13 Ways how to gain new business as a Recruitment Consultant

If I would be a Recruitment Consultant this would be my personal strategy as to how I would try to gain new business. Cold calling seems to be the approach that many companies apply but I would not just rely on that option. In today’s competitive recruitment market you need to be creative, quick and professional. These are my ideas:

• I love public speaking and would try to get in touch with organisers of Career/Job Fairs and offer them public speeches on contemporary topics, such as “How to use Social Media for Recruitment” and“Job search via Social Media”. This would mean that I would achieve double exposure of my professional services by targeting jobseekers as well as companies.

• I would do some cold calls (using the Yellow Pages and other phone directories) on a daily basis. I would set myself targets which would help me to achieve my goals quicker.

• I would read the newspaper (print and online) in order to stay informed about what is going on in my city and county. The moment I would come across an article in which I find out that a new business is soon going to be opened in my area, I would approach the management team and find out if there are still any vacancies that they are trying to fill.

• On the other hand, if I hear from a recruitment agency that is going to close down their business soon, I would ask them if my company could acquire their database and clients’ list. You never know to what it can lead.

• In the past I made the experience that reading magazines and newspapers has also the advantage that you get to know interesting contacts (names of executives being mentioned in various articles). This would provide me with insider names of the company straight away and would help me to easily start a conversation by referring to the article I came across. If I find out that currently they don’t need my services, I know that maybe in the future their circumstances might be different. At least I already started to establish a relationship with that company.

• I would use every opportunity to network with people. No matter whether I’m waiting somewhere, dining out, attending a conference or a party. I’m fully aware that opportunities can come up often very spontaneously and what might start as a simple conversation might later turn into a great business opportunity.

• I would pay attention to other companies’ job ads in different types of media. I would take note of the person to be contacted (if disclosed) or their email address and offer them my services. I would try to maximise my chances by looking already at my database as to what suitable candidates would make a perfect match for their needs. If a company states in their ad explicitly that they do not want to be approached by recruitment agencies I would make sure to respect their wish.

• The professional network on“Linkedin" is another interesting tool which I would not ignore. It would allow me to get in touch with so many other different professionals in an unprecedented way: quickly, effectively and professionally.

• I would create videos with relevant content and publish them on several video sharing websites. Youtube and Vimeo are just two of many which one can choose from. Topics could be for example “How my Recruitment company xy can help a company to save time and money” when it comes to hiring decisions.

• If I network with other people I would not hand out just one of my business cards but two of them every time. This would give me the benefit that the person who receives my card might want to forward the other card to someone else who is also hiring someone or who might be looking for the next great opportunity. You never know.

• I would try to make the most of my time by meeting more than one client a day. If I know that I’m going to visit a busy shopping mall or business park I would try to find out in advance what other businesses are also located there. I would prepare some corporate material (corporate literature, testimonials, business card, etc.) in pre-packed envelopes and hand it over personally to the companies. In order to make sure that the right person will receive it, I would first ask the receptionist for the name of the decision maker and write it on the envelope.

• I would also make effective use of Twitter. Following interesting executives, checking out their website, tweeting about them, retweeting their tweets and favouring some of their content would be my approach.

• I would also give it a try by doing a Google search. I would enter “growing businesses in (my location)” and see what pops up. I would get in touch with the decision makers and try to turn it into business opportunities.

If after implementing these ideas I would still find it difficult to gain more business I would take more care of my existing clients by exceeding their expectations. This would not only help me to meet their hiring needs but also make them spread the word about my services to other people. Repeat business is great business, and as we all know, it is cheaper to take care of existing clients rather than chasing constantly new clients.