How Case Studies Can Help You Attract Clients And Candidates
Human beings can be funny? We hate to make mistakes and we can all be quite fearful at times. Never more so than when we are making major life changing decisions, like changing careers or moving companies.
It’s natural to look for some ‘evidence’ that we are making the right decision or that the recruiter we work with and the new company we join are a fit and a match for us.
The good news is that this is easier to do than most people realise. Enter the underutilised case study, something that few recruiters spend the time to develop about how they have helped their candidates and clients.
Case studies work because they utilise a powerful influencing principle notably; social proof. (We will talk more about this in another article that I think you will find useful.)
You only need to consider your own behaviour when it comes to being ‘convinced’ about a purchase before you jump in and say yes.
Who hasn’t looked at Trip Advisor before they book that special trip with their significant other? Or read a customer review on Amazon?
In our experience, below are the classic questions we all either hear or communicate on a regular basis when it comes to thinking through our own ‘recruiting’ decisions.
– What is ABC really like?
– Have they placed candidates like me before?
– Does this recruiter understand how I like to be communicated with?
– Do they ‘get’ how important team fit is in our organisation?
– What type of people work there?
– How would someone like me develop a career at ABC?
Imagine then being able to send a case study that can answer these questions before you have even met? How much impact would that have?
It doesn’t need to be complex either. A simple Q and A interview with a candidate or client (hint the type of candidate you want to attract) will help.
How to get the ball rolling
First of all if you are new to your recruiting firm find out if they have any case studies currently in use. If they do, excellent. If not you will probably have scored huge ‘brownie’ points already.
Depending on the client and candidate base you have access to you will have a number of potential positive experiences that your company has delivered that you could develop a case study from.
They don’t need to be war and peace either. Like great interview skills there is a process. A simple Q and A interview with a candidate or client (hint the type of candidate or client you want to attract) will help get you started.
Then put that together in a flow. The easy one to use follows the; S.A.R.F. principle.
S: What was the situation?
A: What actions did you take and then?
R: What were the results?
F: Finally you can add in a feedback section that can highlight what the client or candidate appreciated about you and your service.
Ready to get going?
Till next time,
Cheryl Wing and The GSR2R team