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Although it looks like 2021 will not be a year that we have the traditional summer holiday where we go abroad and relax on the beach, it seems like many people will still take some time off in August to recharge their batteries.

Over the past 12 years, TBOS has always seen new enquiry levels in August drop, and then from September onwards, we get an influx of recruiters who have returned to work and made some decisions about the remaining four months of the year, which they hope we can help with.

We have compiled a list of the things that recruiters will often consider during their breaks away:-

CONSIDER STARTING YOUR OWN RECRUITMENT AGENCY

If you are a top-biller in the current climate, then now is potentially the best time to look at starting your own recruitment agency - either in September or plan it for a January 2022 start. If you use this time to do your research on how to set up a company, speak to suppliers and ensure a smooth exit from your current employer, then you can hit the ground running as soon as the holiday season ends.

ASSESS H1 AND ENSURE YOU ARE ON TRACK FOR H2

If you are running your own recruitment agency, then you should use this time to assess whether the first half of the year has gone according to plan and ensure that you have a plan for the remainder of the year. This may be reviewing your 6-month financials to see what has or hasn’t worked and seeing what you need to do to ensure that you finish 2021 on target. This may involve looking at your current sales performance by client, evaluating your internal staff or reviewing internal costs to see if there are further improvements to the business.

LOOK AT EXPANDING INTO CONTRACT PLACEMENTS

If you are a permanent-only recruitment agency, then it is a good time to look at whether your industry could expand into placing contractors. With many clients at the moment uncertain about taking on permanent staff members, there may be an opportunity for you to go to your existing clients and offer them candidates on a daily rate instead of on a permanent basis. By having contract workers on site, this can increase the value of your agency and generate profit on a daily basis instead of being reliant on your new permanent placement.

EVALUATE YOUR CURRENT BACK OFFICE AND ACCOUNTS FUNCTION

If you are an agency that does their own bookkeeping, has internal accounting staff or multiple providers to complete your back office functions, then it may be a good idea to see what is available to ensure you are getting the most for your money. Outsourcing these functions will often be much cheaper than having internal staff, and if you are doing any of these functions yourself will also provide a large time saving, allowing you to concentrate on making more placements.

SEE IF THERE ARE OTHER RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

Due to the lockdown, many industries have gone through some major changes, which some agencies have had to adapt to in order to continue making placements. The requirement to “work from home” and the giving up of working from an office has had a profound effect on many industries but at the same time opened up new opportunities. It may be an idea to see if there are other recruitment opportunities that the pandemic has opened for your industry that you could potentially offer.

REVIEW YOUR INVOICE FINANCE ARRANGEMENT

Over the past year, there have been many changes to the invoice finance arena that means that currently, there are some very competitive deals on the market. There have been closures of some invoice finance providers, others have decided to close down their factoring offering, and some agencies are using CBILs as a funding alternative, which means that there has been more competition between providers to try and win new business. If you have an invoice finance arrangement, we would recommend that you look at what you are being charged and see what other providers can offer you as you could save thousands per year.

All of the considerations above are something that TBOS can help with. TBOS are experts in helping new agencies set up and start trading, including company formation, business planning and ongoing support. TBOS can review your current back office and accounting functions to see if our outsourced solutions can provide a time and cost-saving for your current agency. TBOS has a panel of lenders who can review your current invoice finance arrangement to see if we can get a better deal and facility for your growth plans.

TBOS has over 12 years’ experience of advising and helping agencies fund and administer contractor placements even if they only have 1-2 requirements. TBOS also helps with providing financial planning and strategy advice to ensure recruitment agencies are on track financially.

Please contact our office if you would like further information on how we can help your recruitment agency with any of the considerations mentioned.