Flow state
How to get more out of less
An agency owner I spoke to last month estimated that the number of jobs each consultant is working has been slashed to just half what is was a couple of years ago.
Only having 50% of the job flow you used to have sounds like a disaster for recruitment agencies - but it could be the opportunity you need to shift your approach from high-volume to high-value business.
Fill Rate Failure
Most recruitment agencies have relied on picking up a high number of vacancies and filling around 20-30% of them. If you’re a niche specialist that number should be higher, but even 50% is seen as a good fill rate in contingent recruitment. And that still means you’re not filling half of the jobs you work.
When job flow drops dramatically, these numbers don’t add up. When you’ve only got one or two opportunities a month, you have to make them count. And the traditional recruitment model isn’t going to help you.
The good news is there are better models out there, ones that help you fill a much higher proportion of the roles you work. These models are proven in other industries, and are increasingly being adopted by progressive recruitment leaders who want to build high-value businesses.
Imagine knowing that you are likely to fill almost every role you work on. It’s not just a more profitable way of working; you get more satisfaction from the work you do, you can celebrate success with every one of your clients, and your candidates are more likely to get the jobs you put them forward for. In other words, everyone is happy.
I’m not simply saying, “Ditch contingent, do more retainers.” For one thing, it’s not easy to win retained work at the moment! My point is you have the opportunity to shift the entire way you think about recruitment and how your agency wins business in the future.
Your Professional Service
I’m a big believer that recruiters are as valuable as accountants or lawyers, and should be compared to other professional services. If you asked a management consultant how many pieces of work they complete (i.e. their fill rate), they would look at you funny and tell you that they finish all of them. At the moment, that’s a huge gap between recruitment and other professional services.
I see the current drop in job flow as an opportunity for recruitment leaders to shift away from a high-volume model with a low fill rate. This is your moment to reset your expectations of the number of roles you need to run a profitable business, and the level of success you deliver to your clients.
Want to discover how you can make the shift? I'll run a 1-2-1 diagnostic workshop and give you immediate changes you can make the same day - just reply to this email to book your session.
Jon
P.S. You wouldn’t want to move away from your current model unless you knew you were moving to something that was proven to work. Here’s what one recruitment agency owner had to say about their new approach:
“Jon helped re-frame the way we priced our services, in a simple, engaging and super effective way. It has been a game-changer for us, resulting in us winning better quality work and having a framework from which consultants can negotiate from a place of strength.”
Want to discover how you can make the shift? I'll run a 1-2-1 diagnostic workshop and give you immediate changes you can make the same day - just reply to this email to book your session.