Starting a Recruitment Business - the Basics

by
Finance
If you want to be able to turn your idea into something real, you have to think about finance...Some of the first questions you will need to ask yourself are:
- How much everything is going to cost to set up?
- How much will you need to make each month to break-even based on predicted operational costs?
- How much capital will you need to pay for temporary staff (bearing in mind that you employ the staff and then subsequently charge the client. After all invoices can take a while to be paid!)
- How will you raise said capital?
- If you employ other recruitment staff - will you have a bonus structure (it’s generally expected in this industry) and if so what are the terms of the bonus policy?
Design and Marketing
You know what you are going to be selling, but how you going to sell it? Consider:
- Branding - How will your recruitment agency / business be packaged to both clients and candidates?
- Design - who will design your business cards, marketing gifts, company logo?
- Have you created a Market strategy?
- Do you have any existing clients / companies that you are guaranteed to gain work from?
- How will you use Social Media?
- How will you market your new business? Press releases, open days, launch day?
- What type of sales targets have you set in place?
Business Practicals
Red Tape to some - protecting yourself to others! You might want to consider:
- The legalities of working as a recruitment agency/business
- The legalities involved with employing temporary staff, employment law and legislation
- Your business terms and conditions
- Employee Insurance
- Company policies - equal opps, health and safety, data protection etc
- Service Level agreements for particular clients
- Pricing templates
- Do you have a bespoke recruitment database to record candidate and client details?
In fairness the checklist above could go on and on....however, if you are still keen to start a recruitment business, we hope that it helps you out along the way!
Check out the Startacus business toolkit for a growing directory of all the business bits and bobs, links and articles you may need - no matter what business you are considering starting.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
The lowdown on The Joy Club, an online activity club that provides classes, activities and inspiration galore to help people make the most of their retirement.

Carbon marketplace experts JustCarbon urge businesses to consider carbon credits to offset carbon emissions now or to bank them while market prices are low.

The UK’s fastest-growing plant-based meat brand, THIS™ set to launch Seedrs campaign to support further innovation, bold marketing and international expansion.

New mentorship programme aims to enable Hootsuite employees to shed light on their lived and sector experience and support BYP Network members’ career development.

CropSafe, a platform revolutionizing the future of farming, announce that they have raised over $3M in seed funding and have opened U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles.

Voicy, the online content platform for discovering, creating and sharing sound-clips and sound-effects secures investment to support team expansion and global growth.

Career Masterclass has launched a new website to showcase its offerings, as a strategic partner for businesses wanting to bolster D&I policies.

NI Startup? Fancy showcasing your startup at this year's Digital DNA event? We've got up to 10 spaces for NI startups to do just that. Here's the details!

Germany's leading digital solar platform, Zolar secures major investment to support roll out of new digital energy products.

Metro Bank seeks startups and scaleups with a focus on customer experience, community banking, optimisation of systems & data and sustainability for its second innovation lab.
Published on: 23rd April 2013
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.







- Voicy lands €1.2 million pre-Seed from Global Founders Capital to build the GIPHY for sound 20th May 2022 Voicy, the online content platform for discovering, creating and sharing sound-clips and sound-effects secures investment to support team expansion and global growth.
- Zolar Lands €100 Million Series C On The Back Of Surging Demand For Affordable Green Energy 19th May 2022 Germany's leading digital solar platform, Zolar secures major investment to support roll out of new digital energy products.
- Metro Bank opens call for participants for second Magic Makers programme 17th May 2022 Metro Bank seeks startups and scaleups with a focus on customer experience, community banking, optimisation of systems & data and sustainability for its second innovation lab.
- Storyblok Raises $47M Series B to Make Headless Content Management the New Standard 17th May 2022 Storyblok secures major investment to further accelerate product innovation and growth into the US and Europe.