Recruiting: Effective Client Acquisition Strategies
An Interview with Lea Podgajnik from UNTERWALD on Modern Recruitment Challenges
It’s becoming increasingly difficult for recruitment agencies to find suitable personnel. Potential candidates often have multiple offers, and companies must impress to attract qualified professionals. Professional recruiters must adapt to this change and consider new strategies: It’s no longer enough to simply post a job ad or make a cold call. Instead, companies need to be consistently present and reputable across multiple channels from the outset to create a positive impression and encourage candidates to engage with job offers.
Lea Podgajnik from UNTERWALD explores this topic extensively. As a bridge between recruiting, marketing, and IT, UNTERWALD helps companies enhance their visibility as employers and reduce administrative recruitment tasks through digital strategies. As an expert in this area, Lea explains what modern recruiting involves and introduces tools that make recruitment more efficient.
Let’s start with an introduction. Who are you and what do you do for a living?
My name is Lea Podgajnik, and I’ve been in recruitment for six years. I originally came from the IT and digital industry. During the first COVID-19 lockdown, I started UNTERWALD to connect these sectors—recruiting, marketing, and IT. In a nutshell, I assist employers and staffing agencies in digitizing their recruitment processes and strategies. My focus is on candidate and client acquisition through organic reach—without marketing budgets and cold calling.
How can recruitment consultants generate new business and clients in 2022? What role do warm and cold calling play?
I must confess—I dislike cold calling. Many in our industry are excellent at it, often handling initial contacts with potential clients over the phone charmingly and effectively. I was always too shy for that, so I developed strategies to attract new clients without cold calling or marketing budgets. These strategies are what I teach my recruitment consultancy clients.
So, how do you attract clients and candidates without picking up the phone or resorting to standard active sourcing in the new year? You need to make yourself visible to your target audience so they come to you. This is best achieved with a well-optimized, conversion-oriented website and algorithm-friendly use of social media platforms. Most view their online presence from a creative angle, but the technical aspects—like SEO, usability, and algorithms—are the real game-changers. By generating visibility and reach through social media like LinkedIn, your content ensures you’re dealing with warm leads. Prospective clients and candidates already have an impression of your recruitment services and methods.
What tips do you have for modern client acquisition? What advice would you give to recruitment agencies looking to gain new clients, and why?
I always recommend having a diverse portfolio of acquisition and recruitment channels. Relying on a single channel might lead to difficulties if it becomes less effective. Additionally, this approach ensures you’re not “fishing in the same pond as your competitors.”
I’ve particularly noticed this with cold calling and active sourcing—many customers and candidates are now annoyed by cold approaches and often react negatively or not at all. Before reaching that point, it’s essential to try and evaluate additional channels.
For example, if I’m already on LinkedIn for active sourcing, occasionally posting job ads and engaging with potential clients, why not leverage the full potential of the network and learn how to make myself visible through content?
Compared to five years ago, how has recruiting changed? What opportunities and challenges have emerged?
Recruiting is changing quickly. I’m not a fan of the saying “The war for talent is over, and the talent has won,” but it highlights that candidates are no longer beggars in the job market. With many open positions and few active job seekers, finding suitable candidates and convincing them of new employers is becoming increasingly difficult. This remains relevant in 2022.
Visibility is crucial. Even if passive candidates aren’t actively searching, employers must find ways to become visible as an employer or career partner. A strong digital foundation, a transparent job or career placement offer, and organic reach on channels where talents are active are very helpful.
What role does technology and automation play in this, and how can they help with challenges?
I love tech and automation in recruiting but always emphasize that recruiting is a people business and should remain so. The huge opportunity in the sensible and well-measured use of technology in recruiting helps us reduce administrative and operational effort, allowing more time for what truly matters—connecting with people in the recruitment process.
Conclusion: Meeting New Demands
Adapting recruiting to digitalization is undoubtedly a challenge for many companies. Traditional approaches like cold calling are no longer as effective in today’s job market. Therefore, recruiters should familiarize themselves with modern methods and the possibilities of social platforms. The right digital tools are crucial for improving client acquisition. By adopting a digital and sustainable approach, agencies can meet new market demands and optimize their search for clients and candidates.
About UNTERWALD
Since 2020, UNTERWALD has been merging recruiting, marketing, and IT to establish intelligent recruitment strategies, showing staffing agencies and employers how to achieve visibility with their target audience through organic reach. The goal is not short-term marketing campaigns, but building a strong digital foundation with sustainable and long-term digitalization strategies for recruitment without cold calling and campaign costs.
If you want to learn more about suitable software for your recruiting agency, contact us here.