Scout helps recruiter grow her business and stand out in the marketplace
The Challenge
After eight years of working for other people’s search firms, April Estes decided to strike out on her own and established ProEnlist. Previously known chiefly for her work finding medical directors, April knew she needed to find ways to break into new job categories and companies to grow her business.
How could April find new positions, break into new industries, and maintain relationships with current and new clients?
Scout has made me feel like I’m part of something bigger. “
The Solution
Because of April’s prior relationship with a company who hired medical directors she was brought onto the Scout platform when they became a client of Scout. She quickly realized that she had been given “the keys to the kingdom” for growing her company.
April knew how to find great candidates for medical directors, but to grow her company she would need to learn to develop in-depth knowledge of additional job categories. She systematically tackled various job types that frequently appear in Scout. In order to get familiarized with these new roles, April spoke with people in other professions and immersed herself in learning and research. Over time she began to place candidates in accounting, finance, information technology, and manufacturing through the Scout marketplace.
April benefitted from the fact that she no longer had to spend time on business development to get new clients. It was also a plus to not have to be the one to do follow-up on outstanding invoices. It’s a challenge to be both the service provider and the bill collector!
The How
Before submitting candidates to an employer April hadn’t worked with in the past she learned as much as she could about them by reading the information provided in their Scout profile, researching them on LinkedIn, and setting up Google alerts. This helped April understand what was going on with a company and to glean important culture information to use in identifying candidates who would be the best fits.
As April established new relationships, she carefully managed expectations upfront with her candidates. It was important for her to keep the communication consistent with her candidates throughout the hiring process and to provide them with updates along the way. Research has shown, and April knows, that updates on the status of the process are key to a good candidate experience.
One of the most important features in Scout for April was the AI-driven rating system for both search firm and hiring company recruiters. She ensured that her rating was a 5 across job categories and she pays attention to an employer’s rating when deciding to work with them or not. The more her business grew, the less likely she was to work on a role with a three-star or lower employer recruiter; she wants to know her candidates will have a good experience.
By expanding her knowledge, maintaining her high recruiter rating, and strategically choosing which companies to work with in Scout, April has been able to quickly and consistently grow ProEnlist.
I absolutely look at the employer recruiter’s rating. If they have a low rating and I see that they let 62 candidates expire, I won’t work with them.“