When should I hire?
When have I reached the threshold to start hiring employees?
When do I start hiring? How do I do it? What’s the format, time frame, and pay look like?
As a fresh recruiting company looking to hire, these are all questions that you are probably pondering. As a recruitment company entrepreneur, I have learned the basics, through struggle and success, to help YOU start building your company from the ground-up!
Hiring is one of the biggest and most painful things to do as a company in any industry. With clients becoming more needy and desperate (in the nicest way possible) they are pulling you in more directions that you can handle… I get it because I have been there. They start asking for you to fill roles that aren’t your specialty and that is when things start getting overwhelming. So, don’t stress because I have brainstormed and made a few steps to help you conquer the crazy world of recruiting and hiring.
Know Who You Are!
You, as a recruiting company, have to be niche. You need to focus on what you specialize in, what kind of people you are looking for, and what kind of positions you want to fill. You should be choosing this based on what you are good at, where the demand is, and what positions bring in good money! It is time for you to buckle down and be more efficient. Don’t get ahead of yourself with hiring. There are other things you can do to supplement to help yourself.
Find your Niche
Know what positions you are filling. Once you decide on what you are specializing in, run with it and make it clear to others on what you do specifically. Make it clear on your LinkedIn profile that you are recruiting specifically for XYZ positions. Clients looking for recruiting companies look at your profile to see if what you specialize fits their needs; so it needs to be very clear, concise, and obvious. In such a competitive landscape, show that YOU are what the client wants and YOU do it best!
It’s important to remember that you aren’t closing a door by choosing a specialty- you do this to avoid hurting yourself. Let’s say you have 5 different positions that you take on that do not overlap what-so-ever and you spend 2 hours on each of them. That is 10 hours of work in which you have to get back to all the candidates, make sure they are qualified, send their resumes to those positions, and hope that your client likes them. My point here is to set yourself up for success by making money off of every single candidate you take. Ultimately being able to offer a rejected candidate with another position you have on-hand. It runs like a cycle with having happy candidates who get the job, they’re happy, you’re happy, and they go tell their friends which leads to more referrals for you.
You Need Help- Is it Time to Find a Partner?
As someone who has started 2 recruitment companies, I would say that recruiting needs to be done in 2’s so that one can do business development and the other can fill candidate roles. Having 2 people, doing 2 different tasks makes the recruiting world go round.
Also, here’s a few things to consider when it comes to finding help.
- Do you want to hire a recruiter that already knows what they’re doing and specialize in what you do? This is difficult to decide on because you will have to pay them well or base their pay off commission. In this aspect, you would also need to train them; and you have to consider that some people just aren’t trainable and that is just the fact of the matter. Training is time consuming and energy draining. My best advice would be to avoid payroll until you know the person you hired will do the job right and the way you want them to.
OR…
- Is it time to join forces with another recruiting company that specializes in the same XYZ as you do? Joining forces, splitting business 50/50, allows you to spread your wings by filling more positions and getting more referrals. Don’t be too afraid of losing money because ultimately, you will probably be getting more and better business than you were before.
OR…
- Should you hire recruiters on a contract basis? Sometimes the best way to go is hiring freelance recruiters who are looking for work. In this case, you could offer them 20% of the fee because they aren’t doing the work, they are introducing candidates and handing them off.
Takeaways
Overall, you want to retain your recruiters and know what you are getting yourself into. I know, this is a lot of work. Looking back, I wish I would’ve signed some contractors sooner. Recruiters help recruiters these days so maybe it is time to pay it forward! Ramp up your company, get creative, and supplement the work you need to get done. You are a successful recruiter and have a successful company so be cautious. You now know all the fundamentals so get out there and conquer! You got this.
Check out this video to hear it from me, personally:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXHBD3T8RpE&feature=youtu.be
