5 Tips to Start Your Own Recruiting Agency

The definition of the workplace has changed drastically over the years to incorporate the idea of coworking spaces, remote offices, and no-office companies as well. Moreover, the notion of employment has altered to embrace freelancers, digital nomads, and remote teams. Collaboration and competitiveness now both play a vital role in defining what modern-day employment is and how companies hire talent. That is why the emergence and the growing necessity for recruiting experts is a natural response to this diversification of the modern workforce.

To meet the needs of employees coming from different generations, but also to create a selection process that will make sense for different businesses, companies are now more than eager to work with recruiting experts. If you want to start your own recruiting agency and reap the many rewards of this lucrative career opportunity, here are the five key tips to make sure you’re on the right track:

Brace yourself for the financial investment

Even the most brilliant experts in the recruiting industry cannot guarantee the success of their own agencies without the necessary capital to run their day-to-day operations. Money is the fuel to your future agency, and you need an ample amount of it to ensure optimal cash flow, cover your everyday expenses, and keep your business afloat.

Of course, the budget range for any business varies from country to country and from niche to niche, so you need to look into your legal obligations for details on the necessary initial capital, business registration fees, licenses, and certifications, as well as any other costs that go into the process of setting up your agency. If you want your business to grow, even if it’s just a one-person show for now, you need that initial cash injection that will ensure optimal growth in the future.

Build a personal and corporate brand

The hiring industry is all about people. As a mediator between other businesses and their potential candidates and future game-changers, you need to present yourself both as an expert in the field and as a relatable human being. Both represent a challenge, hence the need to create a personal brand that will resonate with your target audiences, both the employers and the candidates. From choosing the right domain name that fits your business identity to selecting the right visual elements, your brand is your main asset in letting the world know that you’re an authority in the field.

Your personal brand will be the foundation for your business image as well since you are the key figure. As the main point of contact for anyone looking for your services, representing yourself, your corporate brand and the interests of those companies when looking for the right employees for their needs. Branding is what sets you apart and lets you steal the spotlight, hence the need to brand your business properly from the get-go.

Consider various business models

Depending on your business goals and your idea of what a perfect agency constitutes, you can set up a recruiting business based on a variety of different models. Take your finances, your skills, and your desire to expand into account, since all of those factors will determine if any of these models will fit your strengths:

• Join a trusted franchise if you’re a skilled professional that wants the stability of an existing brand, but with the autonomy to run your own office. It does require substantial investments, but oftentimes less than what you need to start an agency on your own.
• A solopreneur agency where you run your recruiting business alone, and in such circumstances, you just need the right tech stack and a starting investment for the essentials. 
• Start a partnered business alongside an existing brand, or even with someone who can share the financial burden with you and shares the skills in recruiting that can help you set up an agency.

Develop a business plan

No matter if you select to run a franchise, run your own business, partner up with someone or take an entirely different route, you need a detailed business plan designed for your particular situation. No single business plan can fit all of the listed business models or even individual businesses within them. Your business plan should focus on short, mid, and long-term goals as well as selected milestones that are needed for you to reach all of those goals.

That includes your daily tasks, deadlines, communications, growth forecasting, marketing assessments, networking opportunities, as well as a certain level of flexibility that will let you adjust your plan as you move forward. Everything from bookkeeping, your own recruiting needs, pricing your services, to your sales strategy needs to be thoroughly outlined in your plan.

Use appropriate marketing methods 

Finally, marketing your brand and your services takes time, skill, and expertise. You might find yourself in need of professional marketing services just to be able to focus on the day-to-day tasks of running an agency, so that you can ensure consistent, streamlined growth and sustainability of your new agency. Make sure that you have a strategy in place that will enable you to market your agency properly across social networks, with the help of SEO, your website, link-building strategies, and of course, networking to meet and greet the people you can work with. 

Setting up and running a recruiting business is a very lucrative opportunity, but it should not be taken lightly. Use these tips to ensure a strong foundation for your agency and let your business thrive!

About the Author

Jacob Wilson is a business consultant, and an organizational psychologist, based in Brisbane. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for Bizzmark blog.