There is now too much focus on automation in the recruitment industry and not enough on communication, says People2people group managing director Mark Smith.

People2people won the candidate care award – for the second year running – and the client service gong in the 2023 RCSA awards, but Smith tells Shortlist he still doesn't think the company's doing anything "exceptional".

In the broader industry, "nobody that I talk to says 'oh, I don't really care so much about candidates'... They just don't, that's not their intention at all", he says. However, "it's almost like there's a mantra out there now: 'automate, automate, automate'".

"And I would change that and say: 'communicate, communicate, communicate'." All well-intentioned recruiters do communicate, Smith says, "but do they do it to everybody, and to the right person at the right time?". Many recruiters are, for example, a bit "flippant" about declining applications. "

Everyone needs to get acknowledgements," he says, noting many advertisements still put limits around the types of applicants that will get a response.

"And so, my solution to that is to use automation and systems to communicate to everybody, and to use more expensive consultant time to speak to those people at the right time."

It was the same 20 years ago, Smith says, despite advances in technology since then. (The image to the right is from a recent LinkedIn post about recruitment in the nineties.)

"Sure, there are now multiple channels... there's more and more ways to do it. There's more ways to speak to people. "But still you've got to speak to people at the right time and frequency. That's all it is."

Activating content like many other agencies, People2people runs webinars and produces resources for clients and candidates, but the challenge lies in 'activating' this, Smith says.

Efforts have to go beyond, "oh, you just need to go to the website and download it", he says.

"How do you tell them it's available? When do you tell them? At which stage in the process do you tell them? "Do you make sure that your consultants have access to it? Do you have a quick, easy way for consultants to share the information?" Automation can assist greatly, Smith says, but "people do business with people. They can't do business with the chatbot or an AI engine".

"So the critical thing in business is to understand where is the line drawn... When does the communication need to flip from being automated, chatbot, message-first, to human and calls?

"And I still don't really know myself," he says. "We're still experimenting on that."

Seeking feedback One thing Smith suggests People2people does more consistently than other agencies is to seek feedback and reviews from candidates and clients.

"Third-party recommendations are profoundly important for the buying decision in the 21st century," he says. "

You can stand at the top of the mountain and say how good you are, but nobody's listening unless somebody else says 'look how good they are'." Again, timing here is key. "We ask people, 'can you review us?' When they say, 'you've been great', that's when you say it."