‘Our strategy is all about pr
oviding the brand, backing and back up to give them the opportunity to do it. It’s a big leap, but with the ability to take a salary from day one, and have fully compliant operational systems running from the outset, out joint venture partners have the building blocks in place to focus on building their businesses’.

You Deliver Better When You’re – You!
Be You – Recruit Ventures

David Simons has some views on the strengths of recruitment start-ups.
‘Starting your own recruitment agency is an aspiration for many recruitment professionals’, he says. ‘Our strategy is all about providing the brand, backing and back up to give them the opportunity to do it. It’s a big leap, but with the ability to take a salary from day one, and have fully compliant operational systems running from the outset, out joint venture partners have the building blocks in place to focus on building their businesses’.

Because he’s actively involved in helping professionals to start up, David Simons has his finger on the pulse of today’s recruitment sector, and he’s very positive about the opportunities for new players.

‘HR professionals are constantly looking for good working relationships with consultants and agencies, and that’s why it’s a competitive market. We’d never disguise that. But how often, as a consultant, do you promise a constant and consistent relationship with a client, and then see it change as you’re moved to another desk or department in the latest reorganisation? You want to deliver, but you’re often frustrated. Running your own show means you can control those relationships better. Backed and supported by the Recruit Ventures package you can do what you best. And want to do most. Get in front of your clients and maintain the relationship, your way’.

The success of Recruit Ventures and the individual start-ups that it’s backed is impressive. More than a dozen agencies are now up and running with more already in the pipeline.

‘One of the main reasons our joint venture partners succeed is because they’re motivated by the opportunity to deliver the level of service they actually believe in. The fact is that it comes from the heart. Starting up on your own means that it’s you you’re selling. And that makes a big difference’.

If you’re looking to start your own recruitment business with our support, contact us now.

‘Our strategy is all about providing the brand, backing and back up to give them the opportunity to do it. It’s a big leap, but with the ability to take a salary from day one, and have fully compliant operational systems running from the outset, out joint venture partners have the building blocks in place to focus on building their businesses’.
Recruitment Consultants
– The Secret Entrepreneurs?
questions

It takes tenacity, business acumen and the ability to spot opportunities…
At its simplest, in bad times there are fewer jobs around, and in boom times companies hire. Differences in seasonality, geography and individual markets will always make the picture more complex than that, but through it all there is one constant. Rain or shine the recruitment consultants, in agencies of all sizes, are out there finding companies they can help and candidates they can place.

It takes tenacity, business acumen and the ability to spot opportunities to survive in such a demanding arena, and that’s why I believe that inside most recruitment consultants is an entrepreneur just waiting to come out.

Think about it. Working as a recruitment consultant you need to be aware of market conditions and where they fit within the overall economy. You need to know your own geographical patch inside out, having total awareness of the companies who operate there, and what drives the local economy.

Then comes the classic CV clincher of ‘self-starter’. The reality is that if you can’t ‘work on your own initiative’ you’re not going to cut it in recruitment. Constantly adding to your portfolio of clients at the same time as developing the relationships with existing ones is like running your own business anyway.

It’s hardly surprising then that after gaining four or five years’ experience many recruitment consultants want to break away and start their own agencies. They’re natural entrepreneurs; business focussed and ambitious to reap the rewards of their own endeavours.

The trick comes with how they make the transition. It’s a big step from employee to employer. The route that seems to work best is building an environment where the consultant turned entrepreneur can concentrate on what they do best. Which is bringing in the business. That means having the freedom to not worry about the money, the marketing and the micro management.

In short, lots of recruitment consultants can and do realise their inner entrepreneur. The natural ability is there. What’s needed is backing, back-up systems and a strong brand. But then every entrepreneur knows that.

If you’re working as a recruitment consultant the key things you need are fairly easy to define. You need business research and knowledge. Communication skills are essential.

Running Your Own Recruitment Business: The Essentials

recruitment essentials

The things you need to be a recruitment consultant are the same things you need to run your own recruitment business.
Think about that. If you’re working as a recruitment consultant the key things you need are fairly easy to define. You need business research and knowledge. Communication skills are essential. Knowing how to put together job descriptions and person specifications are a daily need. You’ll have good networking and ‘new business’ awareness. And you’ll know all about hitting the targets to drive the bottom line.

Of course, at the moment you’re probably applying all those skills, with considerable effort, to drive someone else’s bottom line. It’s hardly surprising then that the recruitment sector is populated by people who often leave their job to start up on their own.

If you’re thinking along those lines, or if you’re beginning to wonder if working for someone else is worth it, then take a moment to consider your own attributes. Suppose you did consider starting your own recruitment business. What would you need?

You can see where this is going. You’d need business research and knowledge. Check. Good communication skills. Check. Job description writing. Check. Networking. Check. Winning new business. Check. And of course hitting the targets. Check again.

That’s a lot of boxes ticked.

Now look over the parapet. If you could find sound financial backing, preferably from someone who understands the recruitment sector, and get operational systems in place from day one, you’d do it wouldn’t you?

If you could make sure that your branding and website were up and running, and you had the freedom to get on with growing the business, you’d do it right away wouldn’t you?

So, maybe being your own boss is more realistic than you thought.

You’ve checked a lot of boxes. Do a bit more checking – and do it.

With successful recruitment agencies opening up across the country, Recruit Ventures is proving to be a game changer within the industry.
In the above video interview, John Buckman talks about the increasingly successful Recruit Ventures business model. Explaining why he launched the brand John gives his views on starting up a recruitment consultancy, and how his company can help experienced professionals do it their way.

‘I am a joint venture myself’, he explains. ‘And having built a successful organisation, managed by a dedicated and talented team, I wanted to allow like-minded entrepreneurs the opportunity to create their own business and brand’.

This rare chance to see Buckman interviewed reveals his passion for the recruitment business and his desire to help others succeed.

‘When you start a recruitment agency of your own you need sound financial backing, a solid brand and perhaps most importantly road tested and industry standard back office systems. We provide all that, together with a level of guaranteed income. That means people can concentrate on what’s essential, and what they love doing most; gaining clients and growing their business’.

Explaining that joint venture partners are definitely running their own show, John underlines that the Recruit Ventures business model is not a franchise. ‘This is a complete support package. Many people working in recruitment have a strong entrepreneurial streak, and we offer them the chance to start up on their own without bank loans or plundering their savings’.

With successful recruitment agencies opening up across the country, Recruit Ventures is proving to be a game changer within the industry.

When you’re as involved in the recruitment sector as I am it goes with the territory to keep up to date with current thinking, research and opinions. Looking online this week I discovered more than one forum agreeing onthree key points.

Starting A Recruitment Business Needs Experience – And Funding

experience

David Simons explains some of the obstacles in setting up.

When you’re as involved in the recruitment sector as I am it goes with the territory to keep up to date with current thinking, research and opinions.

Looking online this week I discovered more than one forum agreeing on three key points.

Firstly what they said was that if you’re thinking of starting up your own recruitment business, you were probably frustrated with your current role as a recruitment consultant.

What they went on to say was that if you do ‘go it alone’ two main considerations were experience and funding.

Taking them one at a time, yes as someone considering a start-up you probably are a recruitment consultant who feels you can do better yourself. That’s good. Firstly, it means you have the drive to run your own business. Secondly, it addresses that issue of experience. You have to know the business to run a recruitment business. It would be naïve to launch yourself into any sector without market knowledge, but it’s madness to do it in recruitment. Apart from anything else you’ll need your contacts and local knowledge to be credible. So tick that box. Experience is essential – and you’ve got it.

Funding is also key to any start-up in any sector. But consider how important it is in recruitment. Chances are that a new agency you’ll want to run a service for temps. It’s a valuable service for most employment sectors. The problem comes when you have to pay temps before the client pays you. It’s a cash flow trap that’s snared many a new recruitment business, and it goes like this. Temps (understandably) want to be paid weekly, and most client companies want 30 day terms with you.

Having funding in place to smooth out the cash flow, and enhance your fledging reputation is essential. Fail to pay the temps and you’ll lose jobseekers as customers. Lose the jobseekers (who will probably damage your reputation further by complaining to the employers as well) and you have nothing to offer, so you lose the employer clients.

If you get it right, in the business plan, it will work. So, use your experience to run the business, but use your business acumen to establish robust, mid to long term funding from a proven source.

Tick that box too and you’ve got a business that will work.

Even with all the experience you’ve gained in the recruitment business, going it alone means you now have to run a business. And that’s different. From now on you’re the boss. Your future new career is ahead of you.

The half-way house of a franchise often falls short of their dreams.
Becoming a joint venture partner makes it happen.

The Pitfalls Of A Franchised Recruitment Business
freedom

The half-way house of a franchise often falls short of their dreams.
Becoming a joint venture partner makes it happen.

If you’re frustrated at working as a recruitment consultant for someone else’s business and you feel that setting up on your own with the support of a franchise could be an option, beware as this might not provide you with the control and independence that you’re looking for.

‘A lot of what I earn goes to the owners.’
‘I’m working to somebody else’s rules.’
‘I don’t control the strategy.’
…Sound familiar?

Of course it does. It sounds like what you’re doing now. As an employee. The problem is that it’s also what your working life looks like as a franchisee.

For many recruitment professionals who want to go it alone, a franchise is often a tempting option. All too often though the result is that they don’t feel any more autonomous than when they were working for someone else. It’s like being in the same space. The only difference really is that they’ve parted with a hefty start-up fee, to get there.

The Recruit Ventures business model has been designed from the outset to be the antithesis to a franchise. It’s a proven formula delivering professional help with a brand, start-up financial backing, and road tested back-up systems to get you up and running.

All of that means you’re free of financial worry and able to focus on what you do best. Bringing in the business.

Recruit Ventures is not about franchises. It’s a joint venture operation with the sole aim of helping recruitment professionals set up on their own by providing the brand, backing and back up to let them concentrate on building their business. As a joint venture partner it’s your company, with the advance capital for the start-up becoming part of a formal shareholders agreement. Joint Ventures are then supported and helped to grow their business.

Recruitment consultants are highly motivated people, with an entrepreneurial spirit. The desire to set out on their own is driven by the objective of ‘doing it their way’. The half-way house of a franchise often falls short of their dreams. Becoming a joint venture partner makes it happen.

If you’re thinking of starting your own business you’ll probably do all sorts of preliminary research, which might well include asking the mighty Google ‘How to start up a business?’.

Six Key Steps To Starting Up A Recruitment Business
– From The Highest Authority!
HM-Logo

Now, in truth, this advice is generic, and aimed at helping people set up any kind of business but these six points are extremely relevant.

If you’re thinking of starting your own business you’ll probably do all sorts of preliminary research, which might well include asking the mighty Google ‘How to start up a business?’ Do that and you’ll find advice, direct form the government. At WWW.GOV.UK you’ll find a checklist of six key steps.

Now, in truth, this advice is generic, and aimed at helping people set up any kind of business. If you’re thinking of starting a recruitment business though, these six points are extremely relevant.

The WWW.GOV.UK list is set out as –

Start with an idea
Get funding
Research your market
Develop and plan
Find partners, suppliers and premises
Set up your business
Think about that in terms of founding a recruitment consultancy and you’ll find that it’s pretty good advice.
Let’s take ‘Start with an idea’ and assume it’s a given. You’re probably a recruitment professional who wants to use your experience to ‘do it your way’. You’ll be looking to reap more of the rewards of your own hard work, and you’re probably bursting with ideas on how to run your own consultancy. So far, so good.

‘Funding’, is next, and it’s essential. You may of course be massively wealthy and want to run a recruitment business to relieve the boredom of daily golf rounds, but it’s more likely that you’ll need funding to start up. Interest rates might not be at their highest, but you still need realistic terms, and, dream ticket, not have to plunder any of your own funds. Totally dream ticket is if you can find finance that covers not only the initial injection for set up costs, but also continued support to smooth out the peaks and troughs of cash flow that are inevitable in the first few months. And you probably don’t want a franchise, because you really want to go it alone. The right funding takes research.

Which leads us to ‘Research your market’. You’re going to know a bit about the recruitment market. Why else would you be doing this? But, now that you’re planning to be your own boss you need to really know the market you can best aim at and service. What geographical area can you cover? Are there any specific industries or recruitment requirements that are prevalent on your patch, and can you take advantage of them? Do you have special knowledge of any market sector that you can exploit? Who is already operating in your area, and how much competition do they represent? And when you’ve answered all those questions you can start to think about your brand, and what it should convey. Getting through those stages takes time, and it will pay to take professional advice to supplement your own knowledge.

‘Develop and plan’. Sounds obvious, and covers a multitude of sins, but it makes real sense to lay down a proper business plan. Work with experts and advisors to prepare a strategy that sets out achievable goals and expectations. Plan your marketing and get your message out there. But also, and crucially, plan your income and expenditure forecast, and establish how you’ll be able to sustain yourself financially from the outset.

Next on the list comes ‘Find partners, suppliers and premises’. The ideal would be to find a partner who can help find suppliers and premises. And if that partner is also helping with the funding then so much the better. Suppliers are more important in the early stages for a recruitment start up. You need to think about hardware, software, furniture and marketing materials. And maybe a car. As you get into your stride the supplier relationship will become, to be frank, secondary to the client relationship.

Which leads nicely into the final point of ‘Set up your business’. And the real point is that it’s not going to work if you don’t have clients. As a recruitment business of course you’ll have two sets of clients. Employers and candidates are the two inextricably linked elements of your customer base. So, with your idea in your head, your funding in place, your research done, your plans on paper and your partner found, all you have to do is find the business. And that’s the real trick. If you can get all the essential resources and plans in place so that you can concentrate, with total focus, on getting out there to do business, you’ll build a successful consultancy.

Let’s be honest, none of us, no matter what our political allegiance, believe that any government gets it right all the time. But, in this case it looks like WWW.GOV.UK have got some pretty good advice for the would be recruitment start up.

If you’re a recruitment start up aiming to be number one-you need to consider two audiences and that’s something that often gets overlooked.

The Two Vital Markets For A Start-Up Recruitment Business
markets

If you’re a recruitment start up aiming to be number one-you need to consider two audiences and that’s something that often gets overlooked.

In truth, there are many challenges that face the start-up recruitment business. Issues like finance, branding and operational systems, all of which need to be in place before you start. However, one key area that many start-ups overlook in their enthusiasm to get going is the fact that they have two key markets.

You need to attract clients, of course. You need a solid base of employer organisations who want to use your services. But then, to satisfy that need, you need candidates.

It sounds obvious, but it’s a vital part of your communications strategy from day one. As a resource for employers you need to ensure that you represent a credible, knowledgeable and reliable service. Key to that is being able to provide quality candidates.

As an attractive option for candidates you need to be seen as well connected, experienced and trustworthy. Key to that is having good clients.

All too often even the most well managed and highly driven start-ups will miss the opportunities to develop those twin images. Even worse, they’ll create a website that does a great job of selling to employers and then relegate the essential interface with candidates to a less than accessible button buried on the home page.

If you’re starting up you’ll doubtless be experienced. And you’re probably a great recruitment consultant who now wants to ‘do it you way’. As great a consultant as you are, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a great marketer, website builder or strategist. It will pay to talk to experts who can be objective about your plans, and give you sound advice.

Sometimes you can get so close to your own project you lose focus on essential points. Even something as obvious as the fact that you have two audiences, and they need different messages.

It’s worth talking to specialists who can run a reality check on your plans, because having all the wrinkles ironed out before you launch will pay handsome dividends.

It’s going to be challenging enough, so address the key ones sensibly from the outset.

David Simons, Managing Director of Recruit Ventures shares his views on starting a recruitment business. He says, do the maths!

There’s Room For You To Start Your Own Recruitment Business
maths

David Simons, Managing Director of Recruit Ventures shares his views on starting a recruitment business. He says, do the maths!

‘I’ve been looking at the size of the UK recruitment market. Last year’s figures give us a picture of a sector worth somewhere around £26billion. Now, even if you’re starting out in a small way, that’s a big cake from which even a modestly sized slice represents a big number’, says David Simons, Managing Director of Recruit Ventures.

‘Our business model is aimed at helping recruitment professionals start up their own businesses. We offer the financial backing, free of outlay, free of being a franchisee and without the need for a bank loan. We provide the back-up systems, and help with branding. It’s a package that gives entrepreneurially minded consultants the opportunity to do it their way. But, even with the peace of mind and firm footing we provide some would be start-ups are daunted by the fear of competition’.

In developing his point, David Simons went on to say, ‘Do the maths. Way less than 1% of the market would be a significant figure in turnover. In reality, even 1% market share is of course an optimistic target, certainly to start with. But, given the sheer size of the market, there is room for more recruitment consultancies to thrive. Geography, specific sectors, specialising in a particular service are all ways in which you can build a niche, and in such a big market focusing on a niche is an excellent launch pad’.

Recruitment agencies have certainly lifted off from the Recruit Ventures launch pad over recent months. A nationwide string of start-ups is now operating successfully having been backed by the organisation. ‘We have funds available now to help recruitment professionals start their own businesses’, says David Simons. ‘Properly supported, and funded, you can do it your way. And if the competition is still a sticking point for you, just consider the size of the market. There’s room for you’.

He added, ‘just suppose you invested 1% of your day to check us out. What’s that in minutes? Do the maths!’