10 questions help determine health of recruitment businesses

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An industry advisor has developed a new checklist to help agency leaders assess their business’s performance and highlight early warning signs of distress.

From Shortlist March 2019

Navigator Consulting MD Tony Hall created the 10-question survey to help leaders identify specific areas where there is room for improvement, and recognise potential problems early.

With sustained economic growth resulting in profitable performances for many recruitment agencies, now is not the time to be complacent, he warns.

“A lot of people think their recruitment company is doing really well, so I really thought about the 10 most important questions owners should be asking themselves to really benchmark whether the business has potential for improvement and as a reality check to whether it is performing well,” Hall explains.

Questions agency leaders are asked to consider include:

Is your gross profit/net profit margin greater than 25%?
Is staff turnover less than 10% per year?
Are your average debtor days owing less than 35 days?
Is not more than 15% of your net revenue or billings from a single client?
Hall says recruitment agency owners and managers doing the survey should consider 80% a “pass mark” to feel comfortable and start developing strategies around improving weaknesses in the business identified by the survey results. Anything less than 80% calls for a serious assessment of the business.

“Profit margin needs to be greater than 25% to be a high-performing recruitment business,” he explains.

“And staff turnover, some people think it’s acceptable for 40% staff turnover because they are still doing well financially, but that’s actually not acceptable for so many reasons.

“The last [question] is a psychological one, which people don’t think about as much: does your business keep you up at night? Do you worry about all the things you have to do, the problems you have, the staff issues, the cashflow problems?” he says.

“If that’s happening, then there is some psychological support that’s required too.”

Hall, who has 20 years’ experience consulting to the recruitment sector, admits not everyone will feel comfortable to honestly assess their business.

“I think some people will be too scared to do [the survey], and some people might go through it and then not identify themselves because they are too embarrassed,” he says. “But I say just do it because it could be an eye opener and it could dramatically improve your business [with] just a couple of tweaks.”

At a recent Captain’s Table event, Hall asked attendees if they had a business plan. Of the 25 or so people in the room, just one hand was raised.

“A lot of people are doing kind of well and they are not in ‘business improvement mode’ right now,” he says.

However, he adds that now is the perfect time to build a solid foundation to sustain a recruitment business through any potential economic lows.

“I think it’s a really good time to get some strong financial reporting in place now so that if the market does change, you have plenty of warning and you can adjust accordingly,” Hall says. “What can happen, is if you don’t have good financial reporting in place and the market changes, by the time you realise there is a problem, you are six or seven months down the track and it takes longer to adjust.

“So it’s a good time to get good financial discipline into a recruitment business I believe. Budgeting, cashflow are the very basics. Almost no-one does cashflow statements but they are critical because if there is a downturn and you have a lot of debtors, and your clients stop paying you, you run out of money.”

The survey was built during the development of Navigator’s new Recruitment Business Accelerator Program, which covers 10 topics, he says.

Access the 10 questions here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z38L7GQ

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Is The 360 Recruitment Model Broken?

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From Shortlist: Thursday 04 October 2018 2:47pm

Recruitment’s shift away from employing ‘outdated’ 360-degree consultants is potentially the most important transformation the industry will face, according to an advisor.

The 360 model is broken, and has been for some time, says Navigator Consulting MD Tony Hall. “It’s really time to start looking at different options.”

Good 360 recruiters are as rare as hen’s teeth, he says, and he suggests the pressure on recruiters to fit the model is one of the biggest contributors to high staff turnover. “It’s so rare for someone to have all the different skills required to be a high-performing 360 recruitment consultant.”

Agencies are increasingly deconstructing the 360 model, breaking the process into admin, resourcing, recruitment and sales roles, though with varying degrees of success to date, he notes.

Many labour hire companies have been operating in this way for years – “they have business development managers that understand the industry really well… and they might even be from the industry they are selling into, so they’ve got a lot of credibility” – while larger agencies are more likely to succeed with dedicated business development managers, following the US blueprint.

For smaller firms, Hall recommends the most senior people spend their time out in front of clients, and avoid putting junior consultants into “difficult sales situations that are way over their head”.

Small companies should be hiring people into resourcing or account management roles, to start, while senior leaders outsource their resourcing so they are freed up to do the sales part of the 360 process.

(Hall is a big advocate of offshoring, particularly for “very administrative and repetitive tasks”, such as market mapping, database building, database maintenance, and even sourcing. “I think offshoring is one of the success secrets of reducing staff turnover in the recruitment industry,” he says.)

Building the right commission structure

“If there’s no sales responsibility for a recruitment consultant, then their commission structure should be at a lower level than a recruitment consultant that’s required to bring in the business and fill the role as well,” Hall says.

He suggests recruiters on “relatively high wages” are already incentivised to fill jobs. “So you might have more of a bonus structure than a commission structure for people that are not actually selling.”

That said, Hall agrees the 50/50 commission structure adopted by some agencies including Aquent will promote team work – provided leaders monitor placement ratios. “Managing efficiency is really important, because a great salesperson might bring in multiple roles, but if they’re not filled by the recruiter, then the company is paying wages for both… and not getting any return on investment.”

Hall also advises hiring biller leaders with a track record of success (a minimum six years’ experience), rather than looking for potential high performers to train up into sales-focused roles. “Young stars are hard to find,” he says. “[Graduate programs] are so hit and miss.”

It’s certainly unlikely the one graduate will have the 20 or so attributes required of a 360 recruiter, Hall says. “It’s relatively easy to find people that start off their career resourcing, and the good ones can be promoted into… senior recruitment or senior sales streams, or leadership, depending on their attributes.”

Breaking out the recruitment process also provides career progression, which Hall says is sadly lacking in the industry. Then focusing on supporting high performers, rather than underachievers, will keep them performing and encourage them to stay.

Part of this includes regular training, both formal and informal. “Short and regular training can make a massive difference, in terms of business profitability and reduced staff turnover.”

He suggests regular weekly sessions, even for 30 minutes, will bring the team together, foster communication, and upskill even the most seasoned recruiter. “It’s an absolute critical success factor.”

Hall is facilitating discussions on the “obsolete” 360 model, and its alternatives, at upcoming Captain’s Table events in Melbourne (30 October) and Sydney (31 October) for agency owners and leaders.

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TOP 10: Recruiter Retention and Performance

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As discussed at Captain’s Table Sydney, Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1 August 2017

People leave companies for many reasons. Conversely there are many reasons people stay. We have researched numerous HR articles from around the globe to provide a summary list of the best ways to retain great people.

1. Competitive remuneration
– If you pay below market your people are more likely to look around
– Pay slightly higher than the marker and you are more likelky to attract and retain good people
– Money is not everything but nobody wants to be underpaid

2. Clear Career Path
– People want to know they will progress
– Do you have a clear career path for all staff?
– So often the reason for leaving is lack of career progression

3. Learning & Development
– Rarely will people leave if they are learning and growing
– Without professional development, staff will feel they need to move on the learn more and progress their careers
– L&D is a great way to upskill and retain quality people

4. Clear Expectations and Goals
– Often leaders to do not share goals and target expectations with staff
– People can feel uncertain as to what is expected of them and default to lower levels of performance
– Most people respond well to clear guidelines, goals and well-delivered feedback

5. Freedom & Flexibility
– Provided clear performance measures are in place, workplace freedom and flexibility can help people juggle their work and home commitments and still get the job done
– If people do not feel trusted, or feel they are micro-managed they will soon seek out a more open and flexible workplace

6. Recognition & Reward
– Both cash and non-cash rewards can make people feel valued and less likely to leave
– Almost everyone responds well to recognition and praise for a job well done

7. Variety
– Many jobs can get highly repetitive and dull
– Ensure you people are given a variety of tasks to complete that are a combination of process, people, interaction, team and individual so they don’t feel their job is too repetitive
– Break up the day, week and month with interesting team and individual activites so that people are motivated to return to the same workplace every day
– People often leave simply because they are bored

8. Spend Time With Your Best People
– Too often are time is taken up coaching and managing poor performers when it is the best performers who should deserve the most attention
– High performers are too valuable to ignore and can stray from their goals if they are left to their own devices
– An investment in time with your best performers will yield higher returns in terms of outcomes and staff retention
– Consider providing your best people low cost offshore support to further boost their ability to grow additional revenues

9. Lead From The Front
– Your leaders must be prepared to set a good example to the rest of the team
– Join your staff for client meetings, staff sessions, team activities etc to demonstrate their value as part of an inclusive culture
– Staff will follow the examples set by owners and leaders – often behaviours which are not beneficial to a high performing business
– People will leave companies with poor leaders who do not lead from the front and support their people in the field or workplace

10. Communication
The single most important determinant of staff retention
– If staff feel regularly updated and trusted with company plans, goals, issues and expectations – they are much more likely to feel engaged and valued
– Ask for regular feedback and new ideas to make the business even more successful and involve your people in the process
– Ensure reporting and communication lines are clear and adhered to.

What else is important?
Knowledge is only power if we do something with it!

Navigator Consulting helps recruitment businesses to rapidly improve performance and increase profitability through a combination of advisory consulting, succession planning and events. www.navigatorconsult.com Tony Hall th@navigatorconsult.com

 

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Great Quotes from the Book – In Praise Of Slowness

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Slow, deliberate and using best practice always wins in life and in business.

Some of my favourite quotes from the book – In Praise of Slowness:

“Spending more time with friends and family costs nothing. Nor does walking, cooking, meditating, making love, reading or eating dinner at the table instead of in front of the television. Simply resisting the urge to hurry is free.”
“The great benefit of slowing down is reclaiming the time and tranquility to make meaningful connections–with people, with culture, with work, with nature, with our own bodies and minds”
“Speed can give you a great feeling of excitement, and there is a place for that in life and in music,” says Kliemt. “But you have to draw the line, and not always use speed. It is stupid to drink a glass of wine quickly. And it is stupid to play Mozart too fast.”
“In our hedonistic age, the Slow movement has a marketing ace up its sleeve: it peddles pleasure. The central tenet of the Slow philosophy is taking the time to do things properly, and thereby enjoy them more.”
“Much better to do fewer things and have time to make the most of them.”
“This is where our obsession with going fast and saving time leads. To road rage, air rage, shopping rage, relationship rage, office rage, vacation rage, gym rage. Thanks to speed, we live in the age of rage.”
“Slower, it turns out, often means better – better health, better work, better business, better family life, better exercise, better cuisine and better sex.”
“When people moan, “Oh, I’m so busy, I’m run off my feet, my life is a blur, I haven’t got time for anything,” what they often mean is, “Look at me: I am hugely important, exciting and energetic.”
“Being Slow means that you control the rhythms of your own life. You decide how fast you have to go in any given context. If today I want to go fast, I go fast; if tomorrow I want to go slow, I go slow. What we are fighting for is the right to determine our own tempos.”
“We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. —FUTURIST MANIFESTO, 1909”
“We are slaves to our schedules.”
“Much has already been destroyed. We have forgotten how to look forward to things, and how to enjoy the moment when they arrive.”
“While the rest of the world roars on, a large and growing minority is choosing not to do everything at full-throttle. In every human endeavour you can think of, from sex, work and exercise to food, medicine and urban design, these rebels are doing the unthinkable – they are making room for slowness. And the good news is that decelerating works.”
“Now is the moment to define our terms. In this book, Fast and Slow do more than just describe a rate of change. They are shorthand for ways of being, or philosophies of life. Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, analytical, stressed, superficial, impatient, active, quantity-over-quality. Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity. It is about making real and meaningful connections – with people, culture, work, food, everything.”
“The slow movement is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace. Nor is it a Luddite attempt to drag the whole planet back to some pre-industrial utopia. The movement is made up of people who want to live better in a fast-paced, modern world. The slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word: balance. Be fast when it makes sense to be fast, and be slow when slowness is called for. Seek to live at what musicians call the tempo giusto – the right speed.”
“Speed has helped to remake our world in ways that are wonderful and liberating. Who wants to live without the internet or jet travel? The problem is that our love of speed, our obsession with doing more and more in less and less time, has gone too far, it has turned into an addiction, a kind of idolatry. Even when speed starts to backfire, we invoke the go-faster gospel.”
“Companies also pay a heavy price for imposing a long-hours culture. Productivity is notoriously hard to measure, but academics agree that overwork eventually hits the bottom line. It is common sense: we are less productive when we are tired, stressed, unhappy or unhealthy. According to the International Labour Organization, workers in Belgium, France and Norway are all more productive per hour than are Americans. The British clock up more time on the job than do most Europeans, and have one of the continent’s poorest rates of hourly productivity to show for it. Working less often means working better.”
“In this media-drenched, data-rich, channel-surfing, computer-gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts.”
“Urban life itself acts as a giant particle accelerator. When people move to the city, they start to do everything faster.”
“The clock is the operating system of modern capitalism, the thing that makes everything else possible – meetings, deadlines, contracts, manufacturing processes, schedules, working shifts.”
“So the Cassandras who warned that the thirty-five-hour week would send the French economy into instant meltdown have been proved wrong. The gross domestic product has grown, and unemployment, though still above the EU average, has fallen. Productivity also remains high. Indeed, some evidence suggests that many French workers are more productive now. With less time on the job, and more leisure to look forward to, they make greater efforts to finish their work before clocking off.”
“Then there is the curse of multi-tasking. Doing two things at once seems so clever, so efficient, so modern. And yet what it often means is doing two things not very well. Like many people, I read the paper while watching TV—and find that I get less out of both.”
“As it turns out, people who cut their work hours often take a smaller hit financially than they expect. That is because spending less time on the job means spending less money on the things that allow us to work: transport, parking, eating out, coffee, convenience food, childcare, laundry, retail therapy. A smaller income also translates into a smaller tax bill. In one Canadian study, some workers who took a pay cut in return for shorter hours actually ended up with more money in the bank at the end of the month.”
“Doing two things at once seems so clever, so efficient, so modern. And yet what it often means is doing two things not very well.”
“Instead of thinking deeply, or letting an idea simmer in the back of the mind, our instinct now is to reach for the nearest sound bite.”
“Our impatience is so implacable that, as actress-author Carrie Fisher quipped, even “instant gratification takes too long.”
“In the States, we think we do things better because we do them faster. And it’s very easy to get sucked into that lifestyle. But when you see how the French or the Italians eat, how much time and respect they give to food, you realize how wrong the American way can be.”
“When it comes to academic life, Lewis favours the same less-is-more approach. Get plenty of rest and relaxation, he says, and be sure to cultivate the art of doing nothing. “Empty time is not a vacuum to be filled,” writes the dean. “It is the thing that enables the other things on your mind to be creatively rearranged, like the empty square in the 4 × 4 puzzle that makes it possible to move the other fifteen pieces around.” In other words, doing nothing, being Slow, is an essential part of good thinking.”

 

 

 

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