RECRUITMENT STARTUP...Online Email: [email protected] web: Phone & Fax +44 208 057 4757 Address 71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ RECRUITMENT STARTUP Start-up scale checklist

Online

Email: [email protected] web: www.recruit-hub.com

Phone & Fax

+44 208 057 4757

Address

71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ

RECRUITMENT STARTUP

2021 SCALE CHECKLIST

Start-up scale checklist Launching your own recruitment business is an exciting step, opening the door to a journey of

entrepreneurship and the potential for tremendous financial reward.

But starting and successfully scaling a company are two very different things, and many enthusiastic founders are tripped up by the hundreds of unseen complexities involved in structuring and operating a business of increasing size and sophistication. As the scope of the challenge becomes clearer, first-time entrepreneurs can quickly grow frustrated with the constantly-evolving task of turning promising early sales into a truly scalable revenue generation engine, complete with development of the underlying equity value into a high-value, sellable asset. Peaks and troughs in revenue and headcount, talent shortages, staff turnover, legal minefields and cashflow crises are just some of the slow, painful and expensive growing pains suffered by many new businesses – all of which can slow, disrupt or even put paid to bullish plans. Many founders make the mistake of rushing or skipping some of these steps initially, either thinking they aren’t needed for a ‘lifestyle’ agency or hoping to address the gaps on the fly once they are ready to hire and scale and the need is urgent. The reality is that once the deals start flowing in, founders have ever less time to spend back-filling missing infrastructure, switching suppliers or responding to avoidable crises or unexpected cashflow gaps. If scale is the goal, it pays to get the foundations right from Day 1. To support recruitment agency owners setting out to create well-run, multi-headcount agencies, RecruitHub has produced this checklist for scale, highlighting some of the key pieces required for building a profitable and valuable company in the search and staffing sector. The checklist is by no means comprehensive, and assumes that many of the ABC’s of business setup are already taken care of. It is designed to help founders plan for and anticipate the resources, processes, technology and advisory they will need to have in place in order to scale their ventures confidently and at pace. It is also a tool founders can use to be realistic about which aspects they have done before and are confident in, and which will be new to them - enabling them to be proactive in developing networks to secure support or advice by expert advisors, mentors or suppliers to fill gaps. We hope it’s useful to ambitious start-up owners and serves as an actionable blueprint for building a thriving, successful venture. Good luck!

EdmundBlogg Recruitment Director

Email: [email protected] | web: www.recruit-hub.com | phone: +44 208 057 4757

2 SCALE CHECKLIST 2021

Strategy & pre-launch



DESCRIPTION OBJECTIVE

Business model

Comprehensive business plan, financial projection and cashflow forecast.

Create a stress-tested financial blueprint for company growth, incorporating cash runway, revenues, costs, taxes, reinvestment & scale.

Analysis of restrictive covenants

Clear understanding of enforceable post-termination restrictions, with input on where clarification or negotiation of key clauses may be advisable.

Launch your new business confidently with a clear legal understanding of what is and is not legally restricted by your previous employment contract.

Preparation for previous employer action

Readiness to respond to any correspondence from previous employers in relation to restrictions.

Minimise the cost and interruption of protracted legal exchanges with a clear response based on an accurate interpretation of restrictions.

Co-founder agreements and articles of association

Flexible shareholder agreement allowing for multiple outcomes.

If launching with business partner(s) or external investors ensure the initial legal basis for company launch anticipates potential future changes (such as one or more partners leaving or ceasing to work actively in the company). The important legal documents include Service Agreements for the founders, non-standard Articles of Association or Share-holders Agreements should be considered for co-founders.

Funding




Seed capital

Sufficient cash runway to operate company and cover founder living expenses until directors can earn from profitable cashflow.

Ensure you have enough money to pay your business and personal bills until you begin to receive payment from clients in line with your cashflow forecasts.

Access to emergency funding

Quick-access source of capital in case of unexpected cashflow delays.

Protect the business from early placement fall-outs and late payments with a back-up option to extend cash runway if needed by via debt or equity financing.

Access to growth capital

Ability to move quickly on strategic market opportunities for accelerated growth.

Position your company to take advantage of unique chances to leap-frog growth plans through hiring of exceptional talent, diversifying market offerings or expanding through acqui-hires or M&A.

Fundraising strategy

Development and execution of investor engagement strategy and supporting materials.

Understand the investment process from an investor perspective, build and present a compelling investment pitch to optimise your valuation and terms.

Legal advisory & template documents

Negotiation, structuring and understanding of investment terms and conditions.

Minimise costly legal fees and ensure you have a thorough understanding of all obligations and liabilities in your agreement, as well as access to alternate frameworks and suggestions to protect your equity and improve your investment terms.

Sales & marketing




Brand pack

Quick-reference pack for building branded resources (logo files, strapline, colour palette, font & style pack).

Allow your business to produce high-quality brand resources for external and internal use. Maintain brand identity while allowing flexibility to pursue changing market opportunities.

Website

Responsive, CRM-integrated site with user-friendly CMS interface.

Avoid hidden costs of expensive and time-consuming developer back-and-forth for future changes to your site by centralising your ability to easily edit site content and integrate directly with your CRM.

CRM

Fit-for-purpose, user-friendly CRM with custom configuration, in-built user prompts, workflow automation, social media integration and intuitive data reporting & visualisation. Access to expert support.

Choose, design and implement a CRM platform which actively enhances your revenue generation. Hardcode best practices in your CRM interface and workflows to shape user behaviour and standardise sales performance. Integrate your CRM with other key areas of your technology stack and business operations.

Sales support materials

Targeted e-brochures, client proposal templates, case studies and additional resources. Access to quick-turnaround design resource.

Reduce your reliance on individual sales staff with strong supporting brand collateral. Minimise time lost to sourcing, vetting & negotiating with a range of marketing agency partners.

Digital advertising strategy

Online marketing plan incorporating social media, content marketing, SEO, PPC, email marketing, lead generation & capture, podcast, video & other relevant channels. Access to advisory and self-serve tutorials and affordable resource.

Build a strategy to scale brand awareness and effectively measure your advertising ROI, leveraging the most effective channels and techniques to uncover opportunity, build inbound leads and maximise your marketing budget ROI.

Lead data

Toolkit to map key markets, identify high-potential clients & source prospect contact data at scale.

Eliminate time-consuming manual prospecting and contact information searching for you and your team. Reduce time spent moving data from one platform to another.

Outreach automation

Intelligent toolkit to eliminate manual work in prospecting, blending hyper-personalisation with data-driven automation, integrated with CRM.

Easily create workflows that enhance you and your team's sales productivity and increase prospect engagement while minimizing time. Reduce de-centralisation of data (recruiters building offline prospect documents, notes and black books).

Finance & back office




Company secretarial services

Support managing legal and financial compliance, deadline management and tax & regulatory submissions.

Understand what obligations you have as a founder, and rules around board minute filings, regulatory deadlines and submissions. Reduce your risk of delays, distractions and fines related to corporate compliance.

Regulatory and tax accounting

Complete end-of-year accounts, Companies House filings, VAT registration, quarterly VAT and annual Corporate Tax returns submissions.

Comply with tax and financial regulations. Ensure the quotes you receive for these services are comprehensive and don't come with hidden costs.

Bookkeeping servicesFinancial partner to maintain updated, annotated financial records and reconcile transactions.

Focus your founder energy and efforts on growth while ensuring accurate financial record-keeping.

Financial management reporting

Production of regularly-updated financial statements, including P&L, balance sheets, billings logs & cashflow forecasts.

Maintain a detailed understanding of your company's cashflow, identify risks & inefficiencies and build reliable budgets for growth and reinvestment.

Tax optimisation strategy

Plan for the most tax-efficient ways to manage company finances and founder pay.

Miminise your personal and corporate tax burden to boost personal income and increase your company's financial efficiency.

Payroll processingSolution for processing staff salaries, incentive pay, pension contributions and tax deductions.

Operate a compliant, efficient payroll function transparent to you and your staff.

Integrated invoicing solution

Digital-first workflow linking CRM, finance teams and accounting software.

Reduce invoice processing time with fully connected platform automation between sales, invoicing and accounting process steps.

Flexible factoring termsOption to finance contract placements for all or part of contractor book.

Avoid rigid commitment of running entire contractor base through single supplier without visibility into future needs.

Digital contractor management platform

Centralised online hub for client and candidate contract management, work-sheet approval and invoice financing.

Minimise productivity drain with fully automated digital solution.

Access to financial specialist

Access to ad hoc guidance as needed on core financial decision-making.

Fill in any personal expertise gaps to navigate unexpected financial challenges quickly and confidently, including compliance, founder and investor dividends, expenses, insurance, VAT, currency exchange, tax and international regulations.

Legal & contracts




Client contract pack

Suite of fit-for-purpose client engagement agreements spanning relevant pricing models (permanent contingent, retained, inside / outside IR35 contractor assignments, partnership agreements, SOW, MSA, RPO etc.).

Operate with a full contract toolbox to be able to capitalise on market opportunity. Build a secure legal foundation for your commercial activity with fit-for-purpose, compliant documents to minimise risk and protect revenues.

Access to contract support

Leverage ad hoc support partner where required in negotiating contracts, reviewing client terms & evaluating legal documents.

Quickly turn around client documents and fully understand key clauses and parameters in engagements of all levels of complexity without expensive legal fees or business risk.

Employment contracts

Compliant staff agreements with effective restrictive covenants and clear, legally enforceable incentive agreements.

Protect your business from adverse impact of staff turnover with strong, legally valid post-termination restrictions. Minimise disagreement and legal cost of disputes concerning commissions or bonus payments with current and exiting staff.

Access to HR supportAd hoc expert input where needed concerning employer obligations.

Hire, manage and release staff without exposure to legal risk and financial cost associated with employment legislation.

Insurance & support

Tailored insurance package and advisory on insurance types & requirements.

Ensure your business is legally compliant and has adequate protection for its ongoing operation with cost-effective, proportionate insurance scheme.

Hiring & onboarding




Employer brand strategy

Roadmap to build engaging, competitive employee value proposition.

Accelerate your business growth by attracting and hiring 'A' players to your team with strategic content creation & distribution.

Interview framework

Comprehensive, structured interview process & grading framework.

Reduce the risk of 'gut instinct' hiring with a calibrated evaluation process to effectively benchmark staff hires and drive confidence in your decision- making.

Training programs

Effective training resources for customer markets, recruitment lifecycle and management & leadership.

Decrease ramp-up time for new hires and increase your staff retention with a high impact training program. Reduce your 'at desk' training hours and ensure a scalable, consistent training experience for your team as it scales. Ensure you build a team of genuine market experts with strong leadership.

Employee on-boarding program

Structured employee induction and ramp-up schedule with clear KPIs.

Confidently track and guide employee development with clear goals and time-frames, identifying under-performance early and building skills progressively.



Performance management & development


Effective KPI frameworks

Well-calibrated targeting of key business activities and outcomes in order to reach objectives.

Create a clear, results-driven environment for your business, focusing yourself and your staff on the right metrics to ensure success.

Reporting & data visualisation

Native digital reporting & engaging user experience.

Minimise manual reporting and gaps in data by making sure KPIs are monitored in real-time through CRM usage, and drive engagement with incentives linked to daily activity.

Performance review framework

Structured employee performance review program.

Drive employee engagement in your business and shape staff performance with effective, constructive review sessions. Reduce staff turnover and encourage skills development.

Under-performance management strategy

Documented process for management of under-performing employees.

Consistently, professionally and transparently manage under-performance, providing staff with required training, goals and support to reach targets.

Scalable incentive scheme

Well-aligned commission and bonus scheme that scales profitably with growth.

Encourage targeted performance areas with an effective incentive program designed for scale. Encourage collaboration between teams and individuals, and reduce staff turnover & management distraction impact of incentive restructures.

Ad hoc incentive poolCreative range of short and long-term incentives to drive and shape employee behaviour.

Avoid stagnation and equip your management with a flexible incentive toolkit to drive sprints and pivots as needed.

Career development program

Clearly documented progression framework specifying promotion requirements and rewards.

Motivate your team with a tangible, results-driven career roadmap they can work towards, unlocking responsibility and benefits with each step.

Corporate culture strategy

Documented strategy to define culture statement, maximise staff engagement and drive retention.

Build a resilient, loyal employee base, minimise your recruitment costs and create a committed, positive working environment within your business through a pro-active culture-building strategy.

Knowledge sharing framework

Digitally embed company best practices in organisational work-flows and company technology.

Use prompts, lists, templated resources, automated workflows & digital collaboration tools to drive performance by encouraging staff to share best practices and improve collectively.

Technology




Cyber security strategy

Effective digital protection of core IT systems and data archives.

Defend your business from cyber crime and minimise risk of data breaches, financial loss and operational disruption.

Data backup

Disaster recovery plan for criti-cal data.

Make sure you can quickly recover lost data across your technology platform in the event of accidental loss or deletion.

Identity access management solution

Authorisation and restriction of access to company IT systems.

Control access to sensitive data and technology systems for current and former staff members and business partners, including centralised password control and device management.

Advisory




Value creation

Development of equity value. Understand the drivers of equity value creation, avoid growth 'for growth's sake', and take a strategic approach to developing your business with a focus on building your long-term wealth.

International expansionSupport trading, incorporating and hiring in overseas markets.

Capitalize confidently on market opportunity in new geographic territories, including USA, EMEA, MENA, and APAC.

Market diversification

Guidance on growing customer base, adapting brand and preparing teams, data and & marketing strategies to enter tangential and new markets.

Learn when and how to expand your company's offering to effectively capture new market potential.

M&A

Support evaluating acquisition and divestment opportunities.

Accelerate your company's growth and unlock capital with advisory on how and when to buy other businesses, or sell non-core areas of your own company.

Fundraising

Support identifying & engaging investors, as well as developing investor pitch and engagement materials. Apply for investor tax incentives to boost valuation.

Achieve step-change growth for your agency with capital injections on favourable terms, enabling you to build your business faster while retaining maximum equity in your business after your fundraise.

Performance optimisation

Diagnosis of financial. sales, technology, structural, training & operational management to improve efficiency and accelerate growth.

Uncover insights across your company's data and processes to boost profits, ramp up revenues and tap into growth opportunities.

Online

Email: [email protected] web: www.recruit-hub.com

Phone & Fax

+44 208 057 4757

Address

71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ

About Recruithub RecuitHub partners with ambitious entrepreneurs to accelerate business growth, providing the investment, technology, frameworks, advisory and back office support critical to scale. We help top-achieving recruiters build highly profitable search and staffing ventures fast, reaching their commercial and financial objectives sooner by leveraging best-in-class resources and infrastructure to turbo-charge performance. To learn more about how we work, contact: [email protected]

Documents

RECRUITMENT STARTUP...Online Email: [email protected] web: Phone & Fax +44 208 057 4757 Address 71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ RECRUITMENT STARTUP Start-up scale checklist