Starting any business isn’t easy, but it’s especially tricky in the recruitment world. With so much legislation to be aware of, systems to incorporate, and the challenge of finding your footing in a very competitive industry, going in blind is a recipe for disaster.

Although we’re not a recruitment company, we do work with a lot of them. From small start-ups to massive corporations with thousands of temporary workers in their database, it’s safe to say that we know our stuff when it comes to recruiting.

So if you’re thinking about starting a recruitment agency, we’ve put together a guide that will help you avoid those early pitfalls, and get things up and running faster.

 

Why Start a Temporary Recruitment Agency?

Anyone who has worked in or around recruitment knows that it’s incredibly competitive. But if you can get a good start, it’s more than worth the risk. There is always high demand for recruiters, especially within the niches we’ll talk about in a moment.

Temporary recruitment agencies, who provide workers on temporary and flexible contracts, are in equally high demand, and this sector is growing fast. As businesses try to keep their teams small, but still want to keep things running smoothly, having access to temporary workers is invaluable, and some industries are almost built around them.

If you prepare well, and have the right support, you can succeed in temporary recruitment. But it’s vital that you do everything possible to give yourself the best chance at success.

Funding for Starting a Recruitment Agency

It’s impossible to start a business without capital. Setting up a new agency isn’t cheap, and most agency owners will need some form of business loan to get started.

The more funds you have available, the easier it will be, but you’ll always need to spend your budget wisely. Keep things humble to begin with, a small team and office if you decide you need one, but with an easy way to scale later on.

The recruitment funding we provide isn’t for starting a new agency, but it will ensure that you always have the funds you need to pay your temporary workers if clients are late to pay their invoices.

 

Top Tips for the First 12 Months

It’s an unfortunate fact that most UK businesses fail within the first year, and this is just as true for recruitment agencies. To avoid all your hard work and money going to waste, here are some things you should have before you start.

 

Industry Knowledge

Knowing how to run a business isn’t enough. You need an in-depth understanding of recruitment, including how the process works and what systems are used. There will always be more to learn, so the more you know beforehand, the easier things will be.

Many new recruitment agencies are started by people with recruitment backgrounds for this exact reason. If you’ve been a recruiter for a long time, starting your own agency is a logical step if you think you can make it work.

 

The Perfect Team

The more experience you have at your disposal, the faster your agency will grow. Although you’ll naturally want to keep your team small in the beginning, if you are able to team up with experienced recruiters, they’ll be able to provide guidance while you set up, and will help you hit the ground running.

We also recommend speaking with your peers if you have a recruitment background, or you could attend events like the Recruitment Expo to gain more information about upcoming changes in the industry.

 

Systems that Work for You

One of the most common issues we see new start-ups run into is spending their budget in the wrong places. There are a lot of CRMs and other systems that an agency can invest in, but not all will be right for you. If you’re spending a fortune on something hard to use or not designed for your sector, it’s a massive drain on resources.

 

Support for New Agencies

It’s a similar case with third-party support. You’ll immediately find multiple businesses trying to offer support, but they may cause more harm than good, and will always be a drain on resources.

We only work with agencies who are passed the first 12 months. By this time they have built their client base and have plenty of workers to provide, but are still spinning a lot of plates. We then come in to help with the admin, freeing up their team and providing extra support whenever they need it.

 

The Importance of Finding a Niche

This is arguably the most important thing for any new start-up. If you don’t know from day one what type of clients you want to work with, you’ll struggle to solidify your brand, and will flounder.

Trying to offer ‘a bit of everything’ only works for big agencies. Unless you have thousands of workers in your database, you need a niche.

However, this niche can be very large. Healthcare, for example, relies heavily on temporary workers, as clinics and hospitals need to strengthen their ranks or find a specialist for certain patients. You can only provide healthcare workers but grow into a massive agency, and there will always be more clients who need your help.

Other recruitment niches include:

  • IT
  • Admin
  • Tech
  • Engineering
  • Management
  • Logistics
  • Manufacturing

It is possible to develop a niche over time, and this works for some agencies, but if you have a solid plan for the future, it’s a lot easier. You can pivot to a new niche, but this is a risky move even for a well-established agency.

Your niche should be determined by your background and the sector(s) you prefer to work in, but can also be a tactical move if you see a gap in the market.

 

Understanding Legislation for Temporary Recruitment

As well as knowing the ins and outs of recruitment as a whole, you also need to fully understand all the legislation.

When you set up your agency, you’ll need to ensure that you’re compliant, but it’s isn’t as simple as that. In recruiting, legislation changes all the time, and there have been some major updates designed to protect workers in recent years.

If you don’t keep your finger on the pulse, or your legislative knowledge is out of date, you could easily be caught out. Yet another thing you need to think about before you set up your agency.

 

Building your Brand

This is something any business owner needs to think about. With a recruitment agency, you need to attract both clients and temporary workers. It’s a big win if either chooses you over an established agency, so you want to be as appealing as possible.

Good branding helps with this, anything that ensures you stand out from the crowd. Combine this with a niche and maybe a few bonuses that your closest rivals don’t have, and you should build up your client base, and database, pretty quickly.

Naturally you can’t offer anything to clients until you have workers ready to join their teams, so they should be the priority. Temporary workers choose an agency based on the following:

  • Quality of roles available – Experienced workers will want multiple options too
  • Incentives – Such as joining bonuses
  • Contract Flexibility – So they can choose how they work and how long for
  • Your Niche – Nurses will be more likely to work with an agency that specialises in healthcare than a generic one, for example
  • How they’re treated – If workers feel valued, they’ll be more likely to work with you for a long time

If you look after your workers, you’ll develop a solid reputation, and they’ll help attract even more talent in the future.

 

More Advice and Support

There is a lot to think about when starting a recruitment agency. A lot of it is obvious, such as finding funding and registering your business, but there’s a lot you might miss out on if you don’t know what’s out there.

Services like ours are incredibly beneficial for new recruitment agencies. Not only is all the admin handled on your behalf, including:

… but we are also close by if you have any questions or concerns about the industry as a whole. At Back Office Support Services we keep our ears close to the ground so we’re some of the first to know about legislation changes or anything that can help or hinder our clients.

Whether it’s in a regular report or a quick catch up over the phone, we’re always supporting our clients alongside our regular service.

If you’re a new agency and you’re struggling to find an edge over your competitors, we’re here to help. Please check out our blog for more information, or feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.