Automation is a hot topic in staffing these days.
Jeff Staats, Haley marketing’s in-house automation wizard, is a fan of Sense and Herefish, automation platforms explicitly built for the staffing industry. Just in case you haven’t heard of them, here’s a little 101:
Herefish was recently acquired by Bullhorn, a staffing and recruitment software company, and is the automation arm of their business. Their website proclaims: Herefish makes it easy for modern staffing firms to automate and communicate throughout the recruiting cycle.
Sense is not affiliated with any one ATS or CRM. Sense hangs its hat on this: Make happy talent your competitive advantage. Personalize, automate, and optimize each step of the candidate journey.
Both platforms offer:
- Process automation
- Messaging
- Surveys + NPS
- Recruiting AI
- Reporting
But what does that mean in terms of making recruiting easier for your firm?
Ideally, it means automations that:
- create a cleaner database
- eliminate (or at least decrease) repetitive tasks
- engage candidates and make them feel valued
- gather feedback to improve the candidate experience, the recruiting processes, and the firm’s NPS
But if you haven’t taken the automation plunge yet, how do you know which platform is the best choice for your firm’s needs? Jeff has spent quite a bit of time in each platform auditing and building journeys for our clients. It’s fair to say he has opinions (don’t we all), but there is no wrong choice when it comes to automation platforms. There’s only the right choice for your firm.
Here are a few nuggets of wisdom from Jeff to help you with your automation platform consideration phase:
Who will be managing your platform?
It’s difficult to step in and out of an automation platform. Journeys must be built, tweaked, and monitored on a near-daily basis. Does your team have experience with automation? If so, Sense’s robust analytics allow a deep dive into data. If not, Herefish’s user-friendly dashboard provides a great starting point for novice users. Both platforms offer ongoing support to users in need of tech help. If you get lost, their support team will get you back on the road.
What are your automation goals?
Are you looking to clean up your database, fill in missing phone numbers and email addresses, change statuses, or have candidates update their information? Herefish has excellent functionality for these tasks. Staats describes it as a “communication-first platform” that focuses on creating efficient processes for candidate engagement and repetitive tasks. Staats characterizes Sense as a “marketing-first platform, kind of like the HubSpot of staffing.” With multiple products and services, Sense offers an array of options for creating touchpoints to connect with candidates.
Process. Process. Process.
Before choosing a platform, Staats suggests you look at the processes you already have in place. How do you engage with candidates? Where are your engagement gaps? Which platform will integrate best with your ATS? You don’t want to create more work for your team. Have your processes and limitations firmly in mind, and choose the platform that will best integrate with your business goals.
Looking to invest in an automation platform? Our automation optimization experts are here to answer your questions. Whether you are comparing platforms or already invested, let us help you build an automation roadmap and get on the road to improved candidate engagement!
Learn more about marketing automation:
5 Things You Should Do When You Implement an Automation Platform
Candidate Journeys and Automations: Where are we going wrong?
