How to Find Clients As A Recruiter in 2024

Whether you’re an independent recruiter or an owner of a recruitment agency, there is a need for more proactivity in sourcing potential clients. Read on to figure out how to find clients for your recruitment agency in a structured, repeatable way.‍

Step 1: (Re)Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Before starting search for new clients, first make sure that you know your ideal customer profile.

Your ideal customer would be someone who gets their exact needs met by what you’re offering. In other words, to find new clients for your recruitment agency, you need to identify the companies and organizations who stand to benefit from your skills, specialties and your existing candidate connections.

To identify your target client base, the following thought processes are worth exploring;

Are there any sub industries within your market segment that you can serve better?
Are there some common characteristics in successful placements such as company size, sector, or specific hiring needs?
Are there some companies which are more open to recruitment agencies at your stage?
Is there something specific your competing recruiting business doing better?

These little bits of detail can change the kind of language in your emails you send, social media content you produce, the Facebook groups you engage with, the email copy you send, and the subjects of your blog posts.‍

Step 2: Find potential clients who are actively hiring

Knowing who's hiring is super important as they are already on the lookout for new talent. By zeroing in on these businesses, the agency can smartly use its time and energy where it counts the most. Plus, getting the job description beforehand means means the recruiters can really personalize their pitch, making it way more likely they'll hit it off and start a great working relationship with prospective clients.

Job postings

Job boards and Linkedin Job postings are one of the easiest ways for recruiters to find clients. With the amount of traffic on these sites sometimes means that employees don't always get the perfect fit they wish for. Here are quick hacks to get the list fast:

Check job boards which aren't free first. A company willing to spend money on these ads could theoretically have money to invest in outsourcing the search to a staffing agency.
Filter results by industry and job titles of your ICP
Filter by job posting date: Filtering to a week or sooner should give an indicator as to which posts are reasonably recent enough for the vacancies to still exist.‍

Follow key decision makers and company recruiters on Linkedin, as they do post on their own timelines about open roles. You can use

Other platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are also widely used by businesses as recruitment advertising platforms well. When using these social media platforms to reach out to founders, make sure that you honestly remain professional, courteous and always do your best to provide some sort of value to get their attention. Don't just spam, provide specific reasons and examples on how you can help and what makes you different from other recruiters.‍

Leverage Candidate Relationships

When you work with a new candidate, always ask if they have worked with a recruiting firm before and if a recruiter had ever placed them at one of their previous positions. This can help in a few ways

It sets the expectation of how your partnership will help them in their job search
It will help you identify businesses that work with recruitment agencies

If you know that Candidate B was placed at Z company by a competing recruitment agency, this gives you a potential lead with a new prospective client. You now know they are open to working with other recruitment services and businesses.

Networking

Take advantage of and go to local networking events that are relevant to you and your market so that you have a higher chance of meeting someone who could be a great fit and be in need of your service.

Join professional communities on Linkedin and Facebook, which are frequented by your target client base. Always be helping, provide value (sometimes free) and you will be amazed and how frequently you will be able to attract clients.‍

Referrals

Word of mouth marketing is one of the strongest forms of marketing for recruitment agencies. If you do a great job with a client and they refer you to others, the baseline of trust is already established as someone else that they know vouched for you.

Never be afraid to also proactively ask your current clients for referrals, wherever you have done well.

A well thought out incentive program, perhaps a discount or percentage savings, can be a great way to urge your existing clients to spread the word about your available recruiting service.

Make sure you also look within your own network, perhaps your college friends, family or former colleagues might know someone who could be hiring and be willing to make an introduction.

The beginning of referrals will typically be slow but as you develop your track record and relationships, referrals will slowly compound over time and would be the most cost effective way to find clients.

Step 3: Reachout and Engage Prospective Clients

Once you have potential client list, you might be wondering how to contact companies for recruitment. Here are top ways to recruiters find clients

Linkedin Outreach

A lot of times recruiters find clients by first sending a connection request or an inmail to the hiring manager or the talent acquisition team.

Its important to add personalized touches to your connection request by adding a note. Mention common connections, previous placements, competitors you have helped etc.

Email Outreach

You can put together an cold email marketing campaign to reach new clients.

Start by collecting a list of email addresses of your target audience using email finder softwares like Apollo, Contact Out or SalesQL.

Prepare an email template in which you introduce yourself, provide a summary of your offerings, and give a link to your website, mention past clients. Don’t over promise, but let businesses know what makes you stand out from other recruitment agencies. Explain how you source qualified candidates.

Always try personalizing the messages, with first names, common connects, industries etc as it gets higher response rates. It’s also a good idea to include your phone number and calendar link if they want to set up a meeting directly.

You will need to monitor email marketing efforts because sometimes hiring managers might mark your emails as spam.

Cold Calling

Recruiters must understand cold calling strategies in order to ensure a successful recruitment process. Cold calling promotes your company and helps you get not just more candidates but also clients.

Unconsciously, soliciting favorable brand imagery creates a positive brand image in the eyes of prospective clients. A boring and uninspiring cold call will not instill trust in clients for your recruiting or agency. On the other hand, if you sound eager and energetic, you transmit that same energy to the other person. This piques the listener’s interest and boosts engagement.

An excellent cold calling script contains inquisitive questions about the client’s requirements, candidate’s background, number of open positions, experience, and skills required. Also, call records are a valuable resource that should never be underestimated. Successful recruiters should record their cold calls and use them for training other recruiters.

Always Follow-Up

A survey found that 60% of potential clients say no four times before saying yes, while 48% of recruiters never make a single follow-up effort. Your client may have seen your email and planned to reply, but owing to the demands of their day-to-day operations, this may have slid lower down their priority list. They will sometimes entirely forget that they received your email.

As a consequence, making follow-up phone calls is extremely crucial. Try at least 4-5 touch points before giving up a potential client.

Conclusion

In conclusion, finding new clients for your recruitment agency is a multifaceted process that requires a strategic and proactive approach.

By first identifying your Ideal Customer Profile, you can tailor your outreach and services to meet the specific needs of those most likely to benefit from your expertise. Actively seeking out companies that are hiring, leveraging social media platforms, and utilizing job posting websites are practical steps to connect with potential clients.

Additionally, nurturing candidate relationships, networking, and encouraging referrals can significantly amplify your target client base. Remember, personalized outreach, whether through LinkedIn, email, or cold calling, is key to making a lasting impression.

Finally, never underestimate the power of follow-up. Persistence often pays off, as potential clients may need multiple touchpoints before they engage. By implementing these strategies, your staffing agency can effectively expand its client roster and grow its business.