At Talent Matters Live in Reading, Holly Langley, Founder and CEO of RE:STACK, shared how recruitment agencies can use automation to reduce admin, improve candidate experience, and drive more consistent results.
Her message was clear — automation doesn’t replace recruiters. It gives them time to focus on the human part of recruitment: conversations, relationships, and results.
Automation works best when your systems are connected
Holly’s first point was simple but vital — automation is only as effective as the data behind it.
Disconnected systems and spreadsheets make it hard to automate well. When your CRM, website, and multiposter are joined up, you create a single source of truth. That’s when automation really starts saving time and improving accuracy.
Remove the repetitive admin
Recruiters spend too much time on tasks that could easily be automated — sending interview reminders, collecting feedback, rejecting candidates.
By removing these manual steps, recruiters can focus on meaningful interactions instead of repetitive admin.
Automation should enhance the recruiter’s role, not replace it.
Automation supports the candidate experience
Timely communication can make or break the candidate experience.
Automating acknowledgement emails, follow-ups, and rejections ensures every applicant is treated with respect and kept in the loop — even when recruiters are offline.
It’s about delivering a consistent, thoughtful experience, at scale.
Find out what actually needs automating
Before building automations, Holly recommended auditing what’s really happening in your business.
Ask your recruiters what tasks they repeat most, review your CRM data, and gather feedback from candidates and clients.
Often, the biggest time savings come from small changes — like automating credit checks or interview feedback reminders.
Four simple automations that every agency should have
Candidate applications
Automatically acknowledge applications, collect key details like availability or salary expectations, and reject unsuitable candidates with a friendly, branded message.
Strong matches can be flagged for recruiter follow-up, while others are nurtured for future roles.
Newsletter & content engagement
Use regular, segmented email campaigns to share relevant jobs, industry insights, and practical advice.
This keeps candidates and clients engaged, positions your agency as an expert, and drives traffic back to your live vacancies.
Lapsed clients
Build a list of past clients who haven’t hired recently and re-engage them with market insights, salary benchmarks, or a shortlist of available talent.
It’s a simple way to unlock dormant revenue without cold calling.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Automate quick satisfaction surveys after interviews or placements to track candidate and client experience.
NPS helps identify training needs, improve retention, and generate testimonials and referrals.
The results speak for themselves
Automation delivers tangible benefits:
- Efficiency: recruiters focus on value, not admin.
- Accuracy: data and communication stay consistent.
- Better experiences: candidates and clients feel supported.
- 24/7 recruitment: processes run even when you don’t.
- Competitive advantage: you move faster than agencies still doing it manually.
Automation isn’t about removing people from recruitment — it’s about giving them the tools to work smarter.
As Holly put it, the agencies that win are the ones using automation to enhance human connection, not replace it.
About Holly Langley and RE:STACK
Holly Langley is the Founder and CEO of RE:STACK, a consultancy that helps recruitment agencies build smarter, more connected tech stacks.
Working with clients across the UK, US and Australia, RE:STACK specialises in optimising recruitment systems, automations, and processes to drive efficiency and growth.
