In a dynamic and ever-evolving job market, it's crucial for recruitment agencies to adapt and find the most promising avenues for success. If you missed our recent Crowdcast, Firefish CEO, Wendy McDougall, had a conversation with Roy Dungworth, Director and Founder of Consiliario Consulting and Commercial Director of Elite Leaders, who sheds light on why contract recruitment is the way to go in 2023 and offers valuable advice on how to make it a thriving part of your business strategy.
The Case for Contract Recruitment
Roy Dungworth kicks off the discussion by highlighting the compelling case for contract recruitment. In a landscape where permanent recruitment has experienced a 35% decline compared to the previous year, contract recruitment remains robust. In fact, a remarkable 86% of global staffing industry revenue is currently consisting of contract recruitment.
What makes contract recruitment such a sound choice? For one, it provides a recurring revenue stream, even in challenging markets or economic downturns. The trend toward freelance and flexible working arrangements is gaining momentum, making contract recruitment increasingly relevant in the current employment landscape.
For the past few years, permanent recruitment has been on the rise, and recruiters often found business development to be a breeze. However, the paradigm has shifted. Roy Dungworth notes that many agency owners are hesitant to hire contract recruiters due to concerns that they might not stay in a job long enough to build the necessary connections and market knowledge. However, Roy's methodology challenges this perception. He advocates for identifying raw, untrained contract recruiters who can be moulded without the burden of pre-existing habits, ultimately creating an unbeatable team.
Creating a Winning Contract Recruitment Strategy
Roy Dungworth provides a roadmap for creating a successful contract recruitment strategy:
Board-Level Sponsorship: The first step is securing board-level sponsorship. You need a well-thought-out plan that includes the level of investment, expected returns, and a realisation that you may not turn a profit in the first year. A lot of agency owners and business owners discard contract recruiters because they don't have that long-term plan and level of commitment, where they know exactly how much they will invest and how much return they will get - as well as when they will get it.
Target Operating Model: Develop a strategic sales process from an organisational perspective down to the individual level. This involves training recruiters, setting up efficient systems, researching the client, market, and candidate landscape. Roy emphasizes the importance of having a team of individuals who are all trained and driven in the same market, promoting collaboration and talent pool sharing. He calls it "hunting in packs" - a team of recruiters who have the same market knowledge, create talent pools and databases of clients and candidates, who all work together.
"A contract recruiter shouldn't chase business - they should build business."
Roy Dungworth
Effective CRM and Automation: Leveraging a good CRM system and automation tools is vital for contract recruitment success. These tools maximise your productivity and help you maintain an engaged and warm database. Did you know that using automation efficiently can improve productivity by 10%-50%? It's about working smarter, not harder. Creating databases that are active and engaged all the time might seem like a daunting task, but with automation, it's a piece of cake. Anyone can go on LinkedIn and search for new candidates - the key to success in contract recruitment is having a broad, enagaged pool of candidates you constantly review and dive into.
KPIs: Good Key Performance Indicators are not to be feared. They should be used to identify areas for improvement rather than causing stress. Proper KPIs can help you notice your mistakes and guide you towards improvement. If you see KPIs as something daunting, that you have to review at the end of the week and stress about when you've not hit your goals, they obviously won't serve their true purpose. But if you're able to monitor the numbers and notice where you're falling short - and current AI and automation tools can do that for you - you will be able to fix your mistakes and succeed faster.
The Scrooge Methodology: Roy introduces the Scrooge methodology, a method that involves tracking the journey of your contractors and recognising trigger points. By closely monitoring where contractors go next, why they leave, and their new projects, you can uncover potential clients and stay ahead of market trends.
To start, you should look at all the new managers added to your database and track their history - what companies have they come from, why did they leave, and did they leave a gap that you can fill? How was contract recruitment in those companies? And then explore further journey - where they are working now, is the new company hiring still?
In conclusion, the insights shared by Roy Dungworth emphasize that contract recruitment is a potent strategy in 2023. With the right approach, it can not only thrive but also transform your recruitment agency into a highly competitive force in the market. So, consider the sound advice from an industry expert and explore the potential that contract recruitment offers for your agency's growth and success.
To hear more of his tips, listen to the Crowdcast below!
