Setting up a recruitment agency

colsku

Hi all,

I'm seriously considering packing in my job in banking and setting up my own recruitment agency.

It will be based abroad and will supply fluent English speaking candidates to a variety of open positions in Ireland.

I will have no office, just a regular seat in a restaurant! I speak the local language and have some experience in recruitment.

There's basically no set up costs and I will supplement my income by teaching english in the mornings.

I know that recruitment agencies get paid a fee equal to 15% of the candidates base salary, so 8-10 successful placements per year will be enough for me to match my current salary.

Is this do-able!!?

AARRRGH

Yes I think it is.

PM the user "Millionaire" - he is already doing something similar to this.

niceirishfella

colsku wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm seriously considering packing in my job in banking and setting up my own recruitment agency.

It will be based abroad and will supply fluent English speaking candidates to a variety of open positions in Ireland.

I will have no office, just a regular seat in a restaurant! I speak the local language and have some experience in recruitment.

There's basically no set up costs and I will supplement my income by teaching english in the mornings.

I know that recruitment agencies get paid a fee equal to 15% of the candidates base salary, so 8-10 successful placements per year will be enough for me to match my current salary.

Is this do-able!!?

Its do able alright, tho' you will have set up costs all be it, not in bricks and mortar as you will have no office.

you need a good website......really good ones can be costly.
You will need to advertise - and market your new service.
You will need to travel to meet new customers here from your base abroad - therefore you will need cash to fund expences.
And you may need new hardware like a laptop,printer,blackberry etc etc.

all the above is to be considered going into a new venture. best of luck!

Jumpy

Ill just ask you as a favour not to do one thing...


That is list fake jobs to get cv's.

colsku

Thanks for all your replies so far....

I've PMed Millionaire.

I've factored in those costs alright... Won't be too bad.

I wont advertise jobs as such... When I get a client looking for a job I will talk to companies in Ireland & UK which would suit the client and come back with some job specs for the client.

monkey24

I think any idea is workable if you have a good business plan and ambition. But you also need to be aware of the many other pitfalls that exist, not just in the setup costs.

Your post would indicate that you have no recruitment experience i.e. working in bank. Although they may not be held in high regard, setting up your own company would take some knowledge of the recruitment industry. You would need to know the inner workings etc. This will take you some time to learn. It may be an option to gain some work experience in the field first.

What industry are you going to concentrate on or are you just going to concentrate on Multilingual roles. You need to build up some sort of knowledge in the sector you are going to focus on. Clients get bombarded with recruitment agencies all the time, what would make you stand out ?. Also you will be competing with the likes of CPL, Sigmar and the countless others who are branching out into different countries.

As someone pointed it, how are you going to gain these clients from working abroad. You will need to factor in some face to face time as that is the best method to build up a solid client base.

You may also find that most companies would prefer their potential candidates be in the country first. The fact they will be coming from a different country will also make the recruitment process more difficult to manage. Plus I would of thought they would need to be hard to fill roles, as I don't think companies have much problems at present filling the more low level multilingual roles.

They are just a few thoughts. I have been working on a business model in this area. More of an application built around recruitment so have studied the industry quite a bit.

Believe me, countless people in Dublin have set up their own recruitment companies and in an economy that may start to show signs of contracting in the future, a few of those will fill the pinch.

Still I think it sounds like a great idea. Be great to get a business going that will allow you to live abroad.

Best of Luck !!!
m

colsku

An excellent post Monkey!

monkey24 wrote: »

But you also need to be aware of the many other pitfalls that exist, not just in the setup costs.

I believe the setup costs are within reach, and I would not be worried about losing my investment knowing that I had given it a good bash.

I would however feel a bit aggrieved about loss of earnings from a steady job, drop in self confidence etc if it did blow up in my face. But these are the risks involved in going alone.

I believe the recruitment industry is one of the most assessable for new entrants, so from that perspective I think the risks are pretty minimal.

monkey24 wrote: »

Your post would indicate that you have no recruitment experience i.e. working in bank. Although they may not be held in high regard, setting up your own company would take some knowledge of the recruitment industry. You would need to know the inner workings etc. This will take you some time to learn. It may be an option to gain some work experience in the field first.

Indeed, I have no recruitment experience and realise that I will need to rectify this. I will give myself at least 6 months of working in a highly regarded agency in town before going ahead with anything.

I have friends who have worked as R Consultants and have been invaluable with their help so far.

monkey24 wrote: »

What industry are you going to concentrate on or are you just going to concentrate on Multilingual roles.

I will be concentrating on jobs towards the lower end of the salary scale. The likes of the multi-lingual jobs, but as I will run very small agency with few candidates, I will approach companies based on each individual's skills and experience. I know the multi-lingual jobs are a bit soul destroying so I will try to avoid them if i can (but I can see them being the bread and butter!)

monkey24 wrote: »

You need to build up some sort of knowledge in the sector you are going to focus on. Clients get bombarded with recruitment agencies all the time, what would make you stand out ?.

The fact that I would offer a localised service for recruiting foreign workers would be a big advantage for the multi-lingual roles, as I'd have the chance to screen them before they came to Ireland.

In terms of the country I would be getting the clients from, they're a well educated bunch with excellent English skills and work ethic.

As far as I understand, the hiring companies don't really care what agency the candidate comes from, as long as the candidate is right for the job. If I can supply the best people, my lack of reputation will surely not get in the way?

monkey24 wrote: »

Also you will be competing with the likes of CPL, Sigmar and the countless others who are branching out into different countries.

Yes, I'll be competing with these, but I'll be based in the country, they are based in Ireland.

They also have higher costs than me - employees, rent, electricity, admin, loans. I only need a tiny fraction of their business to succeed

monkey24 wrote: »

As someone pointed it, how are you going to gain these clients from working abroad. You will need to factor in some face to face time as that is the best method to build up a solid client base.

You're referring to companies here? Yes, I may have to go in to meet the various HR managers in Ireland to introduce myself. I haven't given this area much thought to be honest. I thought that I could send in a candidates CV with my terms and conditions, at which point I would intorduce myself over the phone/email.

monkey24 wrote: »

You may also find that most companies would prefer their potential candidates be in the country first. The fact they will be coming from a different country will also make the recruitment process more difficult to manage.

This is a very valid point. There's no getting away from this. As part of my package to the candidate, I may have to subsidise client's flights to Dublin.

monkey24 wrote: »

Plus I would of thought they would need to be hard to fill roles, as I don't think companies have much problems at present filling the more low level multilingual roles.

I've heard the opposite... They're really struggling to find them, and with the huge turnover of staff in this area, I'm not surprised.

monkey24 wrote: »

Believe me, countless people in Dublin have set up their own recruitment companies and in an economy that may start to show signs of contracting in the future, a few of those will fill the pinch.

Again, a very valid point. The multi-lingual roles are especially vulnerable. There's no getting away from this either.

MIN2511

Quick question when you say
"This is a very valid point. There's no getting away from this. As part of my package to the candidate, I may have to subsidise client's flights to Dublin."

What happens if they don't get the jobs? tbh most companies are not going to be bothered with recruiting employees that are not in the country especially if it involves them travelling for interviews e.t.c.
Have you thought of headhuntig top dogs?

watna

Some companies hire from abroad. In my last company i had to arrange to reimburse candidates for money the's paid to fly over for an interview, whether or not they had got the job. We did always telephone interview first. Not many companies are willing to do this but some are if they need specific candidates.

OP, if you are going to set up a recruitment agency I reccomend you do a HR course around employment and what you can and can't do when recruiting people. They're can be a lot of tricky situations and you don't want to leave yourself open to legal actions.

Also, you need a licence to set up a recruitment agency so you'd have to do a lot of research on the paperwork etc.

AARRRGH

watna wrote: »

Also, you need a licence to set up a recruitment agency so you'd have to do a lot of research on the paperwork etc.

Has this actually been implemented yet? I thought it was just an idea...

watna

dublindude wrote: »

Has this actually been implemented yet? I thought it was just an idea...

Nope, it's true. I have one sitting on my desk! It's from the employment agency act 1971 and is given by DETE.

MrVostro

Dont forget if you are flying the candidate over you will also have to pay accomodation for them.

Then there are the sweeteners you give to emlpoyers to "help" them to prefer your agency over otheres. These can get expensive.

colsku

MIN2511 wrote: »

What happens if they don't get the jobs? tbh most companies are not going to be bothered with recruiting employees that are not in the country especially if it involves them travelling for interviews e.t.c.
Have you thought of headhuntig top dogs?

If they don't get the jobs I lose the price of the flight and accommodation I have subsidised for them. Obviously this is a huge risk for me. I could be paying for the lambs to go to the slaughter and not getting any chops for my hard work and money!

Theses payments can be set off against any profits that I might make.

I don't have the expertise or experience to head hunt top dogs. I'm concentrating on the more entry level jobs.

watna

colsku wrote: »

If they don't get the jobs I lose the price of the flight and accommodation I have subsidised for them. Obviously this is a huge risk for me. I could be paying for the lambs to go to the slaughter and not getting any chops for my hard work and money!

Theses payments can be set off against any profits that I might make.

I don't have the expertise or experience to head hunt top dogs. I'm concentrating on the more entry level jobs.

Would you be looking at EU candidates or outside that? Entry level candidates will more than likely not get a green card (you have to earn over €30K). Also, if you do need visas they can take months to come in. A lot of companies won't want that hassle.

MIN2511

Any more info after the PM? Because it's a win/lose situation and you need to weigh the odds. Because the more i read about your idea the less practical it becomes Reasons being
1. The legal documents required
2. The website-you are going to pay someone to do this but you would need to update it frequently.
3. Where are you getting your jobs information from? Are you going to companies and offering them a service, e.g. i know you are looking for xxx in yyy I can bring potential employees from xxx?
4. I know you are going to do a 6 months course and work for a recruitment agent as well but I don’t think you have thought about this in detail.
5. This employees, are they EU migrants? Would they need work visa?

Your idea is brilliant, but implementing it doesn't seem feasible

colsku

watna wrote: »

Some companies hire from abroad. In my last company i had to arrange to reimburse candidates for money that's paid to fly them over for an interview, whether or not they had got the job. We did always telephone interview first. Not many companies are willing to do this but some are if they need specific candidates.

OP, if you are going to set up a recruitment agency I recommend you do a HR course around employment and what you can and can't do when recruiting people. They're can be a lot of tricky situations and you don't want to leave yourself open to legal actions.

Also, you need a license to set up a recruitment agency so you'd have to do a lot of research on the paperwork etc.

A lot of the clients looking for multi-lingual candidates will hire on the basis of the CV and a telephone interview. I imagine the "better" jobs will require a face to face interview but will pay a higher commission.

A HR course is a good idea and something I will consider.

As far as the license goes, I've had a look through the terms of this and it seems to be a joke. 500 euro per year, two character references and a report from the Gardai! There is also a need for premises, but as I will be operating from abroad I will not have premises here (or there!). I am considering operating without this licence, but I will have to do some more research on this issue.

colsku

watna wrote: »

Would you be looking at EU candidates or outside that? Entry level candidates will more than likely not get a green card (you have to earn over €30K). Also, if you do need visas they can take months to come in. A lot of companies won't want that hassle.

EU candidates only.

My girlfriend is from the country in question (not eastern europe!) and is currently looking for a job in tourism. I was hoping to get everything set up and have her as my first candidate! With the proceeds from my first bit of business I could finance the start-up costs including that pesky license.

watna

colsku wrote: »

EU candidates only.

My girlfriend is from the country in question (not eastern europe!) and is currently looking for a job in tourism. I was hoping to get everything set up and have her as my first candidate! With the proceeds from my first bit of business I could finance the start-up costs including that pesky license.

I don't think this will work tbh. You have to set a company up before you can send candidates to companies. Lots of companies are saturated with calls from recruitment agencies. I get about 5 or 6 a day. You'd probably have to have service level agreements with companies and get on their PSL (preferred supplier list). You'd more than likely need to have your licence and have everything above board, then tout for business (make presentations and have a lot of meetings, which you'd have to be in Ireland for). on the unlikely chance that a company who do agree to use your services has a position your gf is suitable for you could send her CV down but there's lots of ifs. She might not get a position so I don't think you can rely on that to start up your business. Plus, I don't think it's a good idea to mix business and pleasure. if you want your gf to be one of your candidate's be prepared for possible hearing a lot of negative things about her. It takes a lot more than knowing someone who needs a job and trying to represent them.

The recruitment industry in Ireland is a bit crowded. It would be very tough. After reading your posts I'm not sure. I don't want to be too negative. I just want to tell it how it is so you're sure about giving up your job etc.

MrVostro

Dont forget, You need to have a company set up as a legal entity in whatever country you are operating from or employers will not touch you otherwise.

colsku

MIN2511 wrote: »

Any more info after the PM? Because it's a win/lose situation and you need to weigh the odds. Because the more i read about your idea the less practical it becomes Reasons being
1. The legal documents required
2. The website-you are going to pay someone to do this but you would need to update it frequently.
3. Where are you getting your jobs information from? Are you going to companies and offering them a service, e.g. i know you are looking for xxx in yyy I can bring potential employees from xxx?
4. I know you are going to do a 6 months course and work for a recruitment agent as well but I don’t think you have thought about this in detail.
5. This employees, are they EU migrants? Would they need work visa?

Your idea is brilliant, but implementing it doesn't seem feasible

No info back from "millionaire"

1. Legal Documents are a problem alright, but with the huge number of recruitment agencies operating in Ireland my initial thoughts are that it cannot be too difficult. Every new business has these problems.

2. I would not really need to update the website as such. My service will be personal to each candidate. If they want to go online to search for jobs they've better options than I can ever provide on a website. In that way I will be a more traditional recruitment agent. The candidate comes to me and I do all the dirty work finding them a job.

3. Exactly.

4. To be honest, I do need to get some experience, but it's not a very technical job as far as i can see. I may be wrong and it might end up in disaster, but I think 6 months work experience will give me a good enough grounding to meet my target of one placement per month.

5. All the employees will be from the EU

colsku

MrVostro wrote: »

Dont forget, You need to have a company set up as a legal entity in whatever country you are operating from or employers will not touch you otherwise.

I will set up as a sole trader in Ireland.

I need to find out if I need a license to source the candidates from the foreign country I'll be operating in. Does anyone know?

My bank account will be Irish, my fees will be paid into an Irish bank account from Irish companies. I will however be non resident in Ireland so I'm sure this will cause major tax complications.

MrVostro

colsku wrote: »

I will set up as a sole trader in Ireland.

I need to find out if I need a license to source the candidates from the foreign country I'll be operating in. Does anyone know?

My bank account will be Irish, my fees will be paid into an Irish bank account from Irish companies. I will however be non resident in Ireland so I'm sure this will cause major tax complications.

I think you might find that almost all companies will not deal with a sole trader for such things.

Dont underestimate the requirments for you to have insurance by your client companies also.

colsku

MrVostro wrote: »

I think you might find that almost all companies will not deal with a sole trader for such things.

Dont underestimate the requirments for you to have insurance by your client companies also.

Do you mean professional indemnity insurance? I had thought of this, but nothing else. I would also think that it wouldn't cost too much if you consider my small turnover.

flash harry

OP I have my own recruitment company and you have got some good general advice here BUT some specifics you got are just plain wrong so do your research.

e.g. nearly everything MrVostro said is incorrect (no offence intended MrV)

Being a sole trader is irrelevant it probably will never come up; insurance should only possibly be a factor if you have contractors on site; legal documents are minimal; website is only needed as you describe your operation, as a means of clients having some way of checking you out; PSL's are irrelevant if you've got a good enough candidate that they need.......

MOST IMPORTANTLY there is proposed legislation that any agency providing staff to Ireland would need an office here - keep an eye out for this obviously.....

Best of luck

colsku

flash harry wrote: »

OP I have my own recruitment company and you have got some good general advice here BUT some specifics you got are just plain wrong so do your research.

e.g. nearly everything MrVostro said is incorrect (no offence intended MrV)

Being a sole trader is irrelevant it probably will never come up; insurance should only possibly be a factor if you have contractors on site; legal documents are minimal; website is only needed as you describe your operation, as a means of clients having some way of checking you out; PSL's are irrelevant if you've got a good enough candidate that they need.......

MOST IMPORTANTLY there is proposed legislation that any agency providing staff to Ireland would need an office here - keep an eye out for this obviously.....

Best of luck

Thanks for your thoughts bud....

Yes the evidence is there for all to see: Hundreds of agencies in Ireland so it must be relatively easy to set up.

Hopefully my premises could be a spare bedroom in my house.

As a matter of interest... How many staff do oyu have and how many placements would you get on average per month?

MrVostro

flash harry wrote: »

OP I have my own recruitment company and you have got some good general advice here BUT some specifics you got are just plain wrong so do your research.

e.g. nearly everything MrVostro said is incorrect (no offence intended MrV)

Being a sole trader is irrelevant it probably will never come up; insurance should only possibly be a factor if you have contractors on site; legal documents are minimal; website is only needed as you describe your operation, as a means of clients having some way of checking you out; PSL's are irrelevant if you've got a good enough candidate that they need.......

MOST IMPORTANTLY there is proposed legislation that any agency providing staff to Ireland would need an office here - keep an eye out for this obviously.....

Best of luck

Im sorry, but i think you'll find that what i said is correct.

I dont know what companies you've been dealing with but almost every company ive dealt with when looking for staff require that they deal with a registered company. They will not pay money to a sole trader only to a company. They also require you to have insurance in case they need to sue you for whatever reason.
another thing you have to look out for is that a company may pay you several months after you invoice them - more if they can get away with it. a lot of agencies settle for getting paid after a year. if your placement leaves in that time, buy buy fee. and even if you've been paid you may have to give the money back.

there are many things involved here. i would like to see it working but you have a lot more work ahead of you than you think.

watna

MrVostro wrote: »

Im sorry, but i think you'll find that what i said is correct.


there are many things involved here. i would like to see it working but you have a lot more work ahead of you than you think.

I agree. I know a lot of people hate recruitment consultants and think they're idiots (some are) but it's a lot harder than you think.

colsku

A lot of conflicting advice.

I cannot see why a client would not want to deal with a sole trader.

The insurance is another question which I am unsure of...

I was unaware of how long it actually took for the client to pay. One year is a disgrace! Surely the terms of your contract with them will impose a time limit on when they must pay you by.

Mr V - you seem to know a lot about whats involved. Have you tried running your own agency?

Thanks again for all the advice so far.

MrVostro

colsku wrote: »

A lot of conflicting advice.

I cannot see why a client would not want to deal with a sole trader.

The insurance is another question which I am unsure of...

I was unaware of how long it actually took for the client to pay. One year is a disgrace! Surely the terms of your contract with them will impose a time limit on when they must pay you by.

Mr V - you seem to know a lot about whats involved. Have you tried running your own agency?

Thanks again for all the advice so far.

Whichever company i work for i have to at some point go and beg for staff. A while ago a mate of mine was setting up an agency too and i tried to get him in with the company i was working for, but i got all the stuff that i have told you about here as reasons that they couldnt use him. He also checked out the facts himself and came up with the same conclusions.

I think your best course of action is to contact potential clients and see what they expect from you, how they pay you, when they pay you etc.

flash harry

I have only ever heard of one company that required suppliers to be a Ltd and that was intel.....i have dealt with lots and lots of companies and semi-state types, never an issue (tax clearance for semi states only issue i saw)....

Re insurance, as per past post, if you have contractors on a client site, yes insurance could be an issue, if not what possible reason would they "sue" you where insurance was of relevance?????

Re payment terms etc, no differrence to any other supply of service, if you're going to allow someone to agree to pay you in say 30 days and then aloow them take the p*ss - thats your issue, everyone tries to put off payment but if people are at like 120 days and your still listening to excuses, by by business.......

OP I've run a small rec for 5 yrs and make a very nice living out of it - but its tough at times, that legislation I referred to earlier is obviously exceptionally relevant to you but could be years off.....

tvr

Yeah we offer recruitment consultants a professional websites, CMS system and recruitment module system for no up front or set up fees. We look for 1% in return per successful candidate placed. So that might help reduce the set up costs for anyone.

pclancy

I think its a good idea but I would be very against dealing with an agency that was not a limited company and would be surprised if it wasnt an issue for you. But I don't have experience with my own agency so I can't be sure.

monkey24

I think the interesting part to this post is devising a method that will bypass the recruitment agencies for some of the roles. There is a more fluent way to do this for IT, which i have been researching, hopefully i will be at a point soon to bring onboard a couple of web developers if anyone is interested.

Best of luck with the idea by the way. I think you should be "aware" of the obstacles in your path but don't limit youself to these, just set your goal and keep moving towards it. As easy as tieing your shoe laces