branding

Branding Your Staffing Agency in 3 Steps

/in /by

Branding your staffing agency is one of the most important and effective ways to make your firm successful. While it may take some time to popularize your brand, having a solid identity in the staffing world is essential. Ultimately, a strong company brand allows a staffing agency to attract the best talent and portrays it as a credible business. If your staffing agency is looking to attract more candidates or clients, branding is the way to do it.

These 3 steps will get your staffing agency on its way to successful branding:

Define Your Brand

  • If you’re wondering why defining your brand is important, here’s three reasons: It sets you apart from your competition, it increases your chances of referrals, and it grows your business. Defining your brand is the most essential step in the branding process because it sets the foundation for the rest of your strategy. When creating your brand’s identity, consider your specialty, your employees, and the demographic you hope to attract. These three factors should be the main influences of your brand because they contribute the most to creating and upholding your image. Think about what your company’s goals are and how your company will work to stay aligned with them. Consider what your company already does very well, and what you could learn from your competitors. Develop a list of adjectives that you want your brand to convey when a consumer or employee sees an advertisement or logo. Once your brand is decided upon, your employees will be responsible for representing it in public interactions (meetings, interviews, etc).

Create a Logo

  • Think of your logo as the face of your company. This is what people are going to think of when they hear your company’s name, so it’s important to take the time to make it good. The font and colors you use in your logo should be used consistently to represent your brand. Keep your logo simple, timeless, easily recognizable, and appropriate for your brand. Overly-extravagant or irrelevant logos will confuse your audience, or worse, make you forgettable. If you think of the most famous and memorable brand logos, you will notice that they keep their design choices simple, yet distinct. Need proof? Think of the Nike Swoosh. The design is simple, recognizable without the name defining it, and has been branding the company since 1971. Make sure your logo can stand alone, but also complements your company’s name. Don’t be an imitator. Your logo should be entirely specific to your company. Think outside the box, but don’t stray too far from your brand’s voice. Need some more help? Check out Creative Bloq’s logo design tips.

Introduce Your Brand

  • Now that you have figured out which direction you want your brand to go, it’s time to introduce it to your audience. Remember that everything you’ve developed in the steps above must remain consistent throughout your branding efforts. Try different platforms to introduce your brand. A website, for example, is extremely necessary, but having a business account on every mode of social media is not. Pick a couple social media pages that you commit to updating constantly and stick to them. Don’t be discouraged if your content is going unnoticed at first; the more you post, the more people will see it. Try video content marketing. Videos attract readers because many people are visual learners who appreciate explanations that are paired with graphics and fewer words. Email marketing, community outreach, and old fashioned billboard advertising are methods to experiment with to introduce your name in many different environments. If something you’re doing now isn’t working, don’t keep doing it. Evaluate your current marketing methods and adjust them to make them more effective. Remember that adaptability is a huge part of branding!

Branding is the first step to a recognizable and trustworthy business. Following these 3 steps will get your staffing agency’s branding strategy up and running. Soon, you will have a brand you, your customers, and your employees are confident in.

Don’t let slow paying customers hold you back from showing off your new brand. Find out how factoring can help provide your company money for payroll so you can move forward.

job-seekers

How to Attract Job-Seekers to your Agency

/in /by

A position opens up in your business or agency and it’s time to hire someone new—someone good. You have a specific type of person in mind, but for some reason he or she just isn’t applying.

Why not?

Don’t worry, it may not be you. It’s probably your application process. Don’t let a stressful or confusing application process deter potential employees from applying to the position. Instead, follow these helpful tips to make your job position more attractive and draw in job-seekers.

Make your company attractive to job-seekers:

 

Before the Job Search

Do your research. You know what kind of person you want to fill a particular position, so don’t just settle for anyone. Ask your employees if they know anyone that fits your descriptive mold. If anyone would know who would make a good [insert position here], it would be your employees. In fact, these people are great resources for attracting job-seekers. Ask them to refer others to the company and reach out to their recommendations beforehand. Doing this may allow you to find a candidate that would not have known to apply otherwise.

Make the position enticing. When writing your job posting, make sure you keep the text clear and easy to read. Add a detailed job description and information about your company. These two paragraphs should not be too extensive, but they should be able to clearly outline the important aspects of your company and the position. The design of your job posting should be a perfect balance of unique and simple. Don’t crowd the posting with extravagant graphics or designs, but also don’t be too dull. The reader should be able to read your advertisement quickly and easily. Keep in mind that good content can make up for simple graphics!

Applying for the Job

Okay, here’s the important part. If your prospective employees don’t know your company very well before they apply, your application is one of the first impressions they get. If your application is hard to find and even harder to fill out, then a high percentage of responses is entirely unlikely. Make your application accessible and easy. How?

  • Make your application form available and compatible with any mode of electronic device. People should be able to submit from their cellphone, tablet, or computer.
  • Allow applicants the opportunity to save and come back to their application. If your application is lengthy or requires tests, don’t make your audience complete it in one sitting. Giving them the option to save and finish it later allows them to complete it on their time and to the best of their ability.
  • Accept all major file types. Job-seekers are more likely to upload a resume if they can do so without converting their file. Make sure your website supports resumes that are uploaded as PDFs, JPGs, and Microsoft Word documents.

The Interview

The interview is the make-or-break part of the job application process for both you and your prospective employee. Let them know that they have as much of a choice in accepting the job as you do in hiring them. Be flexible with meeting spots, interview times, and interview processes. Give them a choice of a few times or places that best suit you, then coordinate with their preferences. Keep the interview focused on the job and make the conversation two-way. You want to get to know them as much as they want to get to know you, so allow them the opportunity to ask you questions as well.

Being transparent about the job is extremely important. If you are open and honest with potential candidates, they will be more likely to follow up with your offer. Be upfront about downsides of the position as well (e.g. long hours, difficult clients, far commute). If your potential employee knows the downsides immediately, he/she will be able to consider whether these factors affect his/her decision to accept the job. Don’t get me wrong, the positive aspects of your job should wildly outweigh the negative. Your job-seekers should be able to recognize that you are worth working for.

The key to attracting job-seekers is to make your job advertisements clear, your applications easy, and your interviews engaging. Good content and solid job descriptions will make potential employees flock to you to learn more. By following these tips, your perfect candidate will come along in no time.

You spent time finding the perfect employees for your staffing agency, and they work hard for you. You shouldn’t have to worry about paying them on time for their hard work. Check out how payroll factoring can help you pay your employees.