Top tips for launching a specialist recruitment agency

August 24th, 2023 | Industry News

Given the uncertain future of many economies, including the UK and USA, setting up a recruitment agency might seem risky. However, there are two areas of recruitment that are likely to maintain growth in the medium term and where successful identification of the right talent is something that companies will be willing to pay for. They are start-ups and IT.

The best recruitment CRM can only help, but not solve the problem, of start-up recruitment – it’s a complex process when organisations are expected to grow and succeed (or collapse and fail) in short order and under a spotlight created by funding rounds and venture capital oversight. This means that while recruiting software can help identify key personnel, the personal intuition required to ensure that a small, dynamic team will gel and perform, has to come from the recruitment consultant.

Paradoxically, start-up CEOS and senior management rarely have the time to give to effective recruiting. This is where recruitment agency software can help by:

• Contributing to applicant sifting, using metrics that will measure the skills and background of the candidates
• Freeing up recruitment consultants to spend more time with the existing team, better understanding both the organisation profile and projected growth
• Automating processes so that key applicants are given sufficient time and engagement to keep them in the loop so the best talent isn’t lost.

Understanding the start-up phenomenon is also a prerequisite. Growth and expansion require a different mindset to steady state business recruitment and candidate profiles need to include evidence of boldness and forward-thinking, adaptability and competitiveness as well as the requisite technical skills. Recruitment database software can help free recruiters up to focus on the latest industry trends and to network in the field of start-ups, because it can be as important to know the investors and influencers as to know the talent pool. After all, candidates don’t just have to impress the start-up team, but also the investors and maybe even the press. Using a data-drive approach can streamline the hiring process for fast-moving companies including using analytics to predict talent acquisition needs. Web-based recruitment software allows recruitment consultants to update their systems on the go, keeping track of their contacts, information and processes.

Recruitment software for IT

IT has been having a rocky time, with entry level roles being shed, while top talent is regularly poached, while the global IT services spend in 2022 was $1305 billion, making it a lucrative market. A whole cohort of newly-graduated coders are being encouraged to think about moving to IT instead, as fulfilling an organisation’s technology needs is seen as a safer route to success than computer programming. This means there is both a ready candidate pool and a clear need, as far as senior management is concerned, to recruit the best.

1. A new recruitment agency in this field needs to have strong links with IT managers, so networking is essential.
2. Having the shortest recruiting cycle is vital to IT recruitment, because IT roles are usually servicing the productivity of other departments, so any shortfall impacts overall success.
3. Identifying a niche can be useful – working in databases or cybersecurity, training or installation can be a good way to find a target market. The best recruitment websites help potential clients immediately understand that you can help them, and specialisation is one way to do this.