Looking to the future will help you ensure the financial health or enhance the growth of your recruiting firm. If you are solely focused on short-term, day-to-day crises, you are very likely to get blind-sided by unexpected events. While no one can predict the future with any certainty, there are a few steps you can take to maximize your awareness of trends and minimize your risk exposure to adverse events in the marketplace. This article focuses on a few of these steps.

Set Reasonable Goals

First of all, set reasonable goals to help you focus your efforts. These goals could be making more calls, improving your interview-to-hire ratio, targeting a new market, expanding your share of the existing market, or perhaps starting a new revenue stream. Setting a goal or goals to work towards is a huge step forward in improving your business. The intent is for you to spend your time and effort to achieve the goals rather than always reacting to crises. Once you have determined the goal(s) you wish to achieve, review your present work processes and make an honest assessment of the likelihood that you will achieve your goals. You may need to adjust your processes, or perhaps temper your goals. Of course, there will always be those times that you have to drop everything and respond to a crisis but discipline yourself to return to your goal-oriented behavior!

Make A Forecast

You must determine what can help you achieve your goals. To do this you need to research the markets you serve, or want to serve, gather data, and identify trends so that you can better forecast what may happen. An example might be if you see an announcement that a large manufacturer is planning to build a car assembly plant in your market area. You tell yourself that “I don’t ever place anyone in a car assembly plant.” This may be true, but the car plant will trigger a whole series of subsidiary supply and support businesses, residential expansions, service industries, financial firms, and the list goes on. Research what these support or secondary industries are likely to be and find the opportunities!

Forecasting is not an exact science. Think of the weather! The quality of your forecast will be directly dependent on the quality, and appropriateness, of the data you gather. Some useful tips on forecasting errors to avoid, noted by Jeffrey Porter¹, can be applied from the inventory-based industries. These include:

• Lead Time Underestimation - Placements are time-critical. Be sure to anticipate your client’s needs.
• Process Delays – Allow sufficient time for the hiring process.
• Seasonal Variance – Include in your forecast impacts of seasonal delays such as weather, holidays, etc.
• Safety Stock Availability – Having a portfolio of available candidates will improve your chances of making a placement.
• Consider Sales Data – Stay current on trends in your placements.
• Promotions – Promote your firm’s services via social media, direct phone calls, email, industry associations, and other means.

Call Your Clients

An important aspect of the “Plan Ahead” mantra is to be in close contact with your clients. When you do call, don’t just ask “How many more people are you going to need?” Ask instead “How can I help you achieve your goals?” By doing this you become a partner and not just a vendor. You also gain knowledge on how you may further your own goals and how you may need to adjust your processes or strategies.

Stay Informed

Being aware and alert to potential changes in your preferred or desired markets is very important to your strategic planning. To accomplish this, you need to speak frequently with clients and peers to know the “inside scoop.” Regularly visit the websites for government entities such as the IRS, the Department of Labor, and US Census Bureau where you may learn of some potential impact on your industry specialty. Do periodic internet searches to find articles of interest. Subscribe to your local Business Journal and any other industry publications that focus on your specialty. Staying informed is one of your best defenses against unpleasant surprises!

Expect The Unexpected

Try as you might to plan in great detail, mother nature has a habit of surprising us with unforeseen events and the same applies to the business world. Leave an allowance or contingency for the unknown in your planning. Your plan should include setting aside a contingency fund to help you ride through periods of market downturns or upsets. Consider the shock COVID was to the worldwide marketplace! We are still feeling its impacts. Diversify to better withstand market volatility. If you are overly specialized in one industry and that industry takes a hit, you may suffer the consequences.

Sleep Well At Night

Having a consistent set of goals, forecasting what might happen, keeping in close touch with your clients, staying informed, and being aware that the unexpected will happen should make you better prepared to sleep well at night! You will no longer be reacting to crises, but will be on a proactive, planned path to success! If you have any questions or if I can be of help growing your business, please feel free to call me. I am always happy to help!

 Read more by Judy Collins CPCC