The Full Desk Experience

Kortney Harmon [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the Full Desk Experience, your ultimate resource for insights and expertise in the staffing and recruiting industry. I'm your host, Kortney Harmon and I am thrilled to introduce our special Best of Episodes series. In this curated collection, we're revisiting the most impactful and thought provoking conversations from our archives. Whether you're a seasoned listener or new to our community, these episodes offered invaluable knowledge and inspiration for professionals in the talent industry. Join us on this journey through the Full Desk Experience. Greatest Hits. Every episode promises to deliver actionable advice, fresh perspectives, and the latest trends in staffing recruiting. Get ready to rediscover or experience for the first time the conversations that have made a lasting impact on our listeners and the industry at large.

Kortney Harmon [00:00:54]:
Tune in weekly as we unlock treasures from our podcast vault and bring them to you, our valued audience. Enjoy.

Kortney Harmon [00:01:03]:
Hi, I'm Kortney Harmon, Director of Industry Relations at crelate. Welcome to FDE Express, a short, sweet format of the Full Desk Experience Crelate Original podcast. We'll be diving into specific topics to show you how you grow your firm within 10 minutes or less. Each episode will cover quick hit topics to give you inspiration and food for thought for your talent businesses. Welcome to another episode of the Full Desk Experience. I'm your host, Kortney Harmon and today we're diving into a really crucial topic that's been bubbling up across the staffing and recruiting industry. I want you to think about the Great Tech Purge. No, I'm not talking about Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, but I want you to think about revolutionizing your recruiting arsenal.

Kortney Harmon [00:01:56]:
What are the tools you have? What are the tools that you're using in order to help you be successful? As you think about the Great Tech Purge, it's not really about just tidying up your digital workspace. It's about revolutionizing how you really approach technology when it comes to recruiting. Now, over the past five months, maybe more, I've been talking with leaders across our industry and across the country and there's a common theme that's emerging. Number one, it's about how some of these firms can save money. We're going to talk about that. I completely understand. But number two, as AI and other cutting edge technologies really dominate our headlines, many are feeling the pressure to jump on the bandwagon. Are they doing the right thing? Are they going in the right direction? But here's what smart leaders are realizing.

Kortney Harmon [00:02:47]:
Before you can effectively harness AI or any new tech at all, you need to embark on your own Great Tech Purge. Now, what I'm seeing is a shift, a shift from the concept of how can we add AI to how can we purge and streamline what we already have today in order to make room for innovation? It's about making room. It's not just about slapping an AI tool on to declutter your tech stack. The purge is really about opening a door, so to speak, really examining how we speed up our process so we can amplify the human touch that's truly core in our industry. We don't want to get away from that. So, AI and technology, you've heard the saying, AI is not going to replace a recruiter, but a recruiter using AI will. So how do we make that most effective in our industry? This realization is really leading some tough but necessary questions as we approach the Great Tech Purge. So I'm going to give you four questions to think about.

Kortney Harmon [00:03:54]:
Number one, are we using all of our features of the tools that we have today that we're already paying for? Are we using all of them? Because you know as well as I do that majority of us don't use a large portion of what we have in the technologies we have today. Number two, where are our teams wasting time on redundant tasks that could be eliminated? Are we having them do something for time's sake or for an extra click? How do we make that better? Question three, how can we consolidate our tech stack to create more streamlined workflows? Right. How can we make it smoother for our teams? Because when we do that, we can make them more efficient, more effective, reduce that time to fill and get more business. And number four, question to think about. Are we prepared to integrate AI in a way that enhances rather than replaces our human expertise? So today I'm going to go through a few reasons why now's the perfect time for you to initiate your own Great Tech Purge. We're going to discuss how this process can not only prepare you for future innovations like AI, but also immediately improve your team's efficiencies and effectiveness. Remember, we got into this business to help people by embracing the Great Tech Purge. We're not just helping our bottom line, we're embarking and empowering our teams to focus on what really matters, and that's building relationships and meaningful impact of placements.

Kortney Harmon [00:05:31]:
So for those of you who are sitting here and saying, aha, I think this is us, there is going to be a downloadable worksheet in the show notes to help you on your own Great Tech Purge. So don't forget to download that and start your own assessment in your firms. Today. So let's dive into this purge. I'm going to give you five compelling reasons why you should start your own purge today. Number one, I don't know about you, but a lot of firms that I'm talking to are down around 15, some 30%, right? So now's your time to capitalize on potential downtime. The great tech purge starts with mapping out technologies that you're currently using in all of your areas of business. So this includes categories not only like business development, recruiting, yes.

Kortney Harmon [00:06:16]:
But your automation tools, your sourcing tools, attracting pay and bill assessments, interviewing tools, reporting, analysis, onboarding, communication and engagement, and everything in between. So use the downtime to thoroughly assess these areas. Understand not just what tools you're using, but why you're using them. This is really the foundation of the Tech purge. Can your ATS provide more? Can it execute on the onboarding piece of your business so you can eliminate that additional outside software and save time and money for your people? Could you use that?

Chris Hesson-Ad [00:06:58]:
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Chris Hesson-Ad [00:07:42]:
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Kortney Harmon [00:08:02]:
All right, reason number two, you need to optimize spending and tighten your belt. We're all feeling it. As this purge happens, you're going to be identifying challenges. And the idea is to set goals, long term goals and short term goals. So when you're evaluating your tech stack, you can really categorize your priorities like in a matrix. Think low effort, immediate results, low effort, future state, low effort or high effort, immediate results, high effort, future state. This is really going to help you identify quick wins for cost saving areas where strategic investment might be necessary as you really purge those unnecessary tools. So I encourage you dive into the worksheet in the show notes to help you through this one.

Kortney Harmon [00:08:51]:
It's great to sit and visualize it. Number three, I want you to think about enhancing your team's efficiency and effectiveness. They're great words, right? They're what we all want. But this is really involves looking at your current projects, implementations, adoption, exercises, change management. Let's face it, our business changes all the time. The foundation's the same, but our tools are changing. The way we do things, our teams are changing. Really map out what your low effort is for your team to change or adopt, as well as the potential impact on your business.

Kortney Harmon [00:09:30]:
This approach really can help you identify which tech consolidations will give you the most bang for your buck in terms of improving your efficiencies as you purge those outdated systems. Redundant systems. I'm going to guess there's more redundant than outdated. Reason number four Prepare for the AI revolution. This is not something that's going away while conducting your own purge. Consider how each tool fits into broader categories. Whether it's automation, sourcing, recruiting, business development, onboarding, reporting. More right? While you help identify these areas where AI could potentially streamline processes or enhance capabilities, it's really guiding your purge strategy.

Kortney Harmon [00:10:19]:
Know what's coming with the technologies you have in place today. If you're like us here at Curl8, our AI strategy has been working hard behind the scenes to be the most effective and secure for our users. It's a big splash. But know what's on the roadmap of the tools that you use before you decide to know the grass is greener on the other side. Number five, improve your data quality and decision making. Let's face it, this industry is about numbers. Whether we're looking at ratio reports, number of submittals, bottom line, the ROI you're getting, you have to really understand your data. So this great purge is going to emphasize the importance of your current technology landscape or really optimizing your operations.

Kortney Harmon [00:11:09]:
It's going to give you better results. Streamline reporting, enhancing your efficiencies to really drive growth. Seeing the bigger picture future state of your organization is going to be key. So by mapping out those technologies and their purpose, you can identify where data is being duplicated or truly siloed. Where you're not getting a visual of where you could be better. So those better integrations could lead to improved analytics, improved reporting, better forecasting for your organization. So to tie that all together, there's your five reasons. There's an attached worksheet.

Kortney Harmon [00:11:49]:
This great tech purge is going to provide a structured approach to your Tech Stack, which really aligns perfectly with the goals of helping both your team as well as your candidates and clients. AI is going to make us move fast. How are you helping your teams move fast but really focusing on the human element? So by optimizing this technology you use through this purge, you're going to create those more efficient environments to help your team focus on that what matters and that's building relationships. Create relationships and great matches. So walk through this process and empower yourselves to take the strategic approach to your tech stack. Don't go blind. You'll be able to identify the things that overlap. Optimize your current tools, make more informed decisions about future investments without just chasing the shiny.

Kortney Harmon [00:12:43]:
This not only helps your bottom line, but ensures that we focus and position ourselves to provide the best possible service for our candidates and clients. So get ready. Start your own Tech Purge. And remember, it's not just about cleaning house, it's about revolutionizing your recruiting arsenal for the AI age and beyond. I would love your thoughts on the worksheet and if this is something that you're doing in your firms today and what you're discovering, that wraps up this episode of the Great Tech Purge. Again, it's not just about tidying up your digital workspace, but really identifying and harnessing AI and focusing on the things that matter most in your organization. Best of luck. That's all for Today's episode of FDExpress.

Kortney Harmon [00:13:32]:
I'm Kortney Harmon with Crew Late. If you have any questions or topics you'd like for us to cover in future episodes, please feel free to submit them to fulldesk@crelate.com or ask us live next session. And don't forget to subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen and sign up for our monthly events to keep learning and growing your business. Thanks for tuning in to FDE Express, a short and sweet format of the full desk experience. We'll see you next time.