You’re the best. Now take your talents further

Recruiters are a talented bunch.

Every time they fill a vacancy, they haven’t just made one sale, they’ve made two. The first sale is to the client, and the second is of course to the candidate.

That’s why recruiters are considered the best salespeople around because they’re always selling to two people. Not only that, but recruitment is not like selling cars or electricals, it is selling people and selling careers, and all the complexity that brings.

It is a challenging job, and a skilled job, and that’s why in recruitment the rewards can be so high because getting it right is so valuable to both the client and the candidate.

But for talented recruiters working for a steady salary, the rewards they actually see from their efforts and talent are usually nowhere near the value they are generating for their agencies.

And that’s why many recruiters who have at least a few years’ experience and a track record of success in their job, want to take control of their career and their earnings. There won’t be many that haven’t thought about how they could run their own recruitment business. There will be nearly as many who think it is out of reach – an impossible dream.

But it isn’t.

The Recruit Venture Group was established precisely in the knowledge that there are hugely talented recruiters out there who could easily make the jump to starting their own enterprise.

The Recruit Venture Group’s unique joint venture model makes that possible.

It puts up 100 per cent of the finance needed for launch, takes care of the costly and distracting back office functions like IT, payroll, credit control, accounts and HR and also provides mentoring and guidance from a team with decades of experience in recruitment.

That means the recruitment professional partnering with The Recruit Venture Group is allowed to get out into the marketplace and start generating the revenues from day one. The Recruit Venture Group already supports 46 such businesses, and another three have been launched within the last few months.

This is not a franchise – these are individual businesses, with individual brands, and founded on the energy and vision of the recruitment professional who has made the leap to being an entrepreneur.

Paul Mizen, Managing Director of The Recruit Venture Group, said: “Good recruiters are already very talented people because they are always managing the complex and sometimes competing interests of both client and candidate. Many driven and determined professionals are also treating their salaried jobs as if they are their own businesses. They are always thinking about how to grow their own desks, hit the next target and expand what they are doing. So it’s the talent mixed with the right working attitude that means the recruiters we have helped start their own enterprise find the transition very natural. Our model means those recruiters are also able to simply get on with building networks of clients and candidates from day one, meaning no time is wasted in generating those first revenues.”

If you want to see how far your talents can take you, speak to The Recruit Venture Group today. Contact…..

 

Recruiters have to embrace technology but can’t get distracted by it

Don’t let the medium overtake the message.

Use technology. Don’t be distracted by it.

By Paul Mizen, Managing Director of The Recruit Venture Group.

In reviewing Jamie Susskind’s new book, ‘Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech’, Nick Cohen makes the dual point that the great debate of the 20th century was how much of our collective life should be controlled by the market; the great debate of the 21st century will be how much should be directed and controlled by digital systems.

This is ‘big picture’ stuff. And, in a world where algorithms control the sentencing of prisoners in the USA, and determine your suitability to rent a place from Airbnb, it’s appropriate to question where we’re all going.

Let me bring this into sharper focus. In the recruitment we’re already in a place where some CVs are never read by a human. And if you get the job another algorithm will monitor your performance. Scary, right?

Now, I am not a luddite, and the place for technology in the recruitment sector is something I’m very clear about. And I will return to it.

But firstly, let’s think about it in a really objective way. No matter how sophisticated, interactive and ‘intelligent’ the IT becomes it is still only a medium. A means through which we communicate. Our problem, I would suggest, is that for much of the time we allow the medium to overtake the message.

Ask yourself, how many meetings and conversations have you had recently in which you spent most of the time talking about the system, the interface, the online process, the ridiculous way the office asks you to update your password every week and why that really urgent email you sent sat in your outbox overnight causing a massive problem the next day? And how little of the time did you spend discussing the actual sale, deal, client requirement or staff issue?

If I were to boil that down to an admittedly simplified viewpoint I’d say that the technology is in danger of becoming a distraction.

Technology is a wonderful enabler. So use it to enable, convey and communicate your ideas and requirements. Don’t make it the subject of the discussion.

Let me put it another way. Even the most enthusiastic petrol head drives to a meeting without spending the travel time, or the meeting itself, discussing the details of the car’s engine. So why spend time debating code and the relative merits of a software upgrade when you should be crafting your message, getting your facts in order and refining your communication into well honed and unambiguous sentences that enthuse and satisfy their recipient?

There is absolutely no doubt that Artificial Intelligence will play an increasing role in commerce, and life in general. There’s also not much doubt that even the guy from IT will solve your meltdown problem by switching it off and on again. Between those two parameters lies the real world of work today.

It doesn’t take much computing power to work out that if we all spend more time talking tech, and less time getting on with the job, productivity will fall.

I said I’d return to the specific point about technology in the recruitment sector. So here I am. It’s essential. No recruitment consultancy can hope to compete and succeed without relevant, efficient and reliable systems. Processing client data and matching it to candidate CVs needs to be done swiftly and effectively. Invoicing needs to be timely and accurate. And let’s face it, some of the most powerful media available for the announcement of new roles are digital. The Job Boards are vital.

Two things emerge from my argument.

One is that, in general terms, the unashamedly ‘old school’ ethic of getting on with the job is what makes for success. Use the technology but don’t let it rule you. Better to let the technology enable the swifter transmission of data – including invoices!- while you get on with the work. Work such as talking to clients and listening to their needs. Things like identifying prospective customers and framing a great pitch to make them see why they should place their business with you. Stuff like taking time to actually engage with staff, face to face, so that you get a feel for what drives them. And what doesn’t.

The other thing is really specific. It’s directly connected to what I do. At The Recruit Venture Group we specialise in helping recruitment professionals start up their own consultancies. We provide risk free funding and a package of support and mentoring that allows them to take the leap into starting up with real confidence. But here’s a really important thing. We provide them with the technology and systems. We give them access to our gold standard back office meaning they’re up and running with top notch tech from the moment they open their doors for business.

We’ve launched 46 successful joint ventures so far. Every one of them puts at the top of their feedback to us the fact that having the technology in place for them, without them having to worry about it, was vital. It allowed them to focus on what they do best – which is recruitment. It means they can get on with the job.

Using the technology makes them competitive and efficient. Not being distracted by technology makes them more productive.

Which kind of proves my point really.

Do what you do best. It’s what will make your business perform at its best.

By Paul Mizen, Managing Director of The Recruit Venture Group.

I suppose my headline might appear as a statement of the obvious, but it does warrant closer examination. Think it through. You start up your own recruitment business, because it’s your dream. You’ve taken control of your own destiny, put the years of experience as a recruitment consultant into your own venture and now it’s all systems go.

Well actually that’s not always the case. Why? Because all too often the excitement, not to say potential, of starting your own recruitment business can get lost in …..starting your own recruitment business.

It might be a bit less demanding if you’re starting out as a bedroom recruiter, but most routes to launching a start up will present you with the challenges of incorporating your company, sorting out premises, hiring staff (I know – the irony!) and planning and executing your branding and marketing.

All of that of course can only happen when and if you’ve arranged the financial support you need. Arranging that can be an experience in itself.

Everything I’ve mentioned so far is to do with just the initial stages of a start up. The point I want to make is that things can get worse still after that.

Often, for a while, it’s alright. It’s your business. This is what you wanted. You’re sorting your branding, developing your website, honing your management skills as you resolve issues and forge together your team. You’re signing off the invoices – perhaps a little worried that there are more outgoings than income, but hey, it’s early days. You sort the nice people at HMRC and you cut a deal with your local newspaper, as well as the job boards. Phone calls. e mails. Busy.

But, you’re the boss. That’s what matters. Come the end of the day you do that thing. Hands behind your head you swing around in your ‘boss chair’ surveying your domain. And then two terrifying realisations hit home. The first one goes along the lines of ‘how much new business and client development have we done this month? And the answer comes quickly. It’s ‘none’.The second one falls into place like a the last piece of a jig saw. There’s been something nagging at the back of your mind for a while and you couldn’t put your finger on it. Then you realise what it is. You’re missing something. The one thing you really wanted to do. The thing you’re really good at. Recruitment; you haven’t been doing any of that either.

In a way that scenario is the backdrop to the entire concept of The Recruit Venture Group’s business model. We realised some years ago that what makes a recruitment start up successful is the opportunity for the person starting it to focus on what they’re best at. Which is recruitment.

What we’ve done is create a specially tailored joint venture package aimed specifically at the recruitment sector. We provide 100% risk free funding. We bring our back office to your business so that you have high quality and totally reliable IT and admin systems from the start. It’s your business but we’re there for you. Providing up to date information on taxation and legislation, as well as chasing along your cash flow, what we provide is all the things that I outlined earlier as the demands that deflect an entrepreneur’s attention. When it’s needed most.

With over 45 start ups already up and running as joint ventures with us I think we can fairly claim to have relevant experience and insight. And what’s it shown me? It’s proved beyond doubt that the most valuable commodity a start up entrepreneur in the recruitment business needs is the time to focus on recruitment; the thing they do best.

 

Tomlin Personnel Celebrating Three Years of Success

A recruitment agency boss celebrating three years in business has told of his excitement at the potential of the £700m East Midlands Gateway development to boost his firm’s turnover further.

Rob Tomlinson, who set up logistics recruitment specialists Tomlin Personnel in June 2015, based at Bulwell, near Nottingham, said that the East Midlands area’s economic growth generally has made him bullish about his business’s future prospects.

Mr Tomlinson pointed to the Castle Donington logistics park and its 7,250 jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs as reasons to be very optimistic about the future. Tomlin Personnel itself is set to create three new jobs this year, while the expectation is to more than triple the turnover of £3.3 million currently to at least £10 million within three years.
Mr Tomlinson, who is managing director, said: “The Nottingham economy is growing faster than places like Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield. Forget the Northern Powerhouse, it feels like the East Midlands really is the place to be right now when it comes to growth.”

“We are currently so busy filling vacancies that I need to more staff to cope with demand. The news of the East Midlands Gateway, which will feature companies like Amazon and Nestle, as anchor tenants on the logistics park, as well as Shop Direct, is just the latest in what seems like very positive signs. For a company that specialises in logistics recruitment, the current news really couldn’t be better.
“In our location close to the M1, we feel like we are at the centre of it all.”
The family-run business, which includes Mr Tomlinson’s wife Sally as director, covers Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and mixes national businesses as clients, as well as smaller local enterprises.
It supplies more than 70 clients per week and successfully aims to sign up one new client to that roster per week. It has a payroll of more than 200 drivers per week, in both full and part-time roles.
Mr Tomlinson said that the business’s location close to Junction 26 of the M1, at the Aspect Business Centre, is vital. “Candidates don’t have to trudge into the city centre to get to us and that’s very important in terms of attracting people,” he said.
“But this success is also why we need to recruit more staff ourselves. We will be looking at roles such as consultants and account managers as well as looking to expand into other recruitment sectors apart from driving to include industrial and commercial.
“If I see the right people with the right skills who can push this business forward, then there will be plenty of opportunities for them.”
Mr Tomlinson decided to start his own business after working in the recruitment sector since 2010. He had worked in the financial services sector before that. The business prides itself of being able to offer quality logistics staff, quickly, thanks to its reactive 24-hour operation that has access to thousands of job seekers in the East Midlands area.

 

Why a successful partnership is at the heart of every successful business

The rebrand of John Lewis and Waitrose this month has put the strength of its partnership working at the heart of everything it does.

The new ‘John Lewis and Partners’ and ‘Waitrose and Partners’ brands were launched with an advert worthy of those it famously puts out at Christmas

 

The rebrand is all about focusing on the fact it is an employee ownership organisation and how that feeling of equal partnership makes the organisation stronger overall.

And who could argue? In what has been an extremely tough environment for retail lately, with the struggles of rival department stores like House of Fraser, John Lewis looks to be robust.

The power of a collaborative work environment is clear to most. For experienced recruiters who have considered the ultimate career move of running their own business, one of the biggest things putting them off is not having the support needed to make it happen. In short, it’s the thought that you’re on your own.

But starting your new recruitment venture with The Recruit Venture Group means you are never on your own. Like John Lewis and Waitrose, it is the partnership that is the secret to the success of its unique model.

The Recruit Venture Group is already supporting 46 recruitment businesses up and down the country, offering all the support they need to thrive. These are businesses started by people, sometimes with just a few years’ recruitment experience, but working with The Recruit Venture Group to build their new enterprises, often into multi-million pound organisations.

The Recruit Venture Group starts by offering 100% of the finance needed to launch the business. That means no awkward, difficult conversations with bank managers and no worries about taking on a stack of debt. Next, it provides all of the back office support a new and growing business needs, from accountancy, payroll, legal and compliance, IT, and marketing and PR. That in itself costs new businesses many thousands to put in place before they can even think about generating revenues. And finally, the Recruit Venture Group’s top team has what amounts to decades of experience in recruitment to give to new entrepreneurs to help steer them on the right track.

When this bedrock of support is mixed with the determination, passion and natural talent of an experienced recruiter, the 46 thriving businesses already thriving tells the story of a winning partnership.

Paul Mizen, Managing Director of The Recruit Venture Group, said: “The Recruit Venture Group was set up precisely because we knew there were many experienced and driven recruitment professionals out there who would be more than capable or running their own business, if only they had the right support.

“John Lewis and Waitrose are putting collaboration at the heart of everything they do, knowing that when you own a part of business, you are more driven to make it succeed. At The Recruit Venture Group I’m personally seeing people who were simply recruitment employees on a fairly static pay structure, completely transformed by launching their own business, and who are now realising just how far their talents can take them. We just let them get on and recruit and start generating revenues from the first day of trading. It really is very satisfying to see and a testament to the power of our unique joint venture model.”

It is very much the new entrepreneur which drives the business day-to-day. It is their vision, their brand, their strategy and their future legacy, all supported by The Recruit Venture Group.

 

Roos Recruitment Boss Helping To Bring Back Smiles By Completing 12 in 12 Challenge

From 7pm on Friday 7th Sept to 8am the following morning, Sue will endeavour to complete 12 x 30 minute HIIT (high intensity interval training) sessions in 12 hours, amongst 60 others at BTF in Norwich.

That is one session every hour!

Roos’ Managing Director is raising money for Nelson’s Journey, a Norfolk child bereavement charity who support children and young people up to their 18th birthday who have experienced the death of a significant person in their life.

I am taking part in a 12 in 12 Challenge and raising money for Nelsons Journey, a local Norfolk charity that supports children and young people up to their 18th birthday who have experienced the death of a significant person in their life.

“I can do this and make a difference to one child’s life then I will give it my best shot,” said Sue.
“It is going to be tough but I love a challenge.

“So please, be generous and support me in my madness and kindly donate to this wonderful charity; who help so many young people across Norfolk when they most need it.”

Because of the work carried out by Nelson’s Journey every bereaved child in Norfolk can look forward to a positive future, where they are supported to reach their full potential.
The charity’s ambition is perhaps best summarised by their strap line: bringing back smiles.

 

Help to bring back smiles by donating and supporting Sue in their 12 in 12 challenge.