Consulting firms and law firms are industries with a deep understanding of business norms — workplaces where formal attire, handshakes and first impressions still matter. While these professional services firms have a grounding in traditional business practices, they’re on the verge of digital transformation.
Like many other industries, professional services firms are grappling with new technology. As artificial intelligence and new digital capabilities drive increasing client expectations, many experts predict a skills shortage that will make it more difficult for recruiters to find the right candidates.
To keep up with the competition, professional services firms are focusing more on early talent. The competition between firms looking to recruit early professionals is fierce — and it’s only increasing as new players enter the market and alternative business structures drive changes in the industry. Research shows these firms also have high rates of worker turnover, so it’s critical that early talent acquisition teams not only source the right candidates, but also create an experience that will keep them with the company for years.
At Yello, our team works with hundreds of leading professional services firms — including approximately 100 of the Fortune 500. While every company is different, these are the most common pain points when it comes to recruiting for professional services firms.
1. Attracting enough quality talent to fill the high rate of job openings.
When your team heads to campus career fairs or diversity recruiting conferences, you can’t always rely on reputation alone to attract the right candidates to your booth. Get a leg up on the competition by promoting your employer brand to attendees before the event — then streamline candidate check-in and eliminate paper resumes with digital profile capture. You’ll build a better candidate experience, fast-track follow-up for top candidates and ultimately reduce administrative work for recruiters at the event.
Solution: Pre-Event Registration & Marketing
Proactively showcase your brand with recruitment event marketing tools — including event promotion, pre-registration and personalized communications and follow-up.
- Events board & pre-registration pages
- Email and text campaigns
- Automated event reminders
- Personalized communication
Solution: Digital Event Check-In
Eliminate paper resumes with a mobile-friendly check-in portal to capture candidate data — then empower staff to review, evaluate and follow-up in real time.
- Digital resume and candidate profile capture
- Evaluate candidates in mobile recruiting app
- Instantly advance candidates to next steps
- Personalized candidate follow-up
Kearney engaged 77% more candidates — while cutting events in half.
2. Manual interview scheduling and other tasks eat up valuable recruiter time.
If a candidate is fielding offers and interviews from multiple firms, even the shortest delays in scheduling can make the difference between making or breaking your hiring goals. Finding time on everyone’s calendar can take hours — on top of endless back-and-forth communications. Stay ahead of your competition after the event by leveraging automated interview scheduling tools for next steps.
Solution: Interview Scheduling Software
Stay ahead of the competition at career fairs and high-volume hiring events — accelerate your process with an on-the-spot interview scheduling app that integrates with events management.
- Candidate self-scheduling
- Automated text confirmations
- Invitation management and RSVPs
- Post-event actions and follow-up
3. Difficulties retaining talent and minimizing turnover.
Once the offer letters are sent and acceptances start rolling in, the long hours and endless events of the campus season may be over — but it’s just the beginning. To ensure candidates understand your brand and feel comfortable in their newly accepted roles, start sending proactive communications to reinforce that messaging before they start work.
Solution: Candidate Engagement
Ensure candidates don’t feel left behind. Build awareness and drive action with personalized, mobile-friendly campaigns that keep your brand top of mind at every step.
- Email and SMS campaigns
- Targeted, personalized communications
- Schedule and automate communications
- Monitor campaign performance
West Monroe Partners used a post-accept email series to communicate critical information like start dates, role expectations, dress code and housing/leisure options. They also sent personalized communications regularly and matched each candidate with an early career consultant to answer questions and keep them engaged before their start date.
Bottom Line: Recruiting Results
Ultimately, professional services firms that source the right early talent for the right roles — and prioritize an innovative, efficient candidate experience to minimize turnover — will be more successful on campus.
