“The Only Difference Was Great Recruiters” — How PeopleLink Improved Retention and Returned a 500% ROI

For over 30 years, PeopleLink Staffing has prided themselves on offering personalized, one-of-a-kind staffing for businesses and job seekers. Built on the idea that finding good culture fits should be a priority, PeopleLink has an individualized approach to their staffing placements. 

Kelly Proctor, a senior VP for PeopleLink’s commercial divisions, has seen recruiting culture and technology change over her 22 years at the company. She and her team have stayed on top of trends, and they’re always looking to fine-tune their approaches.

So, when they started researching industry patterns, they noticed something.

“Regardless of what the economy is — and I’ve been through recessions, through good and bad economies — turnover in staffed positions remains a constant issue. Why do people stay? That’s probably been our biggest focus over the years,” said Proctor.

She noticed that employees were leaving placed positions consistently in the first ten days, even with careful interviewing and specific questions around culture fit.

The team started looking for out-of-the-box solutions to their turnover problem and came across Great Recruiters. Great Recruiters, the reputation management platform built specifically for staffing firms, collects real-time candidate reviews of recruiters. This means recruiters and managers are able to catch recruiter-candidates issues early and pivot.

Turns out — the team made the right choice.

In one quarter, placed candidate retention increased by 50%

Proctor was shocked. “I approached the area manager and said, ‘This turnover number — it looks really low. Are you sure this is right?’ She went back and rechecked it. It was right.”

Proctor’s team then analyzed the data and found the only difference between the two quarters was their Great Recruiters implementation.

So how did Great Recruiters cause such a swift turnaround? Let’s look.

Better retention has increased referrals

Since placed candidates are staying longer in their positions, this means they’re referring their friends to PeopleLink.

And the referrals alone have been worth the investment in Great Recruiters.

Since implementing Great Recruiters, PeopleLink has placed 70% of their referrals and saw an ROI of 500%.

With instant feedback, recruiters are more engaged

At any time during the recruitment process, candidates can fill out a feedback survey, rating their recruiters on traits like timeliness and effectiveness. The survey results are then emailed to the recruiter and their management team.

This immediate feedback — often extremely positive — encourages recruiters to be more engaged in the candidate journey.

“Our staff is spending more time with candidates,” said Proctor. “They’re feeling more accountable for that person fitting into the work culture and staying in a position.”

Online leaderboards increase friendly competition

Recruiters can see in real-time how their ranking stacks up against their colleagues. Proctor was pleasantly surprised at how quickly PeopleLink’s recruiters took to the tool.

She said, “Whenever you introduce a new tool, the implementation usually starts out slow and clumsy, right? Not with Great Recruiters. Our recruiters are logging in on a daily basis.”

Her recruiters also love getting the Certified Great Recruiter designation, which is rewarded after 30 positive reviews. “We even get plaques custom-made when our recruiters reach Great Recruiter status,” said Proctor.

Already invested in a personalized candidate experience, Proctor noticed Great Recruiters magnified their values of empathy and transparency. “It’s helped the culture of our company,” she said. “That’s the kind of culture that we like to have.”

About PeopleLink

PeopleLink, a cutting-edge leader in the staffing industry, serves clients across the country by providing innovative, effective business solutions and adding value through a three-fold approach — people, process and performance. They partner with clients and candidates to produce results that directly impact the bottom line.