Staffing and recruitment firms that embrace automation have a 64% higher fill rate, submit 33% more candidates per recruiter, and were 55% more likely to report major revenue gains in 2021, according to new data from Bullhorn, the cloud computing company that helps staffing and recruiting organizations transform their businesses.
The aggregated data on hundreds of staffing firms across Bullhorn’s global customer base was collected to celebrate the milestone of one billion total tasks automated using Bullhorn’s technology.
It also coincides with the release of Bullhorn’s chatbot, a branded digital communication tool that uses automation and AI to provide information to talent at their own convenience, at any time of day, through an integration with staffing firms’ websites.
According to the data analyzed, the average staffing firm currently automates over 20,000 emails, texts, updates, notes, and tasks each year. Cumulatively, this represented an estimated savings of 2.5 million employee hours in 2021 alone, equal to freeing up three hours every day per recruiter.
The aggregated data also shows contract and temp recruitment firms that use automation redeploy 20% more of their talent when an assignment ends. Similarly, those that use automation for talent communication report 20% higher click rates and 30% higher open rates than the industry averages.
Jason Heilman, SVP, Automation and AI at Bullhorn, says: “One billion automations is a huge milestone for the recruitment industry, Bullhorn, and the companies that leverage automation to drive their business. We are thrilled to have given recruiters so much more time to focus on building relationships and connecting people with opportunities.
Jason Heilman
“The adoption of automation has accelerated in tandem with some of the most turbulent market conditions in recent memory. During the pandemic, digital transformation presented much-needed opportunities for recruitment businesses as circumstances forced them to cut costs and operate as efficiently as possible.
“Today, automation can take on an incredible range of tasks, and we are constantly working on finding more ways it can further enhance the recruiter and talent experience. It already represents a way of overcoming common pain points, from poor communication to time-consuming scheduling and regulatory compliance, and the data clearly shows that firms that embrace it have a competitive edge.”
According to Bullhorn’s findings, the three most common use cases for recruitment automation are:
- Talent engagement: The number one reason that candidates become frustrated with recruiters is poor communication. Automation enables recruiters to manage communications more effectively and keep candidates informed at every step of the process. Many firms already automate emails, surveys, and texts to talent.
- Data health: Recruiters automate several data management and compliance functions, including anonymizing records and updating job, company, and contract status for all the records within the applicant tracking system (ATS).
- Internal operations: Automating simple tasks within the ATS like creating notes and alerts gives recruiters back valuable time to spend on building candidate and client relationships.
These use cases also help to support staffing firms’ ability to adopt Connected Recruiting, a methodology developed by Bullhorn that empowers staffing firms to engage talent at every stage of the talent lifecycle. By leveraging Connected Recruiting best practices, staffing firms can ensure an incredible experience for their talent, create an ever-growing and consistently engaged talent pool, and lower their cost of talent acquisition. Automation plays a key role supporting activities throughout this cycle.