We will never again operate in an environment like that of pre-2020. As a result, adapting to change is more crucial than ever for staffing firms and leaders. Yet even as we evolve our approach to sales, recruiting and candidate engagement, we need to make sure these changes don’t come at the expense of losing focus on our purpose and what is core to our businesses. Here’s what we found works well.
Know your North Star. Clarity of purpose and ambition should drive our actions: They help us articulate why an organisation exists, what problems it is trying to solve for its customers and employees, and what impact it wants to have. Every employee should understand this purpose and understand their role in achieving the ambition. At Empresaria, we have defined our medium-term ambition and the strategic roadmap needed to achieve it. This allows us to align our tactics, investments and efforts, ensuring that every step we take is in the direction of our goals. We also gain the engagement of our teams by communicating regularly on progress throughout the organisation.
Stay focused in challenging times. If we examine recruitment businesses that have outperformed in the past three to five years, we can see they all have three things in common: focus, accountability and discipline. While it is tempting to lose focus when times are challenging, such as accepting job orders outside your core business, this only causes longer-term issues. Knowing and sticking to your wheelhouse is key. Because Empresaria is a multibrand business that spans many sectors and geographies, it is sometimes challenging to maintain this focus, so we have clearly defined wheelhouses for each of our businesses. This allows us to focus on delivering excellent service to our clients and our candidates without diluting our specialist approach.
Put clients and candidates at the heart of strategic decisions. In the post-pandemic era of work, we are seeing a fundamental shift in client and candidate expectations as they look for new and innovative ways of adapting.
This requires a shift in focus for sales and delivery teams. Sales teams need to develop strategic selling capabilities to drive more meaningful conversations, away from what has traditionally been more of a transactional approach. Likewise, delivery teams need to cultivate engaged talent communities if they are to get ahead of crippling skills shortages. The two need to work in close partnership, and accountability for tasks should be clearly defined to ensure there are no gaps in service quality.
At Empresaria, we are focused on adapting our sales approach across all our markets. We are shifting away from transactional sales to strategic partnerships. We’re also looking beyond filling just our clients’ immediate job needs to creating opportunities to enhance or aid them in their future workforce planning. Our objective is to cultivate symbiotic partnerships characterised by a profound comprehension of our clients’ distinct aspirations, pain points and overarching objectives.
Additionally, we are committed to our brand reputation to serve a dual purpose: Not only does it enhance our image in the market, it supports us in building strong talent communities and engaging in a meaningful way with potential candidates.
By having a deep understanding of our candidates’ skills, motivations and future aspirations, we are better able to consistently present the most talented and suitable candidates to our clients. These are often candidates we have built relationships with over many years.
Improve productivity. As organisations continually look to do more with less, making the most efficient use of resources is also a challenge for recruitment leaders. Streamlining processes and maximising output will ensure the sustainability of operations and create room for innovation and growth. At Empresaria, we have implemented a regional structure with new leadership to drive synergies across the group, rolled out common technologies centred around a single global database and developed cross border strategic sales and training plans. We have also leveraged our offshore services business to outsource aspects of the recruitment process, particularly those tasks related to sourcing and selection. As we harness the power of these efficiencies, we free up resources that can be channelled into strategic initiatives, enhancing our overall competitiveness.
