2017: The year recruiters step up a gear

It’s that time again when we all look to the calendar and realise that there are just a few short weeks to go before we welcome in the New Year. This is also the point when most agency owners take stock of the year gone by and plan their growth strategy for the year ahead.

However, the rules of the recruitment game are changing fast, with the shift from a volume-driven approach to a more targeted one that requires a change in thinking and approach.

While the business may have enjoyed good revenue growth over the last 12 months it has also faced unprecedented competition. Indeed, the number of new entrants into the market reached a record high in 2016, with 1 in 3 recruiters planning to increase investment in their agencies in the year ahead.

What this means for agency owners is this: Continuing to do more of the same in 2017 will not generate a better result than in 2016 for your agency. Recruiters need to step up a gear to keep up with - and steal a lead over- their competition and ensure they are in a position from which they can grow and realise their strategic objectives.

And the biggest barriers to achieving this growth can be summed up in two words – ‘time’ and ‘money’.

Time is a significant obstacle to agency growth, but not because there aren’t enough hours in the day. Rather it’s down to the tasks undertaken that distract recruiters from working on the business and performing fee-generating activities. You know – raising and processing invoices, chasing client debt, managing payroll, organising contracts and all manner of other essential yet time-consuming tasks.

When your focus is on managing the administrative side of the business, less time is afforded to developing your teams, making sales calls and attending new business meetings. This has a direct impact on your revenues and profits; thereby, seeing the rate of agency growth somewhat slower than you might have liked.

But what if you could delegate many of these functions to someone else – how much time could you save? Equally, how much more revenue could you generate for your agency if you had more time to focus on selling?

Then there is the question of finance. Of the two, perhaps the single biggest barrier to achieving agency growth is its ability to access the funds it really needs, when it needs it to help fund that growth.

Winning new business is great, but how many opportunities are you letting slip by and how much of your client’s recruitment budget are you missing out on because you have been restricted by how much you can fund their demand?

This isn’t growing - it is stifling your business and preventing you from getting to where you want to be. Recruiters need to find new ways to maximise their profits and maximise the opportunities that already exist with the clients they already have.

The difference between partnering with a third-party provider who truly understands the challenges faced by recruitment business owners, and one that doesn’t, becomes obvious every time a transaction is made.

That’s the Simplicity difference. For over 13 years we have helped quite literally thousands of recruitment businesses with their back office and financial needs. By becoming a Partner, you too can realise your strategic objectives for the year ahead.

If you have any questions and would like to see how we can help you and your recruitment business grow, contact us today.