Will this be the year recruiters up the ante?

We love this time of year. It is the perfect moment to look at the year gone by and more importantly, to plan for the one that lies ahead. But of all the years of growth we have seen in the recruitment sector, could 2018 surpass them all?

The short answer is yes. However, this presents recruitment business leaders with one particular challenge that will need to be overcome if their agencies are going to retain or gain that all-important edge in the sectors they operate – how will they stave off competition from other players entering their space?

As employer hiring continues rising upwards, so does the number of new agencies setting up shop – eager to capitalise on the plethora of opportunities such positive trading conditions are creating. While this is great for the sector itself and the economy as a whole, it also requires agency owners to take stock of where they are and decide if their current systems are supporting or slowing their growth.

It’s a question of time. Recruiters, by the nature of the work they do, are extremely busy and as an agency owner that volume of work is amplified. From managing your people, raising invoices and chasing client debt to organising payroll, checking for compliance and ensuring you are on top of your HMRC and PAYE obligations, the amount of time spent performing these essential tasks can eat away at the time you need to spend focusing on growing your business.

In other words, if a sizable chunk of your day is allocated to non-sales activities, the number of candidate interviews or client pitches you can realistically undertake will be limited. If that is the case, so too is the rate of growth of your agency. So, what can be done about it?

You can of course continue to manage these tasks yourself, with the understanding that the goals you set for your business over the next 12 months and beyond may need to be revised. Or you could outsource the work to an external provider that specialises in providing such services for recruitment businesses.

This would free up a significant amount of your time and allow you to refocus on the billable activity that will see your agency grow at the right pace, which leads us to the second point – finance.

There is a huge choice of finance providers out there, some are great and some may seem so but when you read the fine print things may not seem as attractive as initially thought. For instance, some finance providers enforce restrictive credit limits. Once you reach those limits you can’t access the additional funds you need to continue growing.

So, if you were to win a new contract to supply a dozen workers, for example, but have hit your credit limit, you won’t be able to service that contract. It’s counter-intuitive and a sign that the provider really doesn’t ‘get’ the nature of recruitment.

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. With the pressure on agencies intensifying in the face of increased competition both from existing players and new entrants to the market, recruitment business leaders need to ensure they have the right checks and balances in place to give them the edge they need.

That’s why we’ve spent over 3 years developing GEMS – the end to end Recruitment CRM and Workflow Solution that combines your front and back office systems and processes that will allow you to reduce costs, make your business more efficient and save you time. What’s more it’s FREE to all Simplicity partners.

For over 14 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.