Learning how to motivate a recruiting team is essential, and an agency with an unmotivated workforce is unlikely to thrive.

A massive 83% of executives agree that engaged employees are the biggest contributing factor to a company’s overall success.

Think about it like this…

If the smartest people in the world came together in a team, they would still need to be driven and motivated towards the same goals before they could accomplish much. 🤷‍♂️

(I’m talking the first Avengers movie, ‘can’t-quite-work-together-yet’ vibes.)

But all is not lost.

In this blog, we’ll explore why employee engagement is so valuable and look at some proven methods of motivating.

Contents

• Why is Motivation Important in the Workplace?
• 5 of the Best Ways to Motivate a Team
  • 1. Create a Welcoming Workplace
  • 2. Foster a Collaborative Company Culture
  • 3. Demonstrate Empathy and Flexibility
  • 4. Encourage Employee Development
  • 5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
• Other Creative Ways to Motivate Your Recruiting Team
  • Recruitment Technology 🤖
  • Performance Bonuses and Rewards 🤑
  • Data, Metrics and Analytics 📊
• Employee Engagement and Motivation Levels Directly Impact The Performance of Your Agency

Why is Motivation Important in the Workplace?

Motivation is crucial to workplace success, as it helps your team become more productive, hard-working and collaborative. 💯

With the right strategy and approach, your workplace can see a big difference.

If you can solidly place your team of recruiters in the 15% slice of employees that do feel actively engaged, you’ll have a massive leg-up on the competition. 🍕

And you’ll have the incredible chance to become substantially more profitable.

But how?

Keep reading, and AdBuilder will let the cat out of the bag.

5 of the Best Ways to Motivate a Team

In many ways, figuring out how to motivate a recruiting team effectively is similar to working out how to motivate any team effectively.

From being honest with your employees to celebrating their wins, here are five things you 100% need to do… 😇🎉

1. Create a Welcoming Workplace

An office space that’s grey and unfriendly will never inspire incredible output.

That’s the truth. 🥱

If you’re running an agency out of an office, making it as fit-for-purpose as possible is a sure-fire way to raise levels of motivation.

That means:

– Providing employees with ergonomic furniture solutions – Built-for-purpose ergonomic office furniture protects the physical wellbeing of your recruiters and better suits the space.

– Providing employees with high-quality technology solutions – High-quality tech enables your recruiters to do their jobs effectively and easily, unhampered by processing or AV issues.

– Creating a calming, aesthetically pleasing environment – This could be done in many ways. Perhaps a pop of refreshing colour to brighten things up? Or the introduction of some indoor plant life?

– Designing the space to suit the various demands of a recruiter’s working day – Your office should be flexible, inclusive of individual workstations AND meeting rooms for different types of work.

All of these things will make the office a place where your recruitment team is keen to spend time and encouraged to work hard.

But creating a welcoming workplace?

That process begins before a person steps foot in the office, as you likely know very well.

It begins during the recruitment phase.

Start to welcome could-be employees from the moment you make a first impression.

Include a strong diversity statement in your job ad and emphasise your company’s inclusive culture from day one.

You could even go the extra mile in terms of avoiding biased language in that job ad and check it for any hint of bias using AdGrader.

When you make an employee feel welcome at every turn, you foster a strong bond with that employee.

When you do this with every employee, you’re pretty much guaranteed to raise your retention rate and boost motivation levels across your workforce. 📈💪

2. Foster a Collaborative Company Culture

For 47% of active jobseekers, poor/unsuited company culture is the main reason cited for wanting to leave their previous role.

One of the most commonly observed examples of poor company culture is a culture in which micromanagement is common.

A culture in which employees don’t feel they have the agency and autonomy to collaborate and creatively problem-solve.

Strive to do the opposite with your recruiters.

Invest in team building.

Encourage out-of-work socialising and fun.

Let your team truly bond, then sit back and enjoy seeing them thrive.

(What’s a better low-cost motivator than getting LESS involved?) 😂

Even if some/all of your recruiters are working remotely, team building is possible in a virtual setting.

I’d recommend:

– Providing multiple communication channels – Options like email, instant messaging/chatting and video calling allow for more forms of conversation to occur – especially the kind of natural, casual conversation that fosters strong bonds. 

– Choosing video calls over phone calls wherever possible – Research reveals that video calls feel more personal and engaging to the majority of employees. 87% of remote team members agree that video conferencing makes them feel more connected to their colleagues.

3. Demonstrate Empathy and Flexibility

The worst employer in the world is one that doesn’t understand this simple fact:

People have lives outside of work, and sometimes, these lives will impact their work.

This fact is especially true of certain underrepresented groups in the workplace, like women with children and people of low socioeconomic status.

When you can’t be reasonable and flexible with your employees (and you make their lives more difficult as a result), they are far less likely to put in the hard work and remain motivated.

Wherever possible, be understanding and willing to bend.

It’s the best way to build a strong, hard-working recruiting team.

Offer hybrid/fully remote options or flexible working hours, if you can accommodate them.

(And studies show that you probably can.)

According to Workhuman research, this is what happens when a working culture feels human, encouraging and understanding:

– Employees are 112% more likely to feel appreciated for the work they do

– Employees are twice as likely to feel like they can grow within the organisation

– Employees are 30% more likely to feel like they fit in with co-workers

4. Encourage Employee Development

A Korn Ferry survey from 2018 tells us that a majority of people change jobs because they are bored and in need of new challenges.

These people are most likely working for employers that are failing to prioritise their professional development.

Failing to understand that once an employee enters your company, they don’t want to remain stuck at their entrance rank.

They want to grow, learn and get promoted over time.

In terms of impact on your agency’s performance, an extensive study of a range of companies recently revealed something very interesting…

Companies with the best corporate cultures are the ones that encouraged development.

In fact, revenue grew by a whopping 682%.

682%! 🤯💥

Encourage employee development and keep your engagement rate high by:

– Assigning mentors and providing one-to-one focus

– Working with your recruiters to create individualised development plans together

– Continually providing new development and training opportunities

– Continually providing your recruiters with chances to improve their soft skills (leadership, communication, customer service, so on)

– Implementing cross-departmental training

– Helping employees to cover tuition for continued education in the field of recruitment

– Asking employees to provide training topics

– Setting clear and reasonable expectations

– Foster a knowledge-sharing and networking culture across your recruitment agency

– Fostering a culture of upward mobility across your recruitment agency

5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Communication is king, and it’s one of the best low-cost motivators that you have at your disposal. 👑

In many cases, the only thing that good communication will cost you is time.

And even that, you’ll get back in the long-term.

(People work more efficiently and effectively when they’re 100% clear on what it is they should be doing.)

There are a million different suggestions in this area.

Here are a few of my best:

– Always be honest – The truth can be a vulnerable thing, and sometimes telling the truth might be a lot more complex than avoiding it. But it’s the right thing (and the only thing) to share if you want to keep your employees motivated. Trust is a two-way street, after all.

– Welcome questions and queries – Make sure that your recruiters know they can come to you with questions, fears, worries and concerns. Strive to answer each one as well as you can. An open-door policy will allow you to head off potential motivation-harming situations at the pass.

– Communicate your desires clearly and promptly – Don’t expect people to read your mind. If you’d like a recruiter to do something/not do something, explain this quickly and with clarity. Don’t tiptoe around the problem, or it will only grow into a bigger one down the line.

– Set goals, share goals and celebrate wins – Set long-term and short-term goals, and share these with your workforce. When your agency meets a goal, take the time to celebrate it (and the contribution that all your recruiters made to reach it).

– Make your employee appreciation meaningful and frequent – Regularly demonstrating true appreciation is a must, as the majority of employees agree that the most important method of support a manager or company can provide is recognition and appreciation.

Other Creative Ways to Motivate Your Recruiting Team

So far, we’ve explored many methods of increasing engagement in the workforce.

We know, now, that simple actions like regularly providing praise and fostering employee development can have a massive impact on motivation.

But there’s more.

What about methods that are a little more specific to the recruitment sector?

A little more pin-pointed? 📌

Here are three further ways, grounded in the hiring industry, that you can create a highly motivated workforce of recruiters.

Recruitment Technology 🤖

For agencies like yours, automated recruitment tools are a godsend. 🙏

75% of recruiters now make use of applicant tracking systems, and a further 42% of agencies say that investing in tools to accelerate hiring is a top priority moving forwards.

There are also:

– AI tools

– Mobile recruiting tools

– Sourcing tools

– Screening and assessment tools

– Job advert building tools (Did anyone say, AdBuilder?)

– Data interpreting tools

– Time management and collaborative working tools

– Job advert bias checking tools (Ok, someone definitely said AdGrader that time! )

Performance Bonuses and Rewards 🤑

This next motivator is an extension of the fact that employees want to be acknowledged and appreciated for their hard work.

If you can develop a reward system that makes your recruiters feel appreciated and recognises their contributions, you can motivate them to keep at it. 🎁

This system might be awarding bonuses, usually as a surprise following the completion of a certain hire or task.

Or this system might be offering incentive pay, a form of variable bonus awarded based on performance.

Incentive pay is an advertised reward – something your recruiters can actively work towards.

If you choose to offer incentive pay, the recruiters who hire the most effectively based on several different metrics will see the biggest bonuses.

Data, Metrics and Analytics 📊

This method of motivation ties into both of the above.

Data interpretation tools will help you to simplify the task and measuring metrics will help you to award bonuses and rewards accordingly.

In short, when analytics clearly tell you how a recruiter is doing:

– They can be appreciated and acknowledged

– They can target areas for improvement and set realistic goals

– They can become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses

– They can enjoy a bit of healthy competition with their peers

Remember, if you choose to gather data and freely share it with your workforce, it doesn’t always tell you the entire story.

It’s up to you to make sure the metrics you’re measuring are the correct ones.

For instance, always ensure you’re accounting for quality of hire AND quantity of hire.

Both are key. 🗝

Employee Engagement and Motivation Levels Directly Impact The Performance of Your Agency

In the words of Simon Sinek, “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.”

The best way to raise your agency’s profile and grow a highly profitable recruitment business is to build a team that feels motivated to contribute. 🤝❤️

And the best way to do that?

Ensuring everyone is supported, heard and engaged at work.

There are many options fit for the task of increasing recruiter engagement and motivation, but we strongly believe that AdBuilder is one of the best low-cost motivators available in the sector today.

You could massively streamline the job ad writing process with this platform, taking it down to just 10 minutes.

As a result, you could free up the time of your team to complete more meaningful, important work, increasing their overall professional happiness and contentment.

A happy employee is a motivated employee.

Get an AdBuilder demo and see the results for yourself.

Or for more advice on boosting your recruitment agency’s performance, stick around on our blog and check out:

• How Can My Recruitment Agency Start Attracting Passive Candidates?
• Filling Job Positions with Workers: Top Tips for Recruiters
• How Should I Manage Data as a Recruiter?
• Should My Recruitment Agency Be Entering Awards?