ve got all my eggs in one basket, and I’ve just lost several clients. Maybe I need to start looking at how I work with clients and having a better handle on how we work together and how I support them.”
I think that is one of the key things to help you stand out, and You can do this easily by sharing content.
Here’s a hot tip for you.
Sharing content on social media that people read gives them insights and value, leading to people questioning their actions.
And when they question what they’re doing, they wonder who will help them. The person who’s probably given them that insight is the person they will reach out to.
Make sure that you stand out to candidates because I think one of the key things about candidates, and for many of you as well, is that candidates become clients, and clients become candidates.
If you have a unique experience, people enjoy the experience. They talk to one another. Candidates will speak to one another. They will give you testimonials. They will give you shout-outs about how good you are. Do that, and you will stand out as being distinctive.
I was reading a post this morning on LinkedIn. It was a little bit self-promotable, but that was fine. This particular recruiter was talking about how she was in a car park in south England.
She was walking with this big box near another woman with a big box!
They’re both looking at one another and trying to determine how they will get these boxes in the car.
Then, suddenly, this individual on LinkedIn saw the woman in question that she was looking at and suddenly realized that she knew her.
This other woman came up to her and started talking to her. She thanked her because a recruiter met a candidate she had placed some time ago who lacked confidence.
This particular recruiter had helped her get a new job in a place where she’d always wanted to work.
You can imagine how the story goes on.
Now, I read these stories all the time. That story touched me, thinking, “How good is that?” I’m just wondering, how many stories have you got like this that you could share?
You share that, making you stand out in your market. It will differentiate you as a recruiter who works in a very different way.
Using Technology
The other thing I want to discuss is technology and using different technology you have, maybe additional software, but also communicating that you do that.
Many of you have very fancy CRM systems. You’ve got different ways to communicate with people. I know you use some of it for marketing, but do your clients and candidates realize you have access to technology that can help them now?
Everyone’s talking about AI now and matching candidates and everything else. For many of you, you’ve got these advanced CRM systems. You can make a difference for people. Do you communicate that?
You may say, “Well, clients and candidates aren’t interested in that, but hasn’t everyone got that?” No, they haven’t. Because if somebody’s interested in you, they are looking for more ticks.
The more ticks they see, the more they say, “Yes, this is the person we need to talk to.”
Think about investing in technology in the first instance, but also communicating to people that you do that.
Do You Communicate Your Unique Solutions Delivered By You
I remember one of our clients at an event we ran a couple of years ago admitted he hadn’t been sharing a specialist service he provided for his clients.
Sharon was asking him questions, and it came out!
“Hang on a minute. What was that you just said?
Do you use this piece of assessment technology?” “Oh, yes, I do.”
The recruiter, who still works with us, admitted that he wasn’t on his website. He completely forgot to start adding that into what he did.
It was just something he did ordinarily, yet he wasn’t communicating that that’s what he did.
I’m wondering, for you guys, is there anything like that that you are not communicating?
Which leads me to the final one. That is talking about your customized recruitment solutions.
It may be that you can supply contractors. You can provide everything from the CEO to a team leader. You can supply everyone in that value chain for them once you start working with them.
Do you communicate that?
Do you communicate that you offer a retained service?
If they’re working on a very time-sensitive role or a key business-critical hire, do your clients appreciate you have another level of service?
Think about how you communicate that to your market.
Several things to reflect on as you want to stand out next year.
Thanks,
Denise
How We Can Help You Next Year
As a member of Superfast Circle, we help you in multiple ways, from working with you to develop your marketing plan to helping you hone and communicate your edge to the market (and yes, you do have one!), as well as providing the marketing collateral and community to help you create the demand you want.
Want to find out more? Then book a call here.
