If you are thinking of starting a recruitment agency then you are at the start of a very exciting journey. It can be a very lucrative business to be in, with fairly limited set-up costs. However, there are long hours involved and you need to be very good at sales in order to survive in a fairly competitive marketplace.

So, what do you need to know when you are starting a recruitment agency?

Choosing a Name

This sounds like a really simple job, but in fact it is anything but! There are a few things to think about when coming up with a name for your recruitment agency – from both a branding and a legal point of view.

Your business name is the first impression that your potential clients will have of you, and so it is really important that they get the right impression. Think about the market that you are targeting, and what you want your brand to be. You should also keep in mind your future plans as well, as having the ‘wrong’ name could put a stopper on your expansion plans for example if you call yourself Education Recruitment and then decide to branch into Oil & Gas Recruitment.

You should also check that the name you want has not be registered by someone else, and you can do this quickly on the Companies House website.

Register Your Company

Once you have your name, the next step is to register your company. This sounds quite scary, but is actually a really simple process. You need to know the following things:

• Company name and registered address
• Director name, address, nationality, date of birth and occupation
• Details of share capital
• Currency and any stocks or shares owned
• Preferred form of payment – it will cost £12 to register your company

We are assuming at this point that you already have in place the finance recruitment agency set up, and so the next stage is

Set Up a Website

The first thing to think about when it comes to a website, is to think about what platform you are going to use for your website. A drag and drop platform such as Wix is good for people who have no experience in coding and want to do it themselves, but it is limited when it comes to customisation. The other option to go for is something like SquareSpace or WordPress which may be a bit harder to understand at first, but will give you more freedom in the long run.

As with any website, you need to make sure you call’s to action (CTA) are obvious – if your CTA is going to be ‘call us’ then this needs to be made obvious and clearly labelled. Make sure your contact details are clear and easy to find, and visible on every page. It is also to remember to put your domain on a renewal contract so that your website does not go down as you have forgotten to renew your domain!

Content on your website is also very important, especially from an SEO point of view. Writing relevant content will help both clients and candidates to find you, without you having to invest in expensive advertising.

Social Media is also a good way to advertise your agency and the jobs you have available. If you have social media accounts for your business, then it is a good idea to include links to these on your website.

Legal Requirements

There are quite a few legal requirements that you need to be aware of when setting up a recruitment company:

• HMRC: PAYE Regulations 2015 – You are required to report all payments made where employment taxes and national insurance are deducted at source.
• Tax Returns – There are lots of companies out there who offer easy-to-use and cost-effective solutions which will help you to sort your taxes out, claim expenses, sort out your VAT returns and organise your payroll.
• Data Protection Act – This is put in place in order to protect client and candidate data, and make sure it is fairly treated and confidential.
• Agency Worker Regulations – This act was designed to stop discrimination against agency workers, and ensures they are treated fairly and receive the same pay rates, working time and benefits as permanent workers
• UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP) – This code is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and ensures that every job that is advertised is fair and non-discriminatory
• Equality Act 2010 – This Act combines the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations Act and the Disability Discrimination Act and is designed to ensure people are treated fairly
• IR35 – This determines how a person is engaged with a business for tax purposes, as in whether they are an employee or a contractor.

This are just some of the things you need to consider when you set up a recruitment agency, and we hope you have found it useful. For more information on how we can help you finance your recruitment agency, including back office recruitment, please get in touch with our experience team.