Managing Growth

for Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment and Staffing Software for Fast-Growing Firms

www.erecruit.com/adapt

Contents Page

Managing Growth for Recruitment Agencies 3

Act Like a Company of Tomorrow, not Today 4

Presentation is Everything 5

Invest in Technology 6

Build in Scalability and Flexibility 7

Understand the Value of Data 8

Expand Profitably 9

Maximise Consultant Effectiveness 10

Dare to be Different 11

Conclusion – Business Growth Checklist 12

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Managing Growth for

Recruitment Agencies

Growth in the recruitment business sector can be fast – and there are significant

opportunities for switched-on businesses to enhance market share. However,

competition is fierce – and skills shortages make sourcing the right candidates to

meet demand ever more difficult.

In this highly competitive sector, even strong demand is no guarantee of success;

while the challenges of managing a fast escalating client list, growing candidate base

and expanding consultant numbers can be significant. How can you:

• Ensure consistency of experience and quality for both clients and candidates?

• Exploit essential new technology innovation, such as mobile and search, to

improve quality of service?

• Determine the best areas for profitable business expansion?

In this eBook, we outline eight Top Tips for business

growth.

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Act Like a Company of

Tomorrow, not Today

You may only have a handful of consultants today but what is your long-term plan?

While it is tempting for a small organisation to let individual consultants operate

independently, that can soon cause problems.

Therefore it is essential you consider a number of important factors up front:

• Client Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and contracts – clients have high expectations

regarding the quality and consistency of service.

• Tone of voice/professionalism – is your business operating as a single, coherent

operation or as a small group of separate consultants?

• Business culture – is everyone in your team working to the same set of ideas,

standards and attitudes to both clients and candidates?

Trying to make any major changes – from processes to contracts,

technology to working practices – during a period of significant

growth can be a real problem, so get it right from day one.

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Understanding how the business looks to the outside world – both candidates and

clients – is key. While today’s mobile technologies enable small businesses to operate

from home, removing the need for expensive office premises, it is vitally important to

avoid looking like a ‘fly-by-night’ operation. To present the right image:

• A website is essential – even if it only has the most basic information and contact

page. Every client and candidate will do a quick Google search before engaging with

you or any other recruitment company, so make sure your business is visible.

• Have a professional email policy:

o Don’t rely on generic email addresses such as Hotmail or Gmail; get a dedicated

business email address.

o Ensure every email has a professional signature and disclaimer.

Irrespective of size, to be taken seriously you

need to present a trusted and professional

image.

Presentation is Everything

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Large recruitment companies know that investment in a good quality CRM is the only

way to retain control over large numbers of consultants operating in different market

areas. However, for smaller and start-up organisations that often have just one

consultant focused on each market area, there is a temptation to allow consultants to

manage their candidates in isolation.

However, this can cause significant problems, not only down the line when you are

looking to add consultants, but from day one. A single source of accurate, detailed

client and candidate information enables:

• Anyone in your business to respond to requests for information or process

applications swiftly and efficiently.

• You to apply consistent processes and tone of voice, reinforcing professionalism.

• The creation of business value – client and candidate information is essential

intellectual property. Collecting and retaining that data is key to building a strong,

saleable business.

Staff turnover is high in recruitment, irrespective of business

size, so ensuring all information is available centrally at all

times is key to avoiding lost opportunities.

Invest in Technology

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How can you ensure that your business has the capacity to support new consultants

and an expanding client base without facing untenable investment in IT resources and

expensive business upheaval?

The need for flexibility and scalability is one of the key reasons growing numbers of

small companies are looking to leverage the cloud or Software as a Service (SaaS)

model. The benefits are significant, including:

• It’s easy to add new users as and when required;

• Administration is cut to a minimum, removing the need for any internal IT overhead;

• Minimal downtime ensures your business can always respond to client and

candidate needs;

• Regular updates provide rapid access to advances in technology that can improve

business efficiency.

Build in Scalability and Flexibility

The SaaS model also supports the remote and

flexible working approach that increasingly

underpins the small business culture.

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From understanding the legal requirements surrounding data protection legislation

to ensuring all consultants recognise the essential value of client and candidate

information, you must impose good data management practices.

• Mismanagement of confidential data can result in serious fines. With more

consultants working remotely it is important to impose control over the way

confidential information is stored and used across the business.

• Put in place clear, enforceable contracts to protect both clients and candidates.

• Protect candidate and business data from outside attacks:

o Routinely communicate security policies to all staff – especially new

consultants.

o A SaaS based solution should offer excellent data security - look for ISO

accreditation and vendors that invest in penetration testing to ensure this vital

business information is stored securely.

Retaining control over critical, sensitive

data should be a top priority for your

recruitment business.

Understand the Value of Data

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Not all new business is good business. One of the biggest challenges today is

determining the best areas of new business opportunity – and being in a

position to maximise that opportunity before the competition. A good CRM

system will provide a number of tools to support business expansion, including

reporting, enabling you to:

• Understand trends in market growth to ensure consultant activity is

prioritised and focused.

• Use analytics and dashboards to forecast revenue and identify the most

profitable business areas.

• Track consultant performance – and profitability – to determine the best time

to add heads.

Understanding where and when to expand

specific areas of your business is key to

successful growth in a fast changing

recruitment marketplace.

Expand Profitably

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To achieve growth objectives, you need to ensure consultants are working as effectively

and efficiently as possible. A good CRM system enables better collaboration and

supports proactive candidate management:

Business Development – Leverage the database of client and candidate information to

rapidly identify and maximise the most valuable business development opportunities:

• Record and share leads.

• Utilise valuable commercial information.

• Leverage existing relationships.

• Enable multiple consultants and divisions to effectively recruit for the same client and,

where appropriate, leverage further business from colleagues’ work.

Talent pooling and hot candidates – ensuring all hot candidates are flagged in the

CRM (rather than on a personal list) ensures everyone within the business can be working

to find the best job for that individual.

Maximise Consultant

Effectiveness

Ingraining information sharing between consultants

within your company culture from day one is the key to

building value and maximising new business

opportunities.

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Setting up as a generalist agency from day one can be difficult.

An approach to consider would be to find your niche and add real value to a small

segment of the market initially before branching out to other industry sectors.

• New business failure remains high; however, ensuring your business has specific

market/skill expertise is key to gaining differentiation in a crowded market.

• Build on local market/skills knowledge by using the right technologies – skills based

search tools can transform the speed with which your consultants identify the right

candidates in niche areas.

Dare to be Different

Professionalism, efficient service

and niche market expertise are

essential components of

business success.

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Business success is not a given, there are a few essential points to remember:

• Be special – take a niche approach and build in-depth skills and expertise in that area.

• Don’t wait until the business is ‘big enough’ to invest in technology. Create a website

and pick the right CRM software as soon as possible – the ability to support the

business of the future is key to realising that objective.

• Create a culture that recognises the value of data.

Conclusion –

Business Growth Checklist

There are huge opportunities for recruitment

companies with the right approach.

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Achieve efficiencies and enhance cross-company collaboration with Adapt’s recruitment software that ensures your staffing firm will succeed, grow and expand beyond expectations.

An intuitive and powerful solution for scaling and fast-growing staffing firms.

Recruitment and Staffing Software for Fast-Growing Firms adapt@erecruit.com

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