Recruiter overhauls its working practices - and sees profits soar!

A Worcester-based permanent recruitment business has trebled its profits in just two years thanks to a major efficiency drive and an innovative partnership scheme in which recruiters set up their own consultancy from home.

AES, in Park Street, has 11 recruitment consultants based in their offices, including two working Directors, and 15 consultants who work from home. And thanks to a successful transition to a paperless office, centred on a fully integrated computerised management system, the administration is handled by one part-timer.

The successful partnership scheme was launched to allow professionals to start their own recruitment consultancy from home. The beauty of the scheme is that it allows recruiters to put in the hours they want as part of their work/life balance. Some are already enjoying high incomes, although AES stress the partnership scheme is not an easy option, working from home rarely is and it should not be confused with any get rich quick scheme.

AESís new lease of life has seen turnover double for two consecutive years and profits treble over the same period. Of equal importance is that the company has also managed to buck the trend for high staff turnover in its industry by not losing any staff for a year, while still taking on one recruiter a month.

ìI was not aware we were unusual until an external training consultant came for a meeting,î says Colin Smith, 50, one of the companyís working Directors. ìShe was a trainer, specifically for the recruitment industry, and has visited many organisations. It was her comments and observations which made us aware of our uniquenessî.

Although the company has been in the Permanent recruitment market for 18 years it was only recently that things changed dramatically.

ìThree years ago we had a long hard look at our working practices, our office procedures and the way we dealt with our customers; it was not a pretty sight, continues Colin, who is a Fellow of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. ìOur customers needed sensible advice and assistance and at an appropriate price; they were not getting it. In addition, it didnít take us long to work out that we were getting limited repeat business. Everyone knows it is easier to service an existing customer than it is to go out and continually find new ones, so why were we not doing it. We needed to change the way our consultants worked and operated and then see what efficiencies could be made from that.

At the time, and not unlike many in the recruitment sector, we were imposing key performance targets on our consultants that actually worked against developing customers and building relationships. The upshot was we had to change our training processes, refocus our consultants, empower them to make decisions and trust them to meet their objectives.

From that point we completely changed the way we looked at potential recruitment consultants and our recruitment processes. For example, the average age of an AES consultant now is 43 years old and we have two recruiters, who work from home, who are over 60 years old. I am embarrassed to admit that this would not have been the case three years ago.

Colin adds: Employing people who can think for themselves, take responsibility for their actions and know how to develop customers has worked for us and has certainly made us more efficient. In return we have had to be much more accommodating in how we deal with consultants. In the office, no one is allowed to work more than 37.5 hours and they can choose when they start and stop work; no one is allowed to work outside of normal office hours. In addition, as well as the normal things a consultant would expect in their employment package, AES also provides company bicycles and as much fruit as you can eat.î

ìIt has been an interesting an enjoyable journey over the last 3 years. We now work fewer hours, we all get better financial rewards and we are certainly less stressed. Stability and working with sensible people has certainly made us more efficientî concludes Colin.