Client Testimonial: How Lloyd Connect is Using Indeed’s Global Presence to Help Solve Australia’s Talent Shortage Problem

In this interview, we sit down with Jenny Lloyd, Founder and Director of Connections at Lloyd Connect. Jen walks us through the challenges she has faced in the recruitment industry for the past 25 years, her inspiration for starting her own recruitment agency, Lloyd Connect, and how her client centric business model has helped her business flourish during COVID and beyond. Jen shares with us how Indeed’s global presence is helping her business find, hire, and relocate quality candidates overseas into Australia to fill hard to fill, and essential, roles in the education sector. 

Kamellia Zeynali: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today Jen. To start with, can you tell us a bit more about Lloyd Connect and why you decided to start it? 

Jenny Lloyd: I've had the business for seven and a half years. I decided to go out on my own after being with one recruitment agency for 15 years. I had been there for a really long time and I thought to myself, “I’m 40, what’s next?”, and that’s how Lloyd Connect came about. 

At Lloyd Connect, we do a lot of temp and contract work. We started originally working in the nonprofit and health sector, and have expanded in a number of ways to pivot with the economy and current labour market needs. So for example, during lockdown we actually helped to staff some of the vaccination clinics. That was something totally different that would have never happened had we not been able to be adaptable.

Now, with the current crisis in our education space here in Australia, particularly in early childhood, we’re working on a lot of roles in the education sector—even relocating candidates from overseas to help fill in essential roles. 

Kamellia: What do you love most about your job and what do you find most challenging?

Jen: I’d say here at Lloyd Connect, we are a bit different, I would describe us as client centric as opposed to being siloed. A lot of recruitment agencies have a specific industry they recruit for, however we don't just work in one sector of the business. When we partner with an organisation, we recruit for them right across the business. I think that’s what enabled us to survive, especially during the lockdowns. But, it also gives our team the opportunity to have a diversity in their work, so they’re not just doing the same thing over and over again. 

I do love the flexible working environment we have built here at Lloyd Connect. When the pandemic started and everyone shifted to work from home and remote working, it was a huge shock—but not for us. These were things we were already doing. A lot of our staff are young parents, and I love being able to support my staff with a flexible working schedule so they can do the after school pick ups or spend the morning with their kids around their work schedule. 

At the moment, the biggest challenge we're finding are the long processing times by the Australian government for these essential visas. We have so many delays in registrations for teachers at the moment, and it’s making it difficult to get people into the country on these skilled visas.

And it’s quite frustrating because we know that we have these shortages for teachers, and we’ve found candidates willing to move their lives to a new country to fill these roles, but then our migration process sometimes makes it difficult. So for example, we've been working with some of these candidates since May 2023, and they were due to be here in November 2023, but unfortunately there are still delays.

Kamellia: I understand that you’ve been a long-term user of Indeed, but only recently have you been more invested. Can you tell me what inspired you to put more of your eggs into the Indeed basket so to speak? 

Jen: To be honest, it's probably because Indeed is literally working. In the early days, because we weren't making the most of Indeed and all its resources, we weren't seeing the results we were hoping for. 

The turning point was in 2022, when I met an Indeed account manager, Brandon, at a conference. He knew a lot about our business and the challenges we had been facing, and said that our new account manager, Michael, would be in touch with strategies on how to move forward. And that’s just sort of when it clicked. Michael met with us and laid out a strategy of what we needed to implement to see the results we were looking for. And sure enough, that is when it started to work much better. 

Kamellia: Can you share a little bit about your experience with working with your Indeed account manager Michael?

Jen: I think there has been a big shift for us since we started working with our account manager, Michael. There's a direct correlation to working with Michael and the increase in the number of quality candidates we receive, and it’s simply because he understands the recruitment world and what we were trying to achieve. Working with both Michael and Neha has been brilliant, they’ve got amazing ideas that are really making a difference, and we’re getting the results we need for our clients. 

For example, we just launched a campaign three days ago, and we’ve already gotten over 50 applications.

So we’re seeing really, really big big numbers quickly. And it all comes down to working with an account manager that understands our business’ needs. 

Michael’s in-depth understanding of how we operate and what we need has made such a difference in the results we are getting from Indeed. Michael really is the right account manager for us because he understands that journey of relocating to Australia from another country, which has really been our bread and butter lately.

With some of the other job boards we partner with, our account managers are not nearly as invested in helping us succeed. 

Kamellia: How would you say Indeed’s global presence has helped your business with hiring and relocating candidates to Australia? 

Jen: It’s been a game changer in finding people since we can advertise our roles all over the world with Indeed. We've found that Indeed has better coverage in the areas that we're looking for candidates in. For example, right now we’re doing a campaign to attract teachers and educators from the UK to come to Australia. But we have other campaigns as well targeting candidates in other countries like New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Fiji, Canada, etc.

We wouldn't have had access to such a variety of candidates had it not been for Indeed’s global presence.

And I think this is something a lot of people aren’t aware of, the reach Indeed has, and the value of being able to put your campaign out across multiple countries. 

Indeed’s data has also helped ensure our campaigns are as effective as possible. For example, Indeed was able to tell us that an ‘early childhood teacher’ or ‘early childhood educator’ in the UK is actually called a ‘nursery practitioner’. With that information, we’re able to make sure our campaigns are relevant to the country they are in and our roles are actually showing up when candidates in that country are searching for them.

Kamellia: How would you say Indeed’s flexibility has helped you to make the shift to recruiting for the education sector, and bringing in overseas candidates into Australia? 

Jen: The flexibility with the different ways we can advertise, and the different countries we can advertise in, has been crucial to our business. It’s incredible that we are able to sit down with our clients and say, we see there’s a shortage in the education sector and we are going to fill those roles by targeting these countries with these campaigns. 

Also the flexibility with our campaigns, and how we can tweak them over time to make sure we’re getting the best results is so valuable. We often sit down with Michael and Neha and take a look at how our campaigns performed, what worked, what didn’t work, and what we can change to get better results. That flexibility is so important to us.

Kamellia: What advice would you give to others who have faced some of the similar challenges you have in the recruitment industry? 

Jen: Try something different. Don't go back to what you always used to do. Don’t be scared of change, of technology, of Chat GPT, of trying a new way of doing things. I know there is a lot of talk around AI and it replacing recruiters, but I don’t think that will ever happen. I see it removing admin work, and helping recruiters have a quicker turnaround which is better for both clients and candidates. The human element will always be needed, so don’t be afraid to try new and different things.

And the biggest piece of advice: you're going to have to spend some money to make money. 

Kamellia: Do you have any advice for people that are unsure if they should partner with Indeed for their recruitment needs?

Jen: The same as above: you have to try something new to see what the results will be, that’s the only way. The only way you’ll 100% know if Indeed is going to work for your business and for your clients is by giving it a go.

I love sharing this example, but I have found a variety of high quality candidates on Indeed.

I’ve found and hired a CEO and a lawyer on Indeed.

So no matter what type of roles you recruit for, you’ll never know if Indeed will work for you if you don’t give it a try.

Kamellia: Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience of working with Indeed?

Jen: Australia’s skill shortage isn’t going anywhere, so as recruiters, we really need to turn overseas to fill some of those hard to fill roles—and Indeed’s global presence has made it so much easier to find and hire overseas candidates. 

If you would like to learn more about how a partnership with Indeed can help transform your recruitment strategy, click here to schedule a free, 15-minute session with our Talent Strategy Advisor.