Linux
operating system. Not for the technologically faint hearted, Linux
is a 'community engineered' alternative to the Windows operating
system. Benefits to recruitment agencies are
The
machines are usually cheaper and faster than a Windows PC
They
carry equivalent packages (e.g. word processor, spreadsheet,
presentation etc) for all available Windows office software with
one key difference, the Linux software is all open source and is
therefore free!
Linux
machines tend not to suffer virus attacks. With Windows I used to
loose 2 to 3 days per year (plus sleep) over virus attacks and
having to recover data. With Linux in 2 years I've had none!
The
one thing to be careful of here is that Linux is different kit to
windows, so you should
have a specialist Linux company to support you. But,
if you can get this, my opinion is, and
I stress it's my opinion, Linux is fantastic for
recruitment consultants, cheaper to buy, cheaper
to run, faster and more reliable!
Open
source software. Office software, and in particular CRM systems can
cost recruitment agencies vast amounts of money to set up and run.
Open source software is free, created and updated by a large
community of techies it's presents highly sophisticated alternatives
to traditional software. There are now very good open source CRM
packages, totally free as they are open source and perfectly usable
as recruitment agency database software. As with Linux, it's
advisable to find a company who will support you through it, but
other than support, the software is free to obtain and use on an
ongoing basis, and it's web based, making it easy for recruitment
consultants to view from any location. Have a look at Sugar CRM.
Messenger.
Not that new, but essential technology for any recruitment agency,
messenger enables staff to communicate from anywhere, real-time, so
long as they can get an internet connection. There are a number of
benefits
Saves on
phone and text charges, messenger communication is free.
Highly
effective for team working with channels to all open all of the
time
Excellent
to support home working in maintaining contact with staff.
It will
Work on any PC or mobile device with an internet connection.
Social
Networking sites. These have become somewhat of a craze for all
recently. There are a number of business orientated sites which can
act as huge and free resource for consultants. One example is
linkedin. On this site you link to business people you know and
have worked with. If they all do the same and you link to all their
colleagues, AND the you link to all of their colleagues as well,
that is you are linked to people twice removed. If you think this
through, if you are a recruitment consultant, and you link to
someone in your market, say the engineering market, and you link to
a candidate placed, you may pick up hundreds of contacts onto your
network form the engineering market. Once linked, you have access
to all their details and the ability to contact. If this is done
properly this is possibly the largest free database on the world!
Each
of these may offer a large or small competitive advantage. However,
recruitment consultants who employ them all are bound to do far
better than those who don't, so take note! Good luck.
