Roughly 20 to 40 hours a month back across the consultants
Roughly 20 to 40 hours a month back across the consultants
Roughly 20 to 40 hours a month back across the consultants
An illustrative case: how a small recruitment agency stops losing an urgent role when the right candidate is already in its own database.
An illustrative case: how a small recruitment agency stops losing an urgent role when the right candidate is already in its own database.
1
An urgent shortlist is the moment a stale database costs a placement.
An urgent shortlist is the moment a stale database costs a placement.
On a Monday morning, a client asks for a shortlist on an urgent role within 48 hours. The right candidate is already in the agency's database, interviewed for a similar role months earlier, but her record sits under an old job title and no consultant remembers her. Two consultants spend the 48 hours searching LinkedIn and their inboxes, and send three names on Wednesday. A competitor fills the role on Thursday, and the candidate turns up in a database search on Friday. For the director of a 2 to 10 person agency, that is when the risk stops being abstract: one missed record is one lost fee.
On a Monday morning, a client asks for a shortlist on an urgent role within 48 hours. The right candidate is already in the agency's database, interviewed for a similar role months earlier, but her record sits under an old job title and no consultant remembers her. Two consultants spend the 48 hours searching LinkedIn and their inboxes, and send three names on Wednesday. A competitor fills the role on Thursday, and the candidate turns up in a database search on Friday. For the director of a 2 to 10 person agency, that is when the risk stops being abstract: one missed record is one lost fee.
2
Where every role stood lived in the director's head.
Where every role stood lived in the director's head.
A role came in by phone or email and was logged in the applicant tracking system. Each consultant then searched the system, LinkedIn and their own memory, and built the shortlist by hand in a document. Candidate updates went out when a desk had a spare half hour, which on a busy week meant not at all. The director found out where each role stood by walking the floor and asking. She weighed every hour by open roles with a fee attached first, so follow-up and database upkeep always lost, and the records went stale.
A role came in by phone or email and was logged in the applicant tracking system. Each consultant then searched the system, LinkedIn and their own memory, and built the shortlist by hand in a document. Candidate updates went out when a desk had a spare half hour, which on a busy week meant not at all. The director found out where each role stood by walking the floor and asking. She weighed every hour by open roles with a fee attached first, so follow-up and database upkeep always lost, and the records went stale.
3
The system had to fit how consultants already work, not add data entry.
The system had to fit how consultants already work, not add data entry.
Three things had to hold for the change to survive a busy desk. Role and candidate notes had to be captured where consultants already work, without extra data entry. Every AI-drafted shortlist, candidate update or client update had to be reviewed and sent by a named consultant. And the existing applicant tracking system and inboxes had to keep working during the transition, so a live role in week one was never at risk. If any one of those fails, consultants quietly go back to searching from memory.
Three things had to hold for the change to survive a busy desk. Role and candidate notes had to be captured where consultants already work, without extra data entry. Every AI-drafted shortlist, candidate update or client update had to be reviewed and sent by a named consultant. And the existing applicant tracking system and inboxes had to keep working during the transition, so a live role in week one was never at risk. If any one of those fails, consultants quietly go back to searching from memory.
4
A shortlist now takes an hour of review, not an afternoon of searching.
A shortlist now takes an hour of review, not an afternoon of searching.
Roles, candidates and client conversations now sit in one governed workspace, linked by role. When a role comes in, the system assembles a first shortlist from every past candidate and drafts the candidate and client updates; the consultant reviews the list, edits it and sends it the same day. The director opens one view of every open role instead of walking the floor on a Monday. The result is an agency that answers an urgent role from its own database first, and a director who spends her week with clients instead of in status meetings.
Roles, candidates and client conversations now sit in one governed workspace, linked by role. When a role comes in, the system assembles a first shortlist from every past candidate and drafts the candidate and client updates; the consultant reviews the list, edits it and sends it the same day. The director opens one view of every open role instead of walking the floor on a Monday. The result is an agency that answers an urgent role from its own database first, and a director who spends her week with clients instead of in status meetings.