If you’ve worked within the recruitment industry for a few years and are now planning to go it alone, then you likely have a pretty good idea how to run an agency.
However, before you jump in, you should take the time to put together a comprehensive business plan.
A business plan can act as a guide as you form and grow your agency. It makes you consider exactly how the business will run, the services you’ll offer and the way it’ll be marketed. It’s essentially a roadmap to success!
In this article we’ve broken down the different elements of a business plan and what each section should include.
Finding Your Place in the Market
Before you jump into building your business plan, you need to define your target market and unique proposition.
As you know, the recruitment industry is highly competitive, so finding a unique angle or specialism will help you mark out your own place.
Market research is essential at this point. Learn who you’ll be competing against – How big are they? How do they market their business? What kind of clients do they work with?
COMPONENTS OF A RECRUITMENT BUSINESS PLAN
Here are the sections you should include in your plan. We’ve explored each one in a little more detail below:
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Market Analysis
- Organization and Management
- Services Offered
- Marketing and Sales Strategy
- Financial Projections
- Appendices
- Executive Summary
Think of your executive summary as the highlights of all the other sections. For this reason, you might find it easier to write this section at the end.
It should provide the reader with a quick overview of the important information within the plan, such as company description, market position and services offered.
This is a chance to highlight your agency’s strengths and objectives and give a brief overview of financial projections.
- Company Description
Within your company description, you should provide background information about your agency and where it will be located.
Share the origin story, detailing your own experience and exactly why you decided to start the business.
Your mission, vision and the core values that will underpin everything you do, should also be included.
- Market Analysis
You need to provide the reader (and yourself!) with a picture of exactly where your agency will sit in the market.
Showcase your knowledge within this section by offering an overview of the current state of the recruitment industry.
Identify your own target market, and any relevant competition that needs mentioning.
You should be honest and realistic, highlighting the size of the opportunity, but also any threats that may exist.
- Organisation and Management
This is the area of the business plan where you explain exactly who’s involved and their role, by outlining the organisational structure of your agency.
Introduce each key team member in turn, detailing their background and exactly how that will benefit their role within the business.
If you plan for it just to be you to start with, describe how you’ll scale the business up and down with demand. External recruitment back office support services, such as those offered by New Millennia, can be one way to do this.
Discussing your agency’s hiring and training processes can also be beneficial for when you start to grow.
- Services Offered
Potentially the most straightforward area of the plan is Services Offered.
Detail exactly what recruitment services you’ll provide. Include additional value-added services that will be unique to your agency, such as marketing or onboarding support.
Throughout this section you should be highlighting how your services will meet the needs of both clients and candidates. Plus, how you’ll do things differently/better than your competition!
- Marketing and Sales Strategy
Define how you’ll take your agency to market, by adding detail about the brand and how it’ll be positioned and presented.
Outline all the marketing channels that you plan to use, and the tactics that you’ll adopt.
Any potential investors you share your document with will want to understand the sales process and strategies you’ll use for acquiring new clients.
- Financial Projections
Look ahead to the next three/five years and provide detailed financial projections. Basically, you’re translating all the things you’ve said about your business into numbers.
Include income statements, cash flow projections and balance sheets.
Demonstrating that you have recruitment finance in place can be one way to show how you plan to manage cashflow within your business.
Explain the assumptions and methodologies you’ve used in the forecast, so any potential investors can understand your thought process.
- Appendix
The appendix is the place for any supporting documents, such as your CV, market research data or legal information.
Pending contracts, or even just a contract template, might be something else you choose to add.
Starting your own recruitment agency?
Here at New Millennia, we work with start-up recruitment agencies to provide 100% risk-free funding and back office support.
For an informal chat about our services, get in touch.
