A new year brings brand new opportunities for your recruitment agency to stand out from the crowd. These types of opportunities come in the form of recruitment awards and you’ll be pleased to know there are a few you can enter in 2020…
The Global Recruiter Industry Awards
FREE TO ENTER
ENTRY DEADLINE 31ST MARCH 2020
Onrec Online Recruitment Awards 2020
FREE TO ENTER
ENTRY DEADLINE 31ST JANUARY 2020
Recruiter Awards 2020
£175 + VAT PER STANDARD ENTRY BEFORE 15TH JANUARY 2020
£210 + VAT PER ENTRY FOR EXTENDED DEADLINE 29TH JANUARY 2020
Depending on your budget, there is at least one your recruitment agency can enter. So how do you make your application stand out from the rest?
TBOS gives our top tips…
CHOOSE A CATEGORY THAT FITS YOUR BUSINESS PERFECTLY
It pretty obvious but choosing an awards category that suits your business perfectly increases your chances of winning. You could enter a number of categories but this is rather time consuming so be sure to choose wisely, read the questions carefully, do you have evidence or a good case study where you can support the answers to their questions? If so, that’s a great indicator you should go for the award.
CREATE AN ENTRY TEMPLATE & CUSTOMISE IT AS YOU GO – STICKING TO THE WORD COUNT
Although you will find the award categories are mostly different from one another, there will be some that are fairly similar for example, Agency Recruitment Leader of the Year and Recruitment Industry Entrepreneur of the Year could use a similar answer template.
In a lot of the entries they will ask for either a mission statement or a brief overview of your organisation, this is something you can reuse with each entry.
Saving each answer template will definitely save time if you intend to enter a similar award category later on, this way you can tweak it as you read the entry questions. It will also give you a strong foundation for writing your entries in future as you can recall what worked for your entry previously and then add on it. You should also be mindful or the word count, if they specify this in the application make sure you stick to it!
USE SUCCESSFUL CASE STUDIES & REVIEWS AS PROOF OF YOUR GOOD WORK
Many recruitment agencies will display their good work through case studies on their website, even supporting them with glowing reviews from their clients. This could be in the form of written content, images, PR or in some cases video. Either way, if you have previously done this you should know which ones are your most popular when attracting new clients. These are perfect for supporting your entry especially if they are for awards like Best Client Service and Best Candidate Experience.
TBOS recommends using up to three case studies/reviews when entering a category, make sure you cover all aspects of the question. In many cases the questions will have bullet points which you should cover. You can copy and paste these bullet points into the answer box and answer each point as you go. Do remember to save all your answers to a word document for you utilise again.
Although we say save your work, avoid repeating yourself in your award category. If there is a case study you are mentioning again, highlight a benefit or point that you have not yet mentioned.
Here is an example of a Best New Agency award question:
Highlight the important parts, breaking down the question this way you can answer it correctly.
Give one example or case study of a difficult or challenging vacancy you have been asked to fill in the period under consideration. Outline by giving the following information:
- Details of the client and provide contact details – This is fairly simple but ensure your client is open to being contacted in relation to your entry.
- Brief on the position to be filled – You can copy and paste the original brief that was given, even adding to it if there was a specific deadline for the hire.
- Your strategy for attracting suitable candidates – Outline your process for attracting the top talent and how you successfully managed applications.
- Client management – How regularly did you communicate with your client? How did you manage their feedback on applications?
- The outcome – Give an overview on the end result, how is the hire doing in the position that was filled? You could support this with a review from both the client and the candidate.
USE STATISTICS & DOUBLE CHECK THEY READ CLEARLY TO THE READER
Statistics are a great way to support evidence of your success, especially if it is for a marketing award like Best Marketing Campaign, Best Candidate Attraction through Social Media or Innovative Use of Social Media in Recruitment Process.
You can use data taken from Google Analytics that show the number of applications on your website that are acquired from social media referrals. Your marketing team should be able to provide these statistics if they are tracking your applications correctly via Google Analytics.
Additionally, you can use statistics for outlining billing records and the highest number of testimonials attributed to a particular recruiter. This type of data is great for awards like Best Permanent Consultant and Best Temporary Consultant.
EXPLAIN YOUR ACRONYMS – NOT EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS YOUR INDUSTRY LANGUAGE
Recruitment is a huge business sector with many fancy acronyms popping up in every industry. If you are going to use acronyms in your entry ensure you display its meaning in brackets, that way the reader will know what you’re talking about. Failing to do this makes your entry look like jargon which is a huge disadvantage for your agency.
USE POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS WHEN RELEVANT
We’re fortunate to live in an era where social media is a powerful tool for connecting with one another. For recruitment, our most powerful social channel is LinkedIn, this is because it allows recruiters to directly contact business professionals about jobs and more. There are many recruitment leaders and agencies who successfully intereact with their target audience on LinkedIn. Links to their most popular social media posts would greatly support their entry for an award such as Best Employer Brand.
NOW IS THE TIME TO ENTER
We know too well that recruiters time is valuable, you’d much rather be on the phones making placements rather than entering awards but it’s a great PR opportunity for your agency. You want to be seen as a key recruitment player in a fiercely competitive industry, make sure you get an award that says so – and be sure to make a big song and dance about it when you win.
Winning awards can also be great for team recognition and lifting morale, going to a glitzy awards ceremony to pick up an award is a good opportunity to bring your recruitment team together and celebrate in the company’s success. Additionally, it shows your appreciation for your team’s hard work and will hopefully encourage them to bill more.
TBOS fully encourages our recruiting clients to make the time to enter and wish you the best of luck in winning in your chosen categories!
