How Are You Future Proofing Your Business?

I am known for being an optimist.
…but I also recognise when it’s time to sit up, take notice, and act.

In recruitment that is now!

Jobs are changing so quickly, if you are building your agency based on the idea that the roles you are filling now will be the same in the near to mid-term, you may be in for a shock.

We have all seen industry peers fall because they haven’t been able to adapt and maneuver the massive change in our industry.

In this post, I’m taking a quick look at what it takes to stay agile to helpyou keep your agency ahead of the game.

How to Stay Agile

1/ Don’t Get too Far Ahead of Yourself.
Planning a year out now is challenging let alone 5 or 10. When planning, push more detail towards the near term, 3 – 12 months and keep your 1-3 year plans more of a framework.  Why?  Because if you start making big decisions now for 5 years down the track your plan will be outdated.  Gone are the days of the rigid 5 (or more) year plans in recruitment.

Remember…
“People overestimate what they can achieve in a month and underestimate what they can achieve in a year”,  so with smart planning you can have high growth in 12 months.

2/ Go Deep in Your Niche and Wide. 
If you do this you will discover faster where and how the roles are changing and going to change in your market and you will be more prepared. By going as deep as you can and then wide will help you isolate where the changes are.

3/ Closely Monitor:

• Changes in demand for talent.  This is key to getting a glimpse into the roles you will be filling as time ticks over.
• Your industry/niche trends(not just jobs) Google “The main trends in the XYZ industry” and you will be met with plenty of articles to help you.
• Global employment shifts. There are so many “The Future of Jobs” reports available free online, so read them and take notice. We all know tech is booming, but many jobs will go and many will emerge. And it’s the same pattern for many other industries too.  Make it your business to know which ones, when and how it is likely to affect your business.

4/ Let go of the past
If you are still mainly using job boards, LinkedIn, your database, and a dabbling of social media as your prime source of talent, you will be outsmarted by savvy competitors or in-house recruiters in no time.

It is far easier to directly access and engage niche talent now with all the third-party resources available and this is a smart strategy to add rigor to your current strategy.

If you are unsure what I mean start researching google for “how to find candidates” and you will be met by more potential ideas than you can count.

Many tech solutions these days come with a free trial or month-to-month access so it’s easy to try new candidate strategies.

5/ Hire consultants who embrace change
…are early adopters of new ideas and tools, tech and social media savvy, not afraid to be first movers in their market, and always keen to learn and grow.

Have a great week.

Belinda

PS Ask yourself “What is one new emerging trend in my industry that may bring with it an opportunity for my business?”