[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"footer-data":3,"$f23nghdpq8v05r":42},{"countries":4,"agencies":26},[5,10,14,18,22],{"id":6,"name":7,"agencyCount":8,"avgAgencySize":9},"seychelles","Seychelles",1,0,{"id":11,"name":12,"agencyCount":13,"avgAgencySize":9},"italy","Italy",861,{"id":15,"name":16,"agencyCount":17,"avgAgencySize":9},"qatar","Qatar",207,{"id":19,"name":20,"agencyCount":21,"avgAgencySize":9},"bosnia-and-herzegovina","Bosnia and Herzegovina",36,{"id":23,"name":24,"agencyCount":25,"avgAgencySize":9},"afghanistan","Afghanistan",16,[27,30,33,36,39],{"_id":28,"name":29,"id":28},"69301515b3404633fe0f16f2","Anexxa ® – Soluções de Recursos Humanos",{"_id":31,"name":32,"id":31},"69301514b3404633fe0f16e6","Robert Walters",{"_id":34,"name":35,"id":34},"69301517b3404633fe0f170f","Real",{"_id":37,"name":38,"id":37},"69301518b3404633fe0f1720","Experis Belgium",{"_id":40,"name":41,"id":40},"69301519b3404633fe0f1739","Reed",{"article":43},{"slug":44,"title":45,"html":46,"topic":47,"coverUrl":50,"coverAlt":51,"publishedAt":52,"agency":53,"related":54,"comments":63,"alternates":64},"recruitment-agencies-find-and-win-new-clients","How recruitment agencies can find and win new clients","\u003Ch2 id=\"a-system-not-luck\">Treat new clients as a system, not luck\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Most small recruitment agencies win their first clients through people they already know: a former manager, a hiring lead from a previous job, a candidate who moved into a role where they now hire. That start runs out. Once the warm list is used up, many owners swing between frantic calling and weeks of delivery with no new business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The answer is not a bigger marketing budget. It is a small set of habits that keeps conversations with potential clients going, even when delivery takes most of your week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"pick-a-niche\">Pick a niche a client can recognise\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>A hiring manager decides in seconds whether you are relevant. \"We recruit across all sectors\" gives them nothing to hold on to, while \"we fill site and project management roles for construction contractors in the north-west\" tells them at once whether you are the right call. A niche is not a limit on the work you accept. It is what makes you easy to remember and recommend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A useful niche answers four questions, and a client should be able to check each answer:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Industry\u003C\u002Fstrong>: the kind of business you serve, such as logistics, private healthcare or software.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Role family\u003C\u002Fstrong>: the jobs you fill inside that industry, such as warehouse supervisors, nurses or backend engineers.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Geography\u003C\u002Fstrong>: where those roles sit, whether that is one city, one region or remote roles in named countries.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Buyer\u003C\u002Fstrong>: who signs off the search, which in a small firm is often the founder or operations lead rather than HR.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Cp>Choose a niche where you already have an edge: candidates you can reach, contacts who take your call, or enough knowledge to ask better questions than a generalist. Then test it. If you can name a few dozen companies that fit and the people who hire there, the niche is real; if you struggle to list ten, it is too narrow or too vague.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"channels\">Four channels that bring in new clients\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Most new agency clients arrive through one of four routes. Each asks for different effort and pays back on a different timescale, so a small agency usually runs two or three side by side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 id=\"referrals\">Referrals, asked for on purpose\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>A client who has just watched a good hire settle in is the best source of your next client, but few will introduce you without being asked. Make the ask part of your process. At the check-in after a placement starts, ask whether they know a peer at another company facing the same hiring problem. Ask for one name rather than a list, and offer to mention who suggested the contact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Candidates are a second source that agencies often overlook. Someone you placed may now run a team, and someone you did not place may know which hiring manager is struggling. Accountants, HR consultants and employment lawyers who advise growing firms can also make introductions when it helps their own clients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 id=\"specialist-content\">Specialist content\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>Content works when it answers a question your buyers are already asking. A short note on what candidates in your role family want, what a realistic hiring timeline looks like, or why offers are being turned down gives a hiring manager something hard to find elsewhere. Publish it where your buyers read, such as LinkedIn, a trade newsletter or your own site, and keep it about their problem rather than your agency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Content is slow, but it makes every other channel easier, because the person you call may already know your name. Only publish salary or market figures you can back with your own data or a named source.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 id=\"events\">Events in your clients' industry\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>Events put you in a room with your buyers. Trade shows and association meetings in your client industry are often more useful than recruitment events, where many of the people you meet are other recruiters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Go with a short list of companies you want to meet and one question about their hiring for each. Follow up within a few days, referring to something specific you discussed. Speaking on a panel about hiring in that sector moves you from supplier to expert in the eyes of the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 id=\"direct-outreach\">Direct outreach on hiring signals\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>Direct outreach is the channel you control most, and it works best when it is timed. A hiring signal is any public sign that a company needs people: a role that has stayed open on its careers page for weeks, the same job posted on several boards, a new office, fresh investment, or a new senior leader with a team to build.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Check a short list of target companies every week. When a signal appears, contact the person who owns the hire, not a general HR inbox, while the need is live.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ctable>\n\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr>\u003Cth>Channel\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>What it asks of you\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>What it gives you first\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>Common mistake\u003C\u002Fth>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Fthead>\n\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Referrals\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>A habit of asking after every good result\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Warm introductions to peers of existing clients\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Waiting for clients to remember you\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Specialist content\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Regular writing about your niche's hiring problems\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Recognition when you later call or meet\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Writing about the agency instead of the reader\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Events\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Time away from desk work and fast follow-up\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Face-to-face talks with several buyers at once\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Spending the day among other recruiters\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Direct outreach\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Weekly research and carefully written messages\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Conversations with companies that need help now\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Sending one generic pitch to everyone\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003C\u002Ftbody>\n\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"first-approach\">What your first approach should say\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>A first message to a potential client, whether it is an email, a LinkedIn note or a phone call, has one job: to earn a short conversation. It does that by showing you understand their situation, not by explaining your whole agency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A good first approach usually contains these parts:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli>A specific reason for getting in touch now, such as the role you saw open or the expansion they announced.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>One line on why you are relevant: the roles and the sector you recruit for, in plain words.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Something useful, such as an observation about the candidate market for that role or the kind of people you already know who fit it.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>A small ask, such as a fifteen-minute call, rather than a request to agree terms.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n\u003Cp>Be careful with candidate details. Share an anonymised profile only with the candidate's permission, and do not send CVs to a company that has not asked for them. An unsolicited CV can cost you trust with the client and with the candidate at the same time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What puts clients off is just as predictable. Messages that could have gone to anyone, claims to be \"the leading\" agency, pressure to sign terms on the first call, and repeated follow-ups with nothing new to say all mark you as one more agency to ignore. So does criticising the client's own recruiters. Follow up a few times, adding something new each time, then stop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"weekly-routine\">A weekly routine you can keep\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>In small agencies, client acquisition usually fails because delivery crowds it out. Protect a fixed block of time each week and treat it like a client interview you cannot move. A simple routine:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Monday\u003C\u002Fstrong>: check your target list for new hiring signals and choose the companies to contact this week.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Tuesday and Wednesday\u003C\u002Fstrong>: send first approaches and follow-ups, and make the calls you planned.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Thursday\u003C\u002Fstrong>: ask one recent client or placed candidate for an introduction, and reply to anyone who responded to your content.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Friday\u003C\u002Fstrong>: draft or publish one piece of specialist content and update your client pipeline.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Cp>Keep the pipeline simple, with a stage and a next step for every potential client: identified, contacted, in conversation, terms sent, first role live. Review it once a week and note which channel each new client came from. Over a few months that record shows which channels to keep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the first role arrives, deliver it well and stay in touch after the start date. A client who trusts your shortlist is the likeliest source of your next role and your next referral.\u003C\u002Fp>",{"slug":48,"name":49},"agencies","Agencies","\u002Fuploads\u002Farticles\u002F6acdd97ebc08759f47f42eeb\u002Fcover.jpg","A recruiter sits at a bright desk with a closed laptop, an empty chair opposite, glass offices soft behind.","2026-10-13T07:10:54.116Z",null,[55],{"slug":56,"title":57,"excerpt":58,"topic":59,"coverUrl":60,"publishedAt":61,"publishedLabel":62},"choose-recruitment-agency","How to choose a recruitment agency for a hard-to-fill role","Start with the role, not the agency Most employers who turn to a recruitment agency for the first time do it because a role has stayed open too long. They are not alone: in ManpowerGroup's 2026…",{"slug":48,"name":49},"\u002Fuploads\u002Farticles\u002F6ac7553ecd9c320b308ede11\u002Fcover.jpg","2026-10-08T08:33:02.954Z","8 Oct 2026",[],[65,67,70,73],{"locale":66,"slug":44},"en",{"locale":68,"slug":69},"hi","recruitment-agenciyan-naye-client-kaise-khojen-aur-jeeten",{"locale":71,"slug":72},"de","wie-personalvermittlungen-neue-kunden-finden-und-gewinnen",{"locale":74,"slug":75},"es","como-las-agencias-de-reclutamiento-consiguen-nuevos-clientes"]