// Business Development, Recruitment Technology
Growth hacks and business development strategies for recruitment agencies
31/05/2024
MIN
What makes you a successful agency recruiter? Do you have a winning combination of business development strategies for recruitment agencies. One that can keep you at the top of your game?
Take Rachel’s example, she’s the ultimate agency recruiter, landing those business deals and making placements faster than anyone else in the industry. What’s her secret?
▶️ First and foremost, she is a LinkedIn aficionado. She knows that all the action happens there, so she’s always active on the platform. She shares insightful posts, engages in industry conversations, and boosts her visibility like a pro.
▶️ Next, she follows the Hoxo 20-10-5 methodology. Every week, she reaches out to 20 new prospects, keeps the conversation going with 10 ongoing connections, and sets up 5 meetings. It’s a well-oiled machine that ensures her outreach is always on point.
▶️ But that’s not all. she does not wait to find the perfect candidate. When she finds a candidate who doesn’t quite fit the bill for one role but could be perfect for another, she use her AI recruitment software to quickly create a speculative CV tailored to a specific industry or role. With the auto-tagging feature, she proactively matches candidates with opportunities they might not have considered otherwise.
▶️ And when it comes to industry events, She is always there and never misses a major gathering, using it as an opportunity to turn connections into long-term clients and candidates.
By combining these strategies, Rachel establishes herself as a top-tier recruiter and her recruiting business has never been better.
Want to be just like her? We get it, you probably know it’s crucial to stay on top of things and keep those strong connections strong in the recruitment world. But how exactly do you do that?
4 business development strategies that actually work for recruiters
Let’s look at four business development strategies that can seriously up your recruiting game…
…Personal branding to stand out on LinkedIn
…Using the Hoxo 20-10-5 method to find warm leads on LinkedIn
…Proactively reaching out with spec CVs to make more placements
…Making connections at events and building your network
By implementing these strategies, you’ll be able to expand your network, enhance your visibility, and ultimately boost your business. Give them a try, and watch new business come your way!
Use the power of personal branding to stand out on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has become the ultimate playground for recruiters when it comes to strategic business development!
Whether you’re a seasoned recruiter or just starting out, it is the ultimate tool for building relationships, showcasing your expertise, and ultimately, growing your business. This is where you get to flex your personal branding muscles and show the world what you’re made of. It is where you can showcase your personal brand, connect with potential clients and candidates, and ultimately land those deals.
What defines successful personal branding on LinkedIn?
- Your profile isn’t just a list of roles and skills—it’s a vibrant showcase of your expertise and personality. Stand out by personalising your professional persona.
- Your headline isn’t just “Recruiter at XYZ Agency”. It could be something similar to these examples:
- Jordan Shlosberg, CFA – Giving recruitment professionals an unfair advantage with AI ✨
- Sean Anderson – Helped over 6000 recruiters from 500 recruitment agencies to win more business on LinkedIn
- Mark Whitby– I help recruitment business owners escape the revenue roller coaster and create consistent, predictable placements
- Matt Alder – Podcaster | Talent Acquisition Futurist | International Speaker | Author
- Chad Sowash – HR’s Most Dangerous Podcaster, Angel Investor, Business Leader, Enterprise Growth, Partner Dev, GTM Strategy, Marketing, & U.S. Army Veteran
- Your profile picture isn’t just a standard headshot. It’s a friendly, professional photo that radiates approachability and confidence (no selfies, please!). Profile pictures and background images similar to these are most effective:
- In your profile there should be engaging posts and articles that showcase your industry knowledge and insights. From sharing tips on acing job interviews to discussing emerging trends in recruitment, it’s about consistently providing value to your network.
💡 The key here is to be genuine and authentic—people can spot a sales pitch from a mile away, so focus on building real relationships instead of just selling your services. - It’s not just about sharing content – you also must actively engage with your connections by responding to comments on your posts, joining relevant industry groups, and sharing shout-outs and congratulations to celebrate your network’s successes.
- And when it comes to recommendations and endorsements, your colleagues, clients, and candidates all have great things to say about you. They praise your professionalism, dedication, and ability to find the perfect match.
Your strategic personal branding efforts on LinkedIn should make not just another recruiter but a trusted industry authority and a go-to resource for both companies and candidates alike.
Go from simple likes to solid leads with the Hoxo 20-10-5 methodology
Whether you’re a seasoned recruiter or just starting out with creating a business development strategy, the Hoxo 20-10-5 approach is a tried-and-true method to get those warm leads on LinkedIn.
Let’s say you’ve identified a potential client in the tech industry who’s struggling to fill a senior software engineer role.
What do you do? According to this approach, the best business development strategy is to start by spending 20% of your time researching the company’s culture, tech stack, and recent projects.
Once you’re clued in, create a personalised email highlighting how your expertise can help them find their next rockstar engineer.
Then send a couple follow-ups to stay in their radar.
It’s simple, but it’s a totally effective way to get those leads and land those deals!
Here’s more about how it works:
▶️ 20% Research
Spend some time digging deep into potential clients or leads. Take notes, ask questions, and really get to know their pain points and needs. Scour industry news, and maybe even indulge in some light social media stalking (we won’t judge).
The goal? To understand your potential clients inside and out—what makes them tick, what keeps them up at night, and most importantly, how you can swoop in and save the day.
▶️ 10% Outreach
Now, it’s time to put yourself out there. This is where the rubber meets the road. Send those personalised emails, pick up that phone, connect with potential clients on LinkedIn, and even start sending LinkedIn DMs (but please, keep it professional). Don’t be afraid to break the ice and start the conversation!
▶️ 5% Follow-Up
This is where the magic happens. Send that friendly reminder email, drop a quick “just checking in” call, schedule those coffee chats, or even shoot over a meme to keep things light.
The key here is consistency to keep the conversation going and sending out those gentle nudges to stay top-of-mind without being too pushy. Remember, persistence pays off!
Proactively reach out with spec CVs to make more placements
Instead of waiting for the perfect candidate to come to you, why not proactively reach out with a tailored CV that screams “I get you”?
Whether you’re wooing a new client or looking to strengthen your existing relationships, a well-crafted spec CV can be the key to unlocking new business opportunities in the competitive world of recruitment.
What’s a spec CV?
Think of it as your way to showcase your keen eye for valuable talent and your knack for matching candidates with the perfect opportunity. Instead of sending over a generic list of potential candidates, a spec CV is like a personalised CV that you send to your client, highlighting exactly why this candidate is the one they’ve been searching for.
How to craft the perfect spec CV?
When it comes to crafting a spec CV, it’s all about quality over quantity. Take the time to really understand what your client is looking for in a candidate—skills, experience, cultural fit, you name it. Then, scour your talent pool for that candidate who ticks all the boxes and then some.
Picture this: you’ve got a client in the tech sector who’s been struggling to find the perfect data scientist to join their team. Searching through your candidate pool you find someone with a wealth of experience in machine learning, a knack for big data analysis, and a passion for solving complex problems.
You craft a spec CV that showcases their skills, highlighting their relevant experience, and emphasising why they’re the ideal fit for the role. You send it over to your client, and within days, they’re scheduling interviews.
Isn’t this the best way to save time and make the placement? Beats sending out generic lists and going back and forth on calls to find the right candidate, only to have the client say no after days of sourcing and screening, right?
Make connections in events and build your network
In a world that’s increasingly digital, there’s something special about connecting with people in person (or virtually).
Whether it’s a local meetup, industry conference, or virtual networking event, there’s no denying the power of face-to-face (or screen-to-screen) connections to meet new people, exchange ideas, and build lasting relationships. Events are where connections are made, ideas are exchanged, and opportunities are born.
How do you make the most of your event experience?
It’s all about being strategic and intentional with your time. Before the event, take some time to research the attendees, speakers, and topics of discussion. Identify people you’d like to connect with and come prepared with thoughtful questions and conversation starters.
Let’s say you’re attending a virtual tech recruitment event. You do your homework, research the speakers, and identify a few key speakers you’d like to connect with.
During the conference, you actively participate in panel discussions, ask thoughtful questions, and engage with other attendees in the chat.
After the event, you follow up with personalised LinkedIn messages, thanking them for the insightful conversation and expressing interest in potential collaboration opportunities. Who knew networking could be so fun?
Ready to get into action? Check out some of these upcoming events in the recruitment industry that you can attend. They’re perfect opportunities to expand your network and boost your recruitment agency’s growth:
Upcoming must-attend recruitment events of 2024
| Event | Date | Fees | Location | Highlights |
| Talent42 Tech Recruiting Conference | 03-04 June, 2024 | In-person pre-registration starts from $1,399 | Seattle, WA & Virtual | Dedicated to tech recruitment. Learn from top technical recruiters and tech candidates. Interactive workshops and practical knowledge. |
| TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum | 04-06 June, 2024 | Starts from $700 | Washington DC, USA | Focused on job boards, talent marketplaces, and talent tech solutions. Sessions on research, business practices, and new solutions. |
| SHRM Annual Conference & Expo | 23-26 June, 2024 | Early bird non-member $2,495 | Chicago, U.S. | Education, networking, and career development. HR seminars, workshops, and sessions on essential HR topics like mental health, AI, DE&I. |
| NAHCR Annual Conference | 16-19 July, 2024 | Check official website | Norfolk, Virginia | Learning experience for healthcare recruiters. Content aligned with recruitment challenges and professional development. |
| Talent Intelligence Conference | 23-25 Sep, 2024 | Early bird – €895 Normal – €1,095 | Netherlands | Focuses on talent intelligence that drives automation and AI to stay competitive in the talent acquisition industry. |
| Sourcing Summit Europe | 09-10 Oct, 2024 | €547 | Amsterdam | Gathering of global sourcers. Learn about new trends and opportunities in tech talent sourcing. |
| Social Recruiting Days | 10-11 Oct, 2024 | €1,190 | Berlin | Tracks on effective candidate outreach, engaging candidate experience, and technical solutions. Workshops and hackathons. |
| Silicon Valley TechRecruit Conference | 06-07 Nov, 2024 | TBA | San Francisco | Innovative Talent Technology for Talent Acquisition professionals. Focus on sourcing, recruiting, employer branding, and more. |
| Rethink HR Tech | 24-26 Nov, 2024 | €3,249 | Berlin | Discuss HR Technologies, New Work, and Recruitment with peers. Latest trends and practical examples from HR professionals. |
What’s the future? Agency growth with AI-powered business development
A successful business development strategy for a recruitment agency is all about finding the right balance between strategy and authenticity.
First off, amp up your LinkedIn game with some killer personal branding. Showcase your skills and personality to stand out from the crowd.
Next, there’s the Hoxo 20-10-5 method. Spend just 15 minutes a day to hack the LinkedIn Algorithm and get those warm leads to grow your business. It’s all about building those meaningful connections.
Don’t stop there, though. Be proactive and send out spec CVs to catch the eye of potential clients. Show them you’ve got the perfect candidate before they even know they need them.
And don’t forget to attend those events and start networking. The more connections you make, the better it is for your agency’s growth.
And when those leads start pouring in, it’s time to get organised. That’s where our platform comes in. We’ll help you manage your candidates and deals, so you can focus on what you do best – making placements.
So, how can our recruitment platform help you? Let’s find out:
You can track your deals perfectly with a customisable deal pipeline.
The system automatically reads, understands, and updates every message, so you don’t have to spend time manually dragging and dropping.
Atlas is smart – it knows which candidates are active and which jobs they’re right for at any given time.
Imagine having many ready-to-go emails waiting for you at your desk, all set to send to hiring managers who are actively looking right now.
With Atlas, managing big multi-touch campaigns is easy. Whatever can be automated we’ve automated. Our automatically generated to-do lists help you stay organised, allowing you to get them done super quickly.
To boost your response rates, creating multi-touch sales and business development campaigns is important. With Atlas, you can set up campaigns that reach out via email, LinkedIn, and phone calls, all in one go, maximising response rates.
Add a personal touch to your messages by dropping AI tokens into each one. This way, you can strike the perfect balance between personalisation and automation, leading to more positive responses.
What does it take to stay ahead in today’s competitive recruitment landscape?
Well, it boils down to: being able to save time and make more placements like a pro. It’s about being proactive and smart in how you do things. When you equip yourself with the right tools that fit your business, you’re paving the way for success.
Investing in recruitment tools isn’t just about keeping up; it’s about staying ahead of the curve. By using an AI-powered platform you can automate your low-value tasks, boost productivity, and show the industry just how forward-thinking your recruitment agency truly is.
So, what are you waiting for? Take this opportunity to move your recruitment agency forward. It’s time to make some serious waves in the industry!
