5 reasons recruiters delay starting an agency

It isn’t hard to find 5 reasons recruiters delay starting an agency. In reality there are probably hundreds of reasons and they all have there own levels of validity. Some will be completely valid whilst others (more commonly) are only perceived reasons, made up as excuses to justify to ourselves why we should sit tight earning money for other people.

From experience of talking to recruiters over the years, we’ve sifted through these excuses to come up with our top 5.

Financial risk

An obvious choice and fully justified. This reason can be broken down into several parts.

Start-up Costs: Setting up a recruitment agency involves significant initial investment. This includes costs for office space, technology, marketing, legal fees, and other operational expenses. The fear of financial loss can be a major deterrent.

Income Instability: Unlike a salaried position, owning a recruitment agency means income is tied to the success of the business, which can be unpredictable, especially in the early stages.

Equity or share options: If you have been working your way up in a business or have been at a senior level for some time, you may already have (or have a promise of) equity or shares based on personal or company performance. This could be some way off and may well be dependant on circumstances outside of your control.

Business knowledge

Entrepreneurial Skills: Running a business requires skills in management, finance, marketing, and operations. Recruiters may feel they lack the necessary business acumen and are unsure how to acquire these skills.

Life events

Marriage, kids, moving house (or all of these at the same time). These are things generally in your control but there’s also a lot of life events that will happen that are outside of your control and there probably always will be. If you are in control of these events then with careful planning and with the right support you shouldn’t let them stand in your way.

Recruitment Experience

Industry Knowledge: While recruiters may have extensive industry knowledge, transitioning this into a business context can be challenging.

Experience: If you haven’t worked in recruitment then this should be an excuse for not starting a recruitment business! Pretty simple really. Other than that, you’ll know yourself if you are a good recruiter or not. Generally a few years of business development and solid billing numbers are what you are looking for.

Fear of Failure

Most of us are affected by fear of failure and impostor syndrome. It takes a certain type of person and mindset to break free, back yourself and go for it.

Competition: The recruitment industry is highly competitive, and the fear of not being able to compete effectively with established agencies can be intimidating.

Market Conditions: Economic downturns or changes in the job market can impact the success of a new agency, adding to the fear of failure.

Nobody likes to fail and some of the most successful business people have had to experience set backs in order to succeed.

Never a perfect time

If you wait for everything to align then it will never happen. Certainly you need to hit some criteria to be ready but the more you keep putting it off the chances of actually doing it decrease. Getting investment of both finance and skill sets could be what you need to help you overcome any barriers that are standing in your way.

SSG Partnerships can provide both financial support (if necessary) and a team of experts to help you launch your business. From initial conversations we will assess your suitability to launch – have you got the right experience and billings as a recruiter? Have you got the drive and ambition? We’ll take you through a series of discovery calls including going through a business plan and also outlining the support that we give through launch and post launch.

It’s no surprise that recruiters are 2.9 times more likely to succeed when they partner with us then when they go it alone.

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