When it comes to recruitment bigger is not necessarily better, apart from the commission cheque, bigger is always better when it comes to commission! No, what we’re talking about is the company itself.
It’s already happening; small recruitment agencies are becoming more specialised and more successful. With 85% of all recruitment agencies in the UK being small or medium sized, it’s clearly that not just the bigger guys that are finding the greatest success in recruitment. The reason behind these small agencies successes is simple – specialisation!
Recruitment companies who are specialised in niche markets have greater success because that’s what the employer wants!
The Employer
Employers need more than a generalist recruiter; when turning to a recruiter employers want to be reassured that the recruiter knows what they are doing and can deliver the best candidates because, let’s face it, if it were easy to hire great talent, the employer would look for staff themselves.
The employer knows their business, the market and what they are looking for but they simply don’t have the time or resources to recruit the required staff. This is why they utilise the services of the many recruitment agencies available to them. It is imperative to these employers that the recruiter understands the role and the market just as well, if not better than themselves.
By proving that you are specialist in the employer’s specific market you are showing them that:
- You will add value to their company
- Deliver the best talent
- Provide advice about their specialist market
The Talent Shortage
The UK economy has improved significantly over the last few years and as a result, we have seen a dramatic shift in the recruitment cycle.
There are now more jobs than there are jobseekers to fill them, a completely different story to a few years ago when there were few jobs and an abundant amount of jobseekers desperate for work.
This talent shortage confirms it is becoming much harder to find the right talent across most markets with no end in sight, employers are desperately searching for recruiters who can source the right talent for them and will be looking for very specialist recruiters to fill their vacancies.
With the economy coming back to life, employers are looking to grow their businesses and to do this successfully they need more staff who have the correct skills and knowledge to help drive their company. That is what recruitment boils down to, delivering the right people to the client’s business. This is why recruiters earn such a high fee because they are supplying talent to organisations which will help their business to grow and succeed – being a specialist in your market will ensure you do just that.
Top tips to being specialist
In this day and age it’s normal for a recruitment business to see an opportunity in a new market and open a division for it; that’s how you grow a recruitment business after all, but it’s important that you always appear to be specialist in these sectors.
Tailor your website to your niche. If you are not already doing so, make sure you highlight your specialist sectors on your website. Create separate pages for each division to showcase how your service is tailored to that market.
Market yourself to prospective employers as a specialist. Got a brochure? Instead of having one main brochure which highlights what the business does as a whole, create individual brochures for each specific market and send these out to potential clients. (will link to Thatchers as an example)
These may seem like really simple steps but they are very effective in changing the clients’ perception of you as a supplier and letting them know you are a specialist recruiter who can fill their tough vacancies.
So there you have it, it is now time for you to become a specialist recruiter!
How do you market yourself as a specialist in your market? We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, post a comment in the box below and join the discussion.
