At a recent expo, Apsco shared the latest data on how the recruitment sector is continuing to grow. In fact, last year over 4500 new recruitment companies were registered.

It all sounds fantastic news, doesn’t it?

If you have just placed your head in your hands I get you… no I really do.

It all sounds good for the economy however when you own a search company or agency, being informed it’s getting even more competitive will fill you with dread.

I know because I have been that recruitment business owner and I have worked with hundreds of them over the years.

The reality is recruitment is unique as a business sector; isn’t it? Rarely is a business based on first finding a client and then finding/matching them with exactly what they want.

 

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Worse still ………

……………you are dealing with human beings whose reactions at the best of times aren’t always predictable; ask the US government if you want clarification on that one!

The challenge is, today everything works at a frantic and fast pace. Fastest finger first in many markets is still the name of the game.

Moreover, many organisations are locked into the 360 model which frankly is no longer fit for purpose.

 

Are you…?

Currently I suspect you are staring down the barrel of burnout with no idea on how you will scale to 7 figures with the motley crew you have around you; am I right?

Many business owners tell me that they are financially worse off than when they were working for someone else with less time and sadly for some, with a relationship with their significant other that is cracking under the pressure.

 

So how can you get a handle on everything and start to scale?

First, you need to set some priorities and start to think rather than react in the ‘knee jerk’ way I suspect you are doing at present.

 

STOP!

That is normally my first instruction. Though it might seem counter intuitive taking some time out to think through what you want and what is currently happening can be quite revealing.

 

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There is one important thing that can make a huge difference for you and bring amazing awareness to what your ongoing actions need to be.

 Lao Tzu the famous philosopher talks about one small step starts the journey of a thousand miles and this is certainly one you will want to do sooner rather than later.

 

A good old-fashioned T and M study

T and M is also known as the time-motion study. Its origins are based in the manufacturing industry and relate to how much time does it take to perform certain actions.

[Note what I am referring to here is the next level up from time management.]

Useful information especially when this technique is developed and taken to another level and used by knowledge workers like ourselves.

What if we ‘did’ a t and m study on ourselves? We might discover some scary statistics on where we spend our time and importantly on what.

When I was first introduced to this as a recruitment manager I studied the process and jumped in.

At the end of a couple of days I realised embarrassingly that I had spent a few hours formatting CVs!!

 

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There were several other areas too that weren’t helping our business growth either; mindless email surfing for one, and worrying incessantly was another (though that story is for another post).

Hardly the best use of my time and not adding to the bottom line.

Over the last few years I have honed this process down for clients and the results have been exceptional. I am covering the step by step of this at one of our workshops in the next few weeks.

When I first went through this process the penny dropped that I could delegate multiple tasks and as our American friends say for pennies on the dollar.

Can this one thing really make that much difference Nicky? Yes, it can and does …….and I have seen this work multiple times over.

This is one of a few key actions that will clear your mind and give you the headspace to understand your priorities and get back to scaling the business that has always been your goal.

If you would like to know in depth how to use this technique and several other key strategies that my clients use, we are running a workshop in london this month.

You can find out all about it here. Alternatively get in contact here.