Tips for new education staffing agencies

If you are thinking about starting up your own recruitment agency and have decided education is the recruitment sector for you, then read on for a few useful tips from Flo to help get you started:

• Become accustomed with the Rules and Regulations:

Recruitment agencies are responsible for making sure all their employees and recruitment practices are fully compliant with all legislation, despite the size of the agency. This means complying with both industry-specific and cross-industry legislation such as the following:

* Right To Work

* The Agency Workers Regulations

* Proof of CPR training and accreditation

* GDPR 

* Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks

It is difficult to know the ins and outs of every piece of legislation which could be pertinent to an industry, and the full extent of all the possible compliance issues for education staffing agencies, but it is estimated as many as 25% of recruiters could be non-compliant with the latest HMRC legislation without their knowledge.

• Build relationships with schools by providing excellent customer service:

Providing an exceptional customer service is essential for building long-term relationships with clients and candidates, and ensuring they recommend you to others. Make sure that you have a personalised and knowledgeable approach that can quickly respond to their needs. Reach out to schools in your area and introduce your recruitment agency, make sure you understand their staffing needs and requirements.

• Research your competitors and offer competitive rates:

Researching your competitors as a recruitment agency can provide valuable insights into industry trends, pricing strategies, and recruitment techniques that can help you improve your own services and stay competitive. By understanding your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, you can also identify opportunities to differentiate yourself and stand out in the marketplace.

It can be tempting when first starting up to offer a very low agency fee to help get the first few clients onboard, however trying to be the cheapest provider or pricing your services just to undercut your competitors isn’t necessarily the best marketing move. After all, you are selling your value as an agency and starting too low can make prospective clients question your quality and whether you have the skills to fill their placements, you can offer cheaper pricing but don’t massively undersell your services. 

• Provide training opportunities:

Offering teaching staff further training is essential as it helps them to stay up-to-date with the latest educational practices and technologies, which can improve the quality of education they provide to students. As well, this can help them to develop new skills and knowledge that can enhance their teaching abilities and make them more effective in the classroom - overall this can increase staff motivation and job satisfaction, leading to higher levels of staff retention.

• Market your agency:

 Develop a marketing plan to raise awareness of your agency. Use social media, email marketing, and other channels to reach potential clients and candidates. Once you’ve figured out your business name, it’s important to set up a domain name - in the early days of setting up a recruitment agency a website might not be the first thing you think of, however, your agency logo and branding identifies and communicates your company's values, so it is worth investing in this area.

It’s important to register any social media accounts that you’ll use to share updates about your business. After all, social media allows you to create a voice for your agency, which can be developed to reflect your brand’s positioning and convey how unique your agency is in comparison to the rest of the industry. You can also consider starting a blog or newsletter to promote your agency and stay in touch with clients and candidates.

• Keeps costs low and think about funding:

 Start-up 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, so the fewer overheads you have in the early days, the better. Often start-ups can be under the misconception that you need to have a big office or a certain number of employees to get ahead in the industry but investing too much in a property or growing your workforce too early can drain important resources.  

Various options are out there for temp recruiters, it is just a matter of researching and securing the best and most suitable solution to secure better cash flow. Short-term business loans, credit cards or overdrafts are all options, but these can carry more risks and substantial additional charges.

Invoice financing companies for recruitment agencies can advance funds quickly and more cost effectively, raising finance against outstanding client invoices. Money can be received then well before a client settles their invoices, often as swiftly as 24 hours.

We can support you from the off at Flo, with resources, funding and all the services needed to launch your education agency or help you grow it. Contact us on 01827 438065 or info@flo.co.uk to find out more.