How to future proof your business

As we enter into an uncertain economic period post Covid, there are a few developments we need to be aware of and things we need to implement to ensure recruitment businesses are as strong as they need to be to weather any potential downturn coming our way. Younique Coaching's Sophie Robertson explains.

1.Many companies have hired rookies into the industry following our border closures. These rookies have been hired predominantly to do sourcing and candidate management. Few have been trained in business development as it hasn’t been a requirement in a hot market. What may happen is that we get another exodus from the industry when some decide that business development is not for them. Or some of these resourcers will get made redundant as the demand shrinks.

2.Due to the job rich market, many consultants have forgotten about their client relationships and this has further been exacerbated by the fact that we have had a prolonged WFH environment, so face-to-face meetings have been negligible, which in turn impacts the relationship building. Consultants need to make sure they have strong client relationships as these will be crucial when times get tough.

3. As this job rich market has been predominantly perm, some companies have neglected their on-hire business or it has been nonexistent. To recession or future proof your business, you need to have a strong temp/contractor business as part of your overall risk mitigation strategy.

4. Following on from #3, if you are in the process of setting up an on-hire desk, do it right from the start and have specialists look after it as perm and contract are so vastly different jobs that they require different skillsets to do them well. Start as you mean to finish!

5. For candidates, it may well be the candidates who demanded and received the exorbitant salary increases who get made redundant first, if the economy really takes a dive.

6. For recruiters who have never worked in a market that is candidate rich and job poor, they will get a rude shock. Don’t wait till that happens; make sure they know how to start and develop client relationships. That they know how to analyse needs, give advice and really become the trusted advisor that consulting is.