Let’s face it – starting a recruitment agency is not a case of snapping your fingers and deciding everything in one single moment. The truth is, even though you may think that starting your recruitment business in the UK is a quick and straightforward process, a lot of things can hold yourself back – especially when you are short on your budget.

However, a lot of recruiters managed to start their businesses from scratch and without significant investments in the beginning. A lot of that is because recruitment is an industry that is non-demanding when it comes to offices and extra labor.

In order to help you start a temp agency with no money…Below, we are listing all of the steps you need to make to see your recruitment business up and running.

1. Don’t search for the perfect office – you don’t need it

One of the main advantages of starting a recruitment agency with no experience is the fact that you don’t need to invest in a shiny office for the start. Even though a lot of people immediately search for offices as soon as they register their agency, you don’t need to do that if you are starting fresh.

You can run your recruitment agency online from the comfort of your home – and meet clients in cafes and hotel bars. And if you really need a meeting or conference room, you can always rent a professional space and deliver the image of a prestigious business.

This can be a great way to keep costs as low as possible until you can afford an office and a potential team of employees that can help your agency.

2. Examine your basic needs and recruiting experience

What you should focus on in the very beginning of starting your own recruitment agency are your basic needs and your recruiting experience. This is an important step in every business journey and one that gives you an exact glimpse of business knowledge and what you can do with it.

That being said, your basic needs include:

• a work computer (preferably portable one like a laptop) and reliable Wi-Fi
• a phone you can use to call clients
• an accountant that will offer free consultations and work your papers for a flat monthly fee
• a solid name for your business (including a domain name for your website address)
• insurance for both public liability and business insurance
• a bank account for your business

As you can see, all of these things can be acquired for less than a thousand pounds which is certainly not a big investment when starting your recruitment agency. However, you should also consider your basic needs in terms of how you are going to attract clients. One of them is your online presence – mentioned in the step below.

3. Work around your online presence

As we said above, your website can be the main tool for searching new clients and job seekers. You can invest most of your savings in a professional-looking and responsive website – and a domain name that is easy to remember.

There are many affordable website builders with advanced features such as Wix, Weebly and Squarespace – which offer you easy functionalities and drag-and-drop features that allow you to design your website yourself. However, if you are looking for something more functional (and scalable in the long run), you can also choose WordPress as the most popular content management system out there which we use as part of our recruitment web design service.

As soon as you choose some of these platforms, examine your basic needs when it comes to your website. Choose a catchy logo and a theme that makes it easy for clients to seek talent (and vice versa). Once you have that up and running, it’s time to publish some content.

However, make sure to narrow things down in the beginning and see what is your focus. For example, some recruitment agency owners decide to start with certain industries and expand later on. So, you can ideally start in one field and offer tailored recruitment services before you start building up your expertise.

4. Use a financing service to fund contractors

If you are completely broke after spending on your basic needs and business presence, relax. You need money to make money – and the best way to get that money is from an invoice factoring company. As long as you have potential business to fund it, a service like Fund My Contractor can help you start investing in lucrative contract placements.

Now, a lot of recruitment agency owners don’t believe services like these – which is totally okay. Fortunately, there is always the need of a ‘helping hand’ from a partner. You don’t have to do things alone and having someone you trust by your side can actually help you make most of your recruitment business.

5. Getting down to business

At this point, starting a recruitment business with no money should be history for you. What you should focus is getting down to business – even if that means manually searching for top clients in your local market and negotiating the best deals with them.

Generally, the recruitment agency marketplace revolves around supply and demand. As such, you should always be in search of clients who need workers – and at the same time – job seekers who need part-time or full-time jobs. Again, when starting out, you can narrow things down to specific industries or job sectors.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, starting your own recruitment agency with no money is definitely possible – once you see and focus on your priorities. One of the benefits is that it doesn’t require a lot of labor or office to begin with. And that basically means that you can build up a nice base of clients without a big sign over your window or a shiny office.

What is important to know for the end is to always make sure your clients know who you are. Believe it or not, recruitment is an industry where the smallest personal touch can make a business booming. So, what are you waiting for?

Drop in and introduce yourself and your business to the local businesses in the best light possible!

A lot of entrepreneurs consider opening a recruitment agency in the UK – only because of the endless opportunities in the industry. If you are one of them, you probably know that starting a recruitment business is still a big decision and one that comes with several consequences.

The truth is, everyone has their own motivation when starting a recruitment business. Whether it’s a change of career or something that has been your inner desire for years, the motivation is quite different for many people.

Fortunately, most of the recruitment agencies in the UK have been profitable and successful in what they do best – helping people land their dream jobs and helping clients get the best talent for their needs.

Today, we are listing the seven most important reasons why starting a recruitment agency in the UK can let you share the same benefits.

1. You will be working with people

One of the perks of starting a recruitment agency with no experience is the fact that you will still be working with people – which means that the experience will be easier to get. Unlike other jobs that are focused on dealing with numbers, papers and accounts, opening a recruitment agency in the UK is one of the most desirable professions just because of the ‘human touch’ that it has.

2. You can learn from the mistakes of other agencies

Another great reason to start your own recruitment agency in the UK is the competition, and the chance to learn from their mistakes. In a nutshell, there are a lot of recruitment agencies that make mistakes which cost them a lot over the years. You can eventually spot these mistakes and make most of them in your case. This will make you a stronger business owner and a more experienced entrepreneur.

3. You don’t need many employees or a large company to begin with

Setting up a recruitment agency is unlike setting up a manufacture business. In other words, it is a move that doesn’t require many workers from the start – or great  investments and debts to begin with. The truth is, you can even start a recruitment agency with no experience and no investment and dedicate your input to the maximum.

Alternatively, you could be using a great software to track new talent or a professional third-party service that gives you access to the hottest pool of candidates for every industry. From that point, the only thing that is left is linking these candidates with big company names and clients.

4. You won’t have to bill for someone else anymore

Starting your own recruitment business means that you are now in charge of things. It also means that every penny will land on your account – and you will be responsible for managing your budget. For someone who has been working for others their entire career, this can be a major step and a decision that means a lot. When you become an owner yourself, you will immediately see the satisfaction of knowing that all profit goes to you – even if it doesn’t reach your pocket and is meant for something else.

5. You can finally build a new type of recruitment agency

If you want to start your recruitment agency in the UK, chances are that you are planning something unique and revolutionary. Most of the young entrepreneurs and business owners are like-minded and want their businesses to be different.

This can help you a lot in the long run, especially when it comes to developing your own unique culture which will be planned and implemented by your side. Here, having a clear vision is the only way for your agency to differ from the others.

6. You can make as much money as you want

We all know that the costs of running a recruitment agency in the UK can be high. However, the profits can be even higher.

One of the major advantages of making this leap forward is the fact that you are not limited to a salary. If you are a good recruiter, you can make lots of money and take advantage of the constant need for talent in this industry. However, it is important to map your growth and plan out everything upfront to be able to make money online aswell as offline.

7. You can narrow down to certain industries – or expand and cover them all

Last but not the least is the fact that recruitment offers tons of possibilities. Whether you want to narrow things down to certain industries (ex. offer real estate recruitment services) or expand and have as many recruitment categories as you want – everything can work to your needs and desires.

All that you need to start is a system that guarantees solid traffic from the job seeker side – and a pool of clients (companies interested in hiring) you can connect it to. Filling a specific niche has never been so easier – just like expanding and covering every corner on the market.

A Final Word

In the end, starting your recruitment business in the UK is definitely a step you should look forward to. However, recruitment is not as easy as it may look on a first glance. If it was, there wouldn’t be any unemployment after all, right?

What matters is for you to find what you are good at, begin with that and start making placements in a smart way. You will soon learn that this profession is all about balancing your clients’ and contractors’ needs and having the knack for matching them successfully.

So, what are you waiting for? Is something stopping you from opening a recruitment agency in the UK? If yes, what?

Let us know in the comments!

Get into the lucrative recruitment business and make money online with your own jobs board. We have developed a sophisticated job portal that can be setup to target any industry or niche.

Make money from recruitment agencies listing job listings on your own jobs board. Or if you are a recruitment agency list all your vacancies on your own jobs board.

The website generates revenue from recruitment agencies listing their job vacancies on the website. The website can also earn revenue from banner advertising. We can setup and link other businesses to the website that offer recruitment services and you will earn a commission if your website sends any referrals

You can also earn money from having Indeed jobs listed on the website. The website imports job listings from Indeed and for any referrals you send to Indeeds website, you earn a commission.

We design each client’s website to be totally unique in terms of design (logos, colours, theme etc).

The Job Board has the following features as part of our recruitment website design service:

• Agencies can pay to submit job listings to the portal
  • Candidates can search and apply for jobs and submit their CV
  • Candidates and Agencies can create their own profiles
  • Indeed integration – import jobs from Indeed and earn commission for any referrals
  • Apply with Facebook. Users can apply for jobs using their Facebook account
  • Location based searches. Users can search for jobs based on location (Google map integration)
  • Mobile/Tablet friendly. Users can view website on their mobile devices
  • Bookmark jobs, Users can bookmark job listings
  • Built in shopping cart. If you wanted to sell products on the website it has this functionality
  • Email alerts. Users can setup email alerts for new job listings that match their criteria
  • Social networking sharing. Users can share job listings on social networks
  • Live stats. Show live stats on website to show how many listings the site has and members
  • Blog. Built in blog to write articles. Great for SEO
  • Contact Page. Built in contact forms
  • Unlimited Pages. Create as many pages as you like
  • Drag and drop design. Drag and drop menus from the Admin of the site to change the look and feel of the website.

We will also provide advice on the best ways to market the website and generate traffic, we are marketing experts and can help grow your business with our expert advice and support

Example of what you could earn. If you had 5 advertisers a day posting job vacancies on your job board paying £25 each that would generate £125 a day – £3,750 a month. The more agencies you sign up, the more revenue you will make and then on top of any commissions you earn from Indeed referrals and any affiliate offers you have advertising on the website the revenue potential the website has is very lucrative and has great potential if you have the drive and passion to succeed

View more details about this internet startup business idea

If you are into recruitment, starting your own recruitment agency can be the step forward you need to achieve your goals. However, many people see launching a new company as a relatively big decision. What many don’t know is that starting a recruitment business can be the most exciting journey they will ever come close to in their career.

The truth is, recruitment agencies (also known as staffing or temporary agencies) basically search for, interview and screen potential applicants for job placement in different industries. The end goal is to fill temporary job openings and be the most reliable agency that many businesses will rely on when searching for top talent in their industry.

So, how to start a recruitment agency in the right way?

In order to help you make the right decisions from the start, we are listing our 5-step guide to setting up a recruitment agency – below.

Step 1: Choose The Perfect Name For Your Recruitment Agency

Even if it seems simple, coming up with a business name for your recruitment agency can be trickier than expected. Some of the things you should consider here are the legal parameters and rules governing what can and cannot be used.

Additionally, you should check the availability of your chosen name – and make sure that you start a recruitment agency with a name that is unique and relevant to the industry. After all, your business name is the forefront of your company and is important to convey the right message about your brand and the market that you are targeting.

As soon as you do this, you should consider the future plans as well – mostly because a wrong name could potentially lead to troubles and headaches while expanding (ex. if your company name is ‘Real Estate Recruitment’ you may want to expand to different branches over time).

Step 2: Register Your Company Name

The second milestone you should be looking forward to when launching your recruitment agency is registering your company. It may sound scary – but this process is actually pretty quick and straightforward.

Still, you should be informed and have some of your information regarding your business ready so that you can get through the process quicker. For example, you should know the fields you should fill in with information – and if you come across ones that are confusing, you should immediately look for assistance.

At this point, it is essential to have some of the following details set up and running:

• Company name and office address in the UK
• Director name, your address, nationality, date of birth as well as business occupation
• Currency and number of stocks/shares you have in your company
• Subscriber details and address
• A form of payment (there is a £15 to complete the registration process)

As soon as you get these details up and running, it is time to register your company and make the first step as an official recruitment agency owner.

Step 3: Getting your recruitment agency online

In a digital era as the one nowadays, it is hard to even imagine starting a recruitment agency in the brick-and-mortar way. Instead, most of the recruitment agency owners are focusing on their online presence as the main channel of driving traffic.

The first step when launching your recruitment agency website is deciding which platform you would use. Personally, we would recommend WordPress as the most popular and widely recognized content management system with tons of plugins and customization options. As your company grows, WordPress will allow you to scale your website presence as well.

Some of the important points you should consider for your website include:

• choosing a good theme that is mobile-responsive and loading fast
• using great visuals and optimized content in order to rank higher and attract traffic
• using clear CTA (call to action) – in order to hook your viewers to leave their information or contact you immediately.
• providing accurate contact details – phone, email, working hours and social media channels are a must

From social media to email marketing, there are many ways to grow your recruitment agency. At this point, it is important to be versatile and focus on quality rather than quantity.  If you want a professional website designed, check out our recruitment website design service.

Step 4: Income tax, tax returns, data protection and other regulations

Knowing some of the basic legal requirements related to tax, data protection and other regulations goes a long way when starting your own recruitment agency. Some of the most important within the UK include:

• the HRMC (Income Tax) regulations – where you are required to report on all payments made
• tax returns – your tax affairs, claim expenses and VAT returns should be all properly taxed
• the Data Protection Act – ensuring that you treat your candidates and clients in a professional, fair and confidential way
• Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) – related to the treatment of your agency workers
• the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code) – ensuring that every job you post represents a real one and is treated in the same way
• the Equality Act 2010 – including the Sex Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act and Disability Discrimination Act into a single Act

Step 5: Making most of your business plan and sorting your budget

Last but not the least on this list is your business plan – as the roadmap that guides your recruitment agency to success. Here, you should consider every strength and opportunity but also know how to plan your budget.

Luckily, there are a lot of free business plan for recruitment agency templates that you can use or find online for no price at all.

So, are you ready to start and grow your own recruitment agency? We hope this guide helped you sort out some of the basic questions regarding this topic!

In all honesty, starting your recruitment agency is one of the best things you can do to set yourself apart from the competition, escape the comfort zone and commit yourself to your goals.

However…

We are all aware that the trends in many industries are changing as we speak. Most of them change because of the advanced analytics and technology – and others because they were just too redundant up until now.

On the other hand, hiring has always been in the forefront of business owners’ minds. That being said, recruitment is one of the industries that is much needed and very important in today’s marketplace. However, it may look a lot different than it did just a decade or two ago. In order to make you aware of the latest changes, we are listing the four main trends that turned recruitment on its side.

1. The role of sophisticated data analytics

Starting a recruitment business doesn’t have to happen in a shiny office or with a big window tag anymore. What is important nowadays are the actual processes that can solve client’s needs and get them closer to their ideal workforce.

One of the key indicators in that manner have been the advanced data analytics and algorithms that combine various recruiting functions and shift away from the decision model that is based on past practices and intuition.

So, even if you wonder how to start a recruitment agency with no money, you should know that modern advertising just threw a new set of trends and principles in this marketplace – ones driven by machine learning and abreast of a person’s interests, profile and needs based on user data.

Key takeaway: High-quality analytics are best seen in cloud-based hiring tools that allow recruiters to easily and affordably find, evaluate and organize top job candidates – all thanks to defined user data and advanced filtering techniques.

2. The era when your ’employer brand’ matters

We are living in an era of brands – and not one of businesses. At least this is how the savvy candidates see today’s recruitment market before applying to accept a job.

Much like the ways they evaluate consumer brands when shopping, today’s candidates are more informed and knowledgeable than ever before. They know how to appreciate a great recruitment website, a tailored recruitment search bar – and a nice visual marketing strategy even from the first glance.

Most of the active job seekers today are millennials – a group that wants jobs of interest and one that is too quick to jump jobs. In their heads, recruitment is not about making money anymore – but about finding the perfect role for their skill set.

Key takeaway: It is more than important to focus on design and usability – and deliver a cohesive brand image that reflects your company mission, vision and values.

3. Gamification techniques

In case you haven’t heard about it before, gamification is a process that uses game-like interactions in order to accomplish serious purposes. As of this year, the process has experienced a surge in popularity – and there is a clear reason why.

According to the Harvard Business Review blog, more than 70% of Global 2000 companies will incorporate gamification into their business model by the end of 2017.

‘What does this mean for recruitment agencies?’ – you are asking yourself.

It basically means that in order to start a recruitment business, you need to know how to make most of role-playing exercises, task challenges and problem-solving activities that will all help you attract innovative and talented candidates.

Key takeaway: Gamification is a process that makes applying easier for candidates – and one that has experienced a surge in popularity. In times when a lot of the top businesses are adopting it, the recruitment industry is also adapting to it.

4. Specialized recruiters

Setting up a recruitment agency and focusing on the broad market is not anymore a strategy that makes agency owners proud. The reason for that is simple – it is one that doesn’t deliver results.

Instead, most of the agency owners who are starting a recruitment business are starting to find out that becoming specialized in one area of recruitment makes finding clients – and delivering results – much easier.

Specialized recruiters have already started ‘stealing the show’ and getting most of the targeted industry clients. Plus, they are getting informed about more things in these certain industries and are becoming an authority for recruitment in them. They know where candidates value self-management and want their ideas to be heard and considered, and how to deal with issues like these.

Key takeaway: Whether you have worked in a certain industry or not, specializing in it when starting your recruitment agency can deliver great results. Finding new clients suddenly becomes easier – and retaining them is something you will have no trouble with.

Final Thoughts

At last, it is safe to say that recruitment is a two way street. The interview process has gone both ways ever since the need for recruitment began – especially for high-level or highly skilled positions. That being said, recruitment is vital to both the company and the candidate.

So, the innovative recruiting strategies and techniques come at a perfect times, especially in industries that demand a positive impression on talented candidates. In the end, it is up to the company and the candidate to determine whether the position will be a good fit.

What do you think of this big change? Is it going to make starting a recruitment agency easier? Or more challenging?

We would love to hear your thoughts about these new trends in recruitment – so feel free to comment below!