Big Data Wave Failing To Surface Analysts For Recruiting & Staffing Agencies

You probably already have a good idea that the amount of candidate information available to your recruiting or staffing agency is growing rapidly.  But the real question is:  who is going to analyze this ‘candidate big data’ and organize it into sensible patterns you can understand?

Unfortunately, while the demand for qualified analysts continues to rise, the talent pools from which your agency is able to find these talented individuals is not seeing corresponding growth.  Business consulting firm McKinsey estimates that by 2018, the United States will have a shortage of between 140,000 and 190,000 people needed to analyze the growing amounts of information.

And in the meantime, candidate big data – and the corresponding risk that you miss placing an ideal candidate with one of your top clients – continues to grow.  So how can you best overcome the odds to find the right data analyst for your agency?

First, you will need to identify whether or not your local talent pool is up to snuff.  And if not, let’s face it, you are just going to have to get creative.  Rather than focusing purely locally, you’ll need to expand your reach into national markets where there is more aggregate talent available.  A few of the current ones include St. Joseph (Missouri), El Paso and Tucson.  Next, you will need to determine whether you are comfortable bringing these employees on remotely (which may involve time zone challenges) – or paying a premium in salary and relocation fees.

Of course, another option is to look for candidates that are more entry level – and more commonly found in most markets.  Just because these candidates don’t have the immediate skills you want right out of the box doesn’t mean they won’t be successful in the job.  Many companies look for skills and experience, only to get burned by someone just looking to get a paycheck.  If you start with motivation and a willingness to learn, you might land on some stronger candidates.

Finally, the last option – which can tie into both of the options above – is to lure candidates away from other companies.  It is here that the staffing and recruiting software you use to fill your client needs can be used to meet the needs of your own agency.  Your recruiting software can help you evaluate the candidates available in your market by helping you more easily search for those that may have reached out to your agency in the past – or those that are describing their skill set with a targeted set of keywords in social networks such as LinkedIn (ie, ‘staffing,’ ‘data,’ ‘analysis,’ etc.)

Big candidate data is essential to your agency’s survival – as is having the team members in place that can help you interpret it accurately.  If you aren’t where you need to be in terms of getting the right team members in place – your agency is not alone – meaning the time for worry is not today.  Today is the time to use the tools you have at your disposal, to think outside the box – and more importantly – to think outside your neighborhood – to find the right analysts that will help you turn candidate big data into the actionable metrics that will help your agency grow.

To learn more about how recruiting and staffing software from Bond US can help your agency achieve its recruiting goals, request a demo.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *