Article published on: 7/08/22
Setting up your own recruitment agency can be both rewarding and stressful at the same time. This blog discusses our top tips and things to remember, for any new recruitment agency.
Always analyse your closest competitors, whether your recruitment business is operating within a certain industry, only supplies a certain type of job or only recruits within a certain area.
This will give you an indication of their strengths and weaknesses, which you can learn from. Potentially, you could also find out more details such as what online recruitment software they’re using, what their margins are and how many employees they have, which are all critical pieces of information that can help boost your knowledge of the industry.
It’s crucial to have a clear idea of how your recruitment business will operate over the next 12 months, to ensure you can measure how effectively your business is performing in comparison to your objectives. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
As a start up recruitment business, you have limited resources and a plan gives you a clear strategy that allows you to implement those resources efficiently. For example, you can budget how much you will spend on online recruitment software, staff training and marketing, which means you will not be so tempted to spend more than necessary. Also, it’s important to have an understanding of which geographical areas you will be targeting, which industry sectors you’ll be supplying and what jobs you’ll specialise in.
To become more profitable, your recruitment business will rely on sales and marketing activity. It’s important to forecast your sales activity over the next 6-12 months as you can then plan your revenue stream, understanding when you will break even.
It’s also crucial to plan who you will target with your sales and marketing activity, how you will target them and when you will target these prospects. This ensures your sales and marketing process is prepared to meet growth objectives successfully. Additionally, your branding and online presence is important to your business, so it’s vital to set up a professional website and build your social media profiles. It’s important because your website and social media profiles, if used effectively, will generate client leads for your business and help attract new candidates.
Startup costs for running a recruitment business can be quite low, as you can limit this to a room, a computer with internet access and a mobile phone. Therefore, once you have placed a few candidates, you can quickly break even. However, it’s important to have regular financial appraisals to monitor your cash flow as things grow, and see how you’re performing financially, as you can then have clear visibility over whether you need to cut costs or if you have more financial leverage.
It’s crucial to choose the right online recruitment software for your business. This can save you significant resources including time, money and staff if you make the right decision. Client management software can really help your business become organised and efficient.
Running a startup temp recruitment business is never an easy process, especially in an industry as competitive as recruitment but the tips above should help. It’s a steep learning curve but it’s always important to learn from your mistakes and plan ahead for success. With the right strategy, knowledge and online recruitment software, your business will be prepared to achieve its objectives.
We can support you from the off at Flo, with resources, funding and all the services needed to launch your recruitment agency or help you grow it. Contact us on 01827 438065 or info@flo.co.uk to find out more
