Blog

On the 9th of July, SourceFlow hosted an energetic and insightful Lunch & Learn event in Manchester, bringing together recruitment marketers, agency leaders, and operations pros from across the UK. The event focused on the evolution of recruitment marketing — and the bold strategies required to lead growth in today’s challenging market. Here’s a recap of the key takeaways from the day’s expert speakers: 1. Kristie Perrotte – Think Like a CMO, Act Like a Founder   Kristie is the Founder and Chief Thriver at Thrive Recruitment Marketing, a consultancy that empowers marketing leaders in the recruitment space with strategic coaching and execution support. Kristie opened the event with a session designed to inspire marketers to step up and speak the language of business. She stressed the importance of aligning with commercial goals—and of measuring marketing's true value in terms of revenue, not reach. She said:  “They don’t want to know how beautiful the engine is—they want to know if it’s going to get them to their goal, faster.”    Top tip: Create and revisit a marketing plan monthly, using it to challenge distractions and keep leadership aligned on priorities. 2. Simon Brown – Marketing Runs the Table. Sales Plays on It.   Simon is the Founder of Richard Knows Best, a consultancy helping recruitment agencies modernise their sales and marketing approach through data, creativity, and common sense. He challenged the room to ditch outdated BD tactics and shift to a marketing-led growth model. He argued that recruiters must stop seeing marketing as a “colouring-in department” and start investing in it like they would in sales. He said:  “If recruitment is a marketing job, then marketing is now a tech job. If you don’t understand the tools, you can’t drive the growth.”    Top tip: Let marketers lead your go-to-market strategy—including CRM usage, tool selection, and cadence-driven outreach. 3. Chelcie Harry & Janine Owen – 10 Questions Recruitment Marketers Want Answers To   Chelcie is Group Marketing Director at Levin, a global tech recruitment group, Janine is the Founder of JO&Co, a consultancy helping recruitment marketers drive revenue and scale their impact. Together, they answered the questions every recruitment marketer wants help with—from proving ROI to building influence at board level. Their message was clear: revenue attribution, data storytelling, and knowing your numbers are non-negotiables in modern   recruitment marketing  . Chelcie said: “The second you move from brand metrics to revenue, you change the conversation.”    Janine added: “Don’t just report numbers—tell a story. Show where you’re going and what it means for the business.”    Top tip:   If your CRM is messy or reporting is limited, start small—use a spreadsheet, track leads manually, and focus on demonstrating commercial value. Our Manchester Lunch & Learn made one thing clear: Recruitment marketing is no longer a support function—it’s the engine of growth for modern agencies. Whether you're scaling content, proving ROI, or driving purpose-led outreach, the marketers who embrace commercial thinking, creativity, and confidence will shape the future of recruitment. You can check out the slides from the event by clicking right here.   Author: Will Astbury, Global Head of Marketing, SourceFlowI have worked in recruitment marketing for nearly a decade and now lead strategic growth and communications at SourceFlow. As someone who’s led marketing in the recruitment space, I know how difficult it is to get real-time feedback at scale. That’s exactly what we set out to fix with SourceFlow Engagement.   SourceFlow do WAY more than industry-leading recruitment website design. We build recruitment websites and marketing tools that amplify ROI and provide transparency with state-of-the-art data insights.

Will Astbury

Events

Earlier this month, SourceFlow officially launched its latest product, SourceFlow Engagement, during a live webinar hosted by our Global Head of Marketing, Will Astbury. The session brought together recruitment operations and marketing leaders to explore how automation, AI, and strategic insight can reshape retention and performance. Alongside Will, the webinar featured a platform demonstration from Helen Taylor, Head of Customer Experience at SourceFlow, and a customer case study from Rebecca Lauder-Fletcher, Head of Marketing & Ops at Source Group International (SGI). Their discussion offered valuable insight into how SourceFlow Engagement functions as effective customer retention management software for recruitment businesses. Closing The Feedback Loop Recruitment is full of moving parts: consultants, clients, contractors, and candidates all create touchpoints every day. Historically, gathering feedback across these groups has been inconsistent at best. Many agencies still rely on basic surveys, manual forms, or anecdotal insights passed up through consultants. SourceFlow Engagement changes this by automating the process at scale. Whether you’re sending out a customer satisfaction survey to clients, or an employee engagement survey internally, the platform helps you capture feedback at the right time, with minimal effort. As Helen explained, "We built SourceFlow Engagement to close the feedback loop across the recruitment journey. It means no more guesswork and no more delayed reporting—just consistent, real-time insight." Reporting That Works For Recruitment Firms One of the standout moments from the webinar came from Rebecca, who shared how SGI is using the platform to inform board-level decisions. "It’s a game changer," Rebecca said of the AI-generated summaries. "It was very manual before—going through each individual response, looking at patterns, then trying to create a cohesive summary. Now, we receive AI summaries every month just before our board updates, and it’s really easy to digest from both an operations and a sales perspective." Will reinforced this point: "We’re helping agencies move from scattered, reactive feedback to a strategic, ongoing view of experience that supports growth and retention." From Insight To Action Beyond just making feedback collection easier, SourceFlow Engagement gives recruitment leaders the tools to take action: Spot at-risk clients early and intervene before relationships are lost Track consultant engagement over time, by team, location, or tenure Surface real feedback from candidates that’s more than just a number As Rebecca noted, "We’re no longer flying blind. Now we can see exactly what’s happening and act on it—quickly and with confidence." Purpose-Built For Recruitment Unlike general-purpose tools, SourceFlow Engagement is designed specifically for recruitment processes. It integrates directly with ATSs and the SourceFlow dashboard, allowing agencies to embed surveys into existing journeys and trigger them at key milestones. You can build your own employee engagement survey questions, personalise messaging for different brands, and benchmark results over time or against industry standards. Watch The Webinar Replay If you missed the launch event, you can still catch the full session on demand. You’ll see a full demo of the platform and hear directly from SGI on the results they’re seeing after rollout. And if you’re ready to see how SourceFlow Engagement could support your business, book a demo with our team today. 🔗 Get a demo Author: Will Astbury, Global Head of Marketing, SourceFlowI have worked in recruitment marketing for nearly a decade and now lead strategic growth and communications at SourceFlow. As someone who’s led marketing in the recruitment space, I know how difficult it is to get real-time feedback at scale. That’s exactly what we set out to fix with SourceFlow Engagement.   SourceFlow do WAY more than industry-leading recruitment website design. We build recruitment websites and marketing tools that amplify ROI and provide transparency with state-of-the-art data insights.

Will Astbury

Webinars

If your recruitment agency is rethinking its recruitment website design or refreshing its recruitment marketing strategy, there’s no avoiding one hot topic: AI. But not all AI is created equal. In a recent episode of From The Source, SourceFlow’s Christian Coley sat down with Zach Sines, TA Technology Manager at North Highland, to unpack how staffing firms should think about recruitment technology—especially when it’s branded “AI-powered.” Their conversation revealed something many in the industry are only starting to realise: evaluating recruitment AI isn’t just about features—it’s about outcomes, scale, and real partnerships. Start With the Outcome, Not the Features Zach’s most practical advice for recruiters? “Ask what problem it’s solving. If you can’t answer that clearly, you’re not ready to invest.” When improving your recruitment website design, don’t just bolt on AI features to appear modern. Instead, identify whether that chatbot, personalisation engine, or content generator actually moves the needle—does it attract better candidates? Improve conversion? Make your recruitment marketing more effective? AI Doesn’t Replace Recruiters—It Supports Them Zach was clear: AI isn’t about removing people from the process. “You can’t AI-generate trust.” Recruitment is still a relationship business. AI can help with job ad writing, automated screening questions, and sourcing assistance—but it can’t replace human conversations or empathy. When redesigning your recruitment website, focus on how AI can enhance the candidate journey without removing the recruiter’s voice. Know What AI Actually Means Many platforms claim to use AI—but they’re often just automated workflows. Understanding core concepts like natural language processing, machine learning, or large language models will help your team ask better questions and choose better tools. Zach’s advice? Be sceptical of any tool that promises too much and shows too little. If it’s not improving your recruitment marketing efforts or candidate outcomes, it’s probably not worth the spend. Make Sure Your Recruitment Website Design Can Scale It’s easy to choose a tool that works today—but what about next year? Zach emphasised the importance of scalability. When evaluating any recruitment AI solution or redesigning your recruitment website, consider: Can this platform evolve with your brand? Will it support new services, sectors, or teams? Is the provider open to co-creating features that support your growth? North Highland, for example, worked with SourceFlow to create a bespoke referral solution that tied directly into their website—because the platform was built for partnership, not just plug-and-play. Partnership Over Product Zach said it best: “We’re not just looking for features. We’re looking for partners who help us solve real problems.” If your recruitment tech vendor isn’t willing to adapt, respond to feedback, or align with your long-term recruitment marketing goals, they’re probably not the right fit. Final Thought: AI Isn’t a Strategy—It’s a Tool As UK firms adopt more digital tools, it’s tempting to think of AI as the strategy itself. But the most effective firms will use AI to support the strategy—not define it. Use AI to power your job ads, enhance recruitment website design, and give your recruitment marketing more reach—but always ensure there’s a clear human outcome. --- If you would like to watch the full discussion between Christian and Zach, click the play button below. SourceFlow do WAY more than industry-leading recruitment website design. We build recruitment websites and marketing tools that amplify ROI and provide transparency with state-of-the-art data insights.

SourceFlow

Expert Insights

These insights were originally shared by Will Astbury, Global Head of Marketing at SourceFlow, during a live presentation at an event hosted by recruitment marketing agency RecBound in March 2025. Will shared practical tips and strategies for building recruitment websites that actually drive leads and revenue. -- So, you’ve spent thousands on your website and you’re wondering... where are the leads? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. A huge number of recruitment agencies feel the same. In fact, 70% of recruitment websites fail basic SEO performance benchmarks, and most agencies don’t get anything close to what they should in terms of ROI. Here’s the good news: your website can work harder for you. You just need the right strategy. Based on experience with over 150 recruitment brands (and real-life results like a 683% engagement increase for Maxwell Bond), here are 3 actions you can take to turn your site into a proper lead-generating machine. 1. Sort Out Your Recruitment Website’s Performance Let’s be honest—most recruitment websites are slow. And that’s a problem. If your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, 53% of mobile users bounce. Google knows this, and their March 2025 update reinforced it: page speed and user experience are major ranking factors. Easy wins: Resize all images. Think KB not MB. Switch image formats to WebP or AVIF. Cut clutter—each page should have one clear purpose. Also, structure your job posts properly. Add schema markup so job ads appear on Google for Jobs. That alone can boost visibility by 30%. Accessibility tip: Make your site usable for everyone. Add proper alt text. Use high contrast colours. Structure your pages clearly. Nearly 70% of disabled users will leave a site immediately if it’s inaccessible. 👉 Want a checklist? Download our Website Accessibility Checklist 2. Regularly Post Useful, Searchable Content Google’s March 2025 update also shook things up for content: Backlinks? Less important now. Spammy AI content? Penalised. Real, useful, consistent content? Rewarded. Use Google’s E-A-T principle: Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. You don’t need to be a writer—but you do need to add value. Even if AI helps structure your content, your job is to bring your insight and voice to it. One idea: incentivise your team to contribute content. At SourceFlow, we’ve seen this drive real SEO gains. 3. Don’t Just Build It—Use It! Your website isn’t a shop window. It’s a campaign platform. One of the best lead-generating tools? Salary reports. Why? They provide real value Great excuse for sales calls Can fuel lead gen for 6+ months Run it like a campaign: 4–8 weeks data collection (let consultants lead this) Feature industry influencers to boost credibility Launch with paid ads, email, and automation Share highlights at events, in pitches, on social Track and route every lead to your CRM automatically. No manual spreadsheets. No lost contacts. Just value. Final Thought: 3 Quick Wins You Can Do Today Run a Google PageSpeed Insights test—fix 1 red flag. Use ReciteMe accessibility testing. Add SEO-friendly alt text to every image. 👉 Want more tips? Download our free playbook or drop us a line.SourceFlow do WAY more than industry-leading recruitment website design. We build recruitment websites and marketing tools that amplify ROI and provide transparency with state-of-the-art data insights.

SourceFlow

Featuring insights from Frank Nijmeijer, Chief Growth Officer at Wonderkind, and Matt Comber, CEO of SourceFlow In a recent episode of From The Source: Expert Insights, two leaders in the recruitment tech space—Frank Nijmeijer from Wonderkind and Matt Comber from SourceFlow—sat down to discuss a growing concern within the staffing industry: the continued over-reliance on job boards to advertise jobs. It’s a timely and relevant conversation for recruitment businesses trying to get more out of their marketing spend—and it starts by questioning long-standing habits. Why Job Boards Might Be Costing More Than They’re Worth Recruitment firms have historically leaned on job boards to advertise a job. It’s familiar, it’s scalable, and it appears to deliver quick results. But Frank and Matt argue that this model has become unsustainable in today’s landscape. “There’s a lot of bleeding money going on,” Matt says. “Recruiters are throwing large sums at job boards without truly measuring what value they’re getting in return.” The issue isn’t just the cost—it’s that the reach and results aren’t what they used to be. When every competitor is advertising jobs in the same places, you’re not gaining competitive advantage—you’re just part of the noise. Meet the Experts: Wonderkind & SourceFlow To understand where they’re coming from, it’s worth knowing what Wonderkind and SourceFlow do: Wonderkind is a social job advertising platform that helps companies attract top talent by targeting candidates where they actually spend time—social media, Google, and other online channels. By using AI and programmatic technology, Wonderkind empowers recruiters to advertise jobs more effectively and reach both active and passive candidates with precision. SourceFlow build high-performing recruitment websites and marketing tools for staffing firms. They help agencies streamline their marketing efforts—from branded career pages to automated content distribution—without needing a full in-house team. Both companies are aligned in their mission: helping recruiters adopt a smarter, more data-driven approach to advertising jobs and attracting talent. The Problem with "Post and Pray" Frank nails the core issue: traditional job boards support a “post and pray” mentality. You write a job ad, post it, and hope the right candidates see it. There’s little targeting, almost no retargeting, and limited ways to engage talent who don’t apply right away. “Would you market a product that way?” Frank asks. “Of course not. Yet so many recruiters are still advertising jobs like it’s 2015.” Instead, Frank advocates for treating each job ad as a campaign. That means using recruitment marketing techniques like: Dynamic ad targeting on social media Branded career content Email nurturing and remarketing Conversion-focused landing pages And it’s not just theory—Frank’s team at Wonderkind sees real-world results when firms shift budget from job boards to smarter campaign-based advertising. Owned Media: A Smarter Way to Advertise a Job Matt builds on this by talking about the shift toward owned media—content and platforms you control, like your website, email list, and employer brand channels. “It’s about investing in assets you own, rather than renting space on someone else’s platform,” he explains. SourceFlow help recruitment firms move in this direction by giving them tools to: Create branded job pages that convert Automate the distribution of content across channels Track real engagement and application rates When you own the experience, you can optimise it over time. You’re not just advertising jobs—you’re creating a continuous pipeline of engaged talent. The Future of Recruitment Marketing is Strategic One of the most powerful moments in the conversation comes when Matt says, “Recruiters need to start thinking like marketers.” And it’s true—recruitment marketing is no longer optional. It’s a necessity. In this new model, job ads aren’t just a box-ticking exercise. They’re a strategic lever for growth. With the right tools, firms can: Identify which channels deliver the highest quality applications Reduce reliance on costly job boards Reach passive candidates with tailored messaging Improve candidate experience and employer brand This isn’t just about cost-cutting—it’s about improving performance. Is It Time to Audit Your Job Advertising Strategy? If you’re still spending most of your budget on job boards, it might be time to step back and ask: What’s really working? Recruitment has evolved, and the way you advertise a job should evolve with it. Whether it’s embracing automation, targeting passive talent, or building your own marketing assets, there are smarter ways to do more with less. 🎥 Watch the Full Interview Frank Nijmeijer and Matt Comber bring a wealth of insight—and practical advice—in this episode of From The Source: Expert Insights. Whether you’re a recruiter, agency owner, or marketer in the industry, this conversation will challenge your thinking and inspire your next move. 👉 Watch the full episode now on YouTube and discover how the most forward-thinking firms are transforming how they advertise jobs: SourceFlow do WAY more than industry-leading recruitment website design. We build recruitment websites and marketing tools that amplify ROI and provide transparency with state-of-the-art data insights.

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