The ideal for any staffing agency is to have a consistent flow of incoming potential candidates, regular clients who are regularly hiring, and placements that happen on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately, reaching this point of balance within a staffing agency takes a lot of time.
The reality on the ground is that you’ll have high points and low points, times when a number of great matches happen and times when it seems like nobody wants to actually hire the great candidates you’re putting in front of them. Accept that this is part of the work now and you’ll be able to prepare for these ups and downs.
What Goes Up Must Come Dow
Maybe more importantly, when things seem to be at a low low, you can depend on them to go back up again. Keep this in mind when placements don’t fall into place. When a candidate you’ve been working with suddenly decides not to take a job they seemed perfect for, or when your clients reject your candidate, it can feel like you’ve wasted incredible amounts of time for nothing.
Forget about that time and keep moving forward. Learn what you can, but don’t dwell on it. The only thing you can effect is the future, so work on that instead of dwelling on the past.
Balancing the Financial Side
When everything is just cruising along, let’s say you’ve had a month where you’ve made a number of very high caliber placements, remember to set aside cash for the weak months. It’s so easy to feel like you cannot be beat when you are running at full speed and making all the leaps you take. But if you go overboard when things are good, the bad times will be even harder.
Preparing Staff for Their Highs and Lows
If you have staff at your hiring agency, you know that they’re going to be experiencing the highs of great placements as well as the lows of failure. Don’t put pressure on them to feel bad about poor performance. Let them know that this happens, and sometimes it feels like it will never end. But it always does.
Recruiters have to work incredibly hard to keep themselves afloat. There have to be a few balls in the air at all times for things to work out. Sometimes all the balls fall to the floor and it can feel devastating. Pick them back up and start juggling again – it’s the only way to get better and reap rewards from this rewarding career.