What if...you could trust (like really trust) on your own data?

It’s a question that would have many recruiters pulling their hair out.

After all, drowning as they are in vast, tempestuous oceans of the stuff, the only lifeboats on the horizon come in the form of even more tech with promises of access to the data that really matters.

It’s a cycle that has led to firms becoming immobilised by the dreaded FOMO (fear of missing out), and compensating by overly relying on each other’s data. For many, a belief is forming that this is leading to the slow death of the recruitment process.

But imagine for a moment if you only needed to use only your own data and what this would mean for the business?

Traffic lights and efficiency improvements

For starters, it would undoubtedly lead to drastic improvements in efficiencies. By allocating small silos of data to different departments, segmented into a traffic light system, firms could begin a filtering process that saves huge chunks of time.

As an example, ‘green’ data could be passed to recruiters which consists of the previous 12 months’ worth of invoices and placements and, with sufficient training and time provided, they could better manage candidates post-placement so more value can be extracted from them in the future.

Meanwhile, ‘amber’ data could be passed to the Marketing Department. This would consist of all the other data lying dormant on the system but which still holds real value. Marketeers could then make decisions on that data, relegating the stuff that’s essentially useless, to ‘red’.

This system could also be used by consultants to help them choose which candidates they pass into the CRM. In this instance, ‘red’ data would be kept out of the CRM, deemed as it is to be made up of those candidates that, for whatever reason, nothing can be done with, and leaving only ‘green’ and ‘amber’ applications for consultants to work with.

We don’t need as much data as we think we do

Either way, what’s clear, is that right now, recruiters have too much data and not enough process. But, with firms relying on only their own data, the next question would be, how much data do we actually need to make money?

A good way to think about this question is to imagine you were only starting your business today. Were that the case, how much data would you really need to accomplish 12 months’ worth of billing? The answer is unlikely to be the 100,000+ records you have clogging up your system.

Then there’s the time factor. Relying only on your own data, how many hours would be freed up, and what would that recouped time allow you to do? More phone calls with clients to bolster relationships, one-to-one training and mentoring, extra breaks…the list could go on and on.

It’s time to put the foot down

Someone once said that current recruitment systems are like luxury cars that, despite being capable of high performance, are constantly having to stop at roadblocks, never able to accelerate to the speed their engines allow.

Addressing this requires a change in business philosophy, one which looks further into the future. Rather than becoming fixated on the 24 hours in front of you, think about what you want the 24 hours in six months to look like. In other words, if you think don’t have time to improve your business, then now really is the time to improve your business.