5 steps to getting your recruitment agency or headhunting business up and running:
1. Define your market/niche
Are you starting a recruitment business for a specific market or niche (e.g. SAP, legal management position or account) or for general recruitment (cover all fields and sectors)?
Are you limiting your headhunting business to local talents, or will go the extra miles to include foreigners or expatriates?
Defining your recruitment market is the first step towards establishing the framework of your overall operation.
2. Iron out all the legal requirements
Get in touch with the HR Ministry and discuss about all the requirements needed to fulfill by your end. Find out any licensing (and fees), if any, that you need to get your business kicking off. Depending on which region, country or state you’re in, the requirements, fees and legal obligations might differ. Make sure you get all things right. The company registration, premise set up, council permit, documentations and so on must be completed before you start your very first day of operation.
3. Establish how you operate
What would be your blueprint of recruitment flow? How do you get a recruiting assignment? Will you be doing it yourself, or assign a sales personnel for it? How do you conduct interview and find out which candidate would be suitable for a certain position? Where would you be conducting the interview? Hotels? Restaurants? Your own office? Think of the cost associated with each, and find out which one works best for you.
What are your terms and conditions? Will you be charging the fees to the client on contingency basis (which means you do the job first and only get paid upon successful hiring), or retainer basis (you’d require some fees regardless the search is successful or not. Not advisable for a start-up, but useful for future, once your business has grown)? How much you’re charging your clients? All these must be properly documented and should always be at your disposal whenever requested by the client.
4. Strategize how you’d grow
A recruitment company can start as small as a one-man operation, but once your business hits the growth path, then it’s time to add the extra hands and use the power of leverage. How do you see your business grow? Will you be expanding into other job territory or market? Or would you grow vertically by maintaining similar area but hire more staff to do the administrative work? Think how you can maximize profits and reduce costs.
How’d you continue to penetrate the market and establish your company as a recruiter of choice? What are your strategies to add the volume of your talent base? How would you source for candidates and recruit people? Networking? Websites? Blogging? Newspaper? Radio advertising? Yellow pages?
5. Make your first call
Don’t waste much time and start making calls to prospective clients and candidates. Get your first assignment and conduct your first interview. In an increasingly competitive recruitment industry, fun awaits you.
