Success in any field of activity, be it maintaining order in the house and raising children or producing high-tech products, more than half depends on the correct selection of personnel.
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Despite the high level of unemployment in the country, finding a suitable employee, janitor or chief accountant is often quite difficult, so the services of recruitment agencies are in great demand today, but the level of competition in this market segment is high.
It is important not to make a mistake when laying the foundation of your activity, that is, to choose the right activity profile.
It could be:
For those who do not have experience in this business, it is advisable to choose this option. Firstly, the services of such agencies are quite in demand, and secondly, to the selection of candidates for vacant positions less stringent requirements are imposed.
The activities of agencies of this kind consist of finding personnel for enterprises and employing workers. The difference between them is as follows: a recruitment agency receives remuneration from an employed citizen in the amount of his monthly salary, and the services of a recruiting agency are paid for by the employer. The amount, as a rule, also depends on the salary of the found employee.
In general, their operating principles are the same: they act as intermediaries between the employer and the employee. In this case, the scope of activity and other subtleties are not taken into account.
When opening a recruiting agency that searches for a wide variety of specialists on behalf of employers, you can achieve success if you actively create, update and expand your own databases of both specialists looking for work and potential customers.
Learn to convince employers that you can fill a particular vacancy in the shortest possible time. A employees assure that it is you who will offer them a profitable and interesting work. If a customer needs an accountant or a plumber, and you are ready to provide him with several candidates within 30 minutes, then cooperation with you will seem promising to him.
The work of specialized agencies that select household staff or serve a large enterprise that regularly requires specialized specialists has its own characteristics.
It is much more difficult to select employees who have higher requirements, such as domestic staff. In this case, the customer often wants to receive complete and reliable information not only about the candidate’s education, experience and previous place of work, but also about the state of health, availability bad habits, character traits. And you will have to contrive and obtain this information.
Similar difficulties arise when selecting candidates with a narrow specialization - you cannot simply find the necessary information on the Internet. But the cost of filling a vacancy for specialists with a special profile is much higher.
Even more challenging is hiring staff who are highly skilled in certain areas. There are few such specialists, they are difficult to find without knowing the business life of the city, and, in most cases, they already have a job. Convincing them to accept the customer's proposal often turns out to be more than a difficult task.
The activities of this kind of agency are sometimes associated with great risk: current employers will not give up a good top manager just like that.
International recruitment agencies offering services related to employment outside the country can only operate if they have the appropriate license. In addition, it is quite difficult to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with companies wishing to hire citizens of our country, so before opening an international recruitment agency, you should thoroughly study this market segment and think about how it can attract customers.
They won't interfere here good relationship with foreign recruitment agencies. You might think about becoming a partner in such a company or opening a representative office of a renowned agency in your home country. But for beginners, this is an almost insurmountable path. A recruiter without a name, experience and recommendations is unlikely to be trusted.
When planning to start a new business, you cannot do without a detailed calculation of upcoming expenses, an assessment of the amount of personal capital that can be invested in the business, and a study of all the risks and expected profitability.
A ready-made business plan is necessary if you plan to invest not only your own funds, but also borrowed funds. If it is drafted correctly, your chances of getting a loan from a bank on favorable terms increase several times.
If you plan to make do with your own funds and only make up sample business plan, in the costs section there will be:
When starting to develop a recruitment agency from scratch, in the first days and even months of work you can do without hiring assistants, especially if friends or family members are willing to help you, but in the future, you will also have to consider the costs of paying hired personnel.
To estimate potential profits, study a sample business plan that provides various formulas for calculating potential profits. But do not forget that this indicator will largely depend on your hard work, ability to communicate with people and find non-standard solutions.
As a rule, the cost of filling a vacancy is estimated at 1-2 months of the salary of the found specialist. In large recruitment agencies, the number of filled vacancies can be several hundred. To get started, 10 successful transactions per month is already considered a satisfactory result. Although this, of course, is not enough to earn a normal income.
As can be seen from the practice of already operating recruitment agencies
The profit of the business founder ranges from 5 to 15% of turnover. This is less than in the manufacturing sector, but higher than in retail trade.
A recruitment agency can be a profitable business, but quite a lot of companies close after just a few months of operation. To avoid such an unpleasant ending, carefully study all the risks and threats, and most importantly, all your possible competitive advantages– and use them to the fullest.
In just 3-4 months you will be able to receive a stable profit in the amount of 3-10 minimum wages, while seeing prospects for business expansion. In large cities, filling several dozen vacancies monthly and having a turnover of 30-80 thousand dollars, agency owners receive a profit of 5-7 thousand dollars, in small town turnover, costs and profits are several times less.
More large companies, who have already gained a reputation in this market, have a profit of several tens of thousands of dollars monthly.
Since from the first days of work, recruitment agencies are rarely inundated with orders, it would be useful to think about additional sources of income - for example, cooperation with non-governmental pension funds, allowing you to expand the range of services offered and receive commission income. Often it is this income that allows budding entrepreneurs to survive a difficult period of formation.
Many NPFs (“Hephaestus”, “Cooperation”, “Consent” and others) invite both long-running enterprises and beginning entrepreneurs to cooperate. After studying their offers, you can choose the ones that are most interesting to you.
Such cooperation makes sense for recruiting agencies, but it can leave a negative impression on the clients of headhunting companies.
Having opened a recruiting agency, start working by studying the media: first of all, specialized websites on the Internet and local print publications. Call those who are looking for work, tell them about the agency’s activities and that its services are free for them.
The majority of potential employees are usually distrustful of offers of this kind. Convince them to at least just fill out the form.
Ask applicants additional questions about education, length of service, work experience, their achievements, inquire about the reason for dismissal last place work.
Over the phone, or better yet in person, talk to HR staff large enterprises city, offer to communicate with those candidates with whom you have already conducted preliminary interviews, provided that they made a favorable impression.
It is strictly unacceptable to send a candidate to an employer without first communicating with him personally. In the future, interviews will be conducted by your managers. This is necessary to ensure that the person is adequate and meets the requirements of the position. Otherwise, your agency's reputation could be seriously damaged.
From the first days of work, do not chase quantity, but provide high quality. Save customers time by filtering out clearly unsuitable candidates.
To make the agency’s work more effective, you should not limit yourself to studying the media. Establish cooperation with the employment service, educational institutions that produce in-demand specialists, conduct advertising campaigns to attract both customers and job seekers. If you have opened a recruiting agency, you can search for clients and customers on the Internet.
But don’t forget to make full use of your personal connections.. If your friend or acquaintance needs a store salesperson or office manager, find him the most suitable candidates. You can even do this for free by agreeing that a friend will also provide you with a simple favor - he will tell as many of his acquaintances and business partners as possible about your impeccable work.
Good fame is a very valuable capital!
When drawing up a plan for opening a recruitment agency, it is worth thinking about what additional knowledge may be needed. This type of activity does not require special education, but it is important to have well-developed communication skills, be able to use office equipment, search for information on the Internet, and know the basics of law.
Carefully study the labor market in your region:
The location of the company has enough great value– if it is inconvenient to get to your office, potential clients may refuse even very promising interviews. And the customer is unlikely to be willing to spend a lot of time traveling to your office, so it is advisable to rent, albeit small, but with a convenient layout and respectable looking premises near public transport stops in the business center of the city.
In megalopolises and large cities, many people need the services of recruitment agencies, but competition there is quite strong, so you need to immediately think about narrow specialization or providing a wide range of services.
This is exactly the case when the personal qualities of a recruiter are of enormous importance.
It will be necessary to look for an opportunity to stand out from the crowd of similar recruitment agencies. This may take significant funds, but the profits in the metropolis from this business are much higher. If only because the average salary, the number of vacancies and applicants are many times greater than in the suburbs or towns.
It makes sense to open a recruitment agency in a small town only if there is no one there or both customers and job seekers the townspeople are not satisfied with the quality of its services.
For his work to be successful, it is necessary to establish good personal relationships with employers. Especially these heads of personnel departments. You need to thoroughly know the offers on the labor market, that is, have information about the best specialists cities, their plans and wishes.
It is equally important for a beginning entrepreneur to minimize organizational costs (office rent, hired personnel). At the same time, it would not be amiss to conduct a well-thought-out advertising campaign in the media, convincing that the agency is capable of solving the problems of both employers and job seekers on very favorable terms.
It is worth noting that in rural areas or cities with the population up to 100 thousand people The activity of a recruitment agency is not advisable.
The recruitment agency should be continuously developed in three directions:
The Internet also opens up great opportunities: having your own website will help attract customers and clients. It is important that the site is of high quality and allows for two-way communication with visitors.
The agency receives an application from an employer to select a nanny, driver, etc., and employees begin calling candidates in their database, talking about the conditions of the proposed work. If the conditions are suitable, the candidate and employer are invited to an interview in the office. If both parties like each other, the employee can go on a trial working day, then a contract is concluded for a period of six months to a year.
What are the disadvantages of domestic staff recruitment agencies?
And, of course, only a small number of agencies have a good electronic database of candidates, where the information is structured and easy to understand. With us, all resumes are filled out to the same standard, which speeds up the selection and comparison of applicants suitable for a specific vacancy.
At the beginning of their activities, many entrepreneurs try to find and occupy a profitable niche. The lack of investment at the start pushes you to look for a business idea that will allow you to start earning money with minimal investment.
How about opening a recruitment agency from scratch and succeeding in this direction? Many enterprises are puzzled by the search for qualified personnel. This is due to the fact that the success of their activities and the amount of profit depend on the professionalism and skills of employees. For this reason, the services of a recruitment agency will always be in great demand.
If an entrepreneur decides to create a recruiting agency and build successful business In this field, you should understand its features in detail. For what purpose are such companies created and what are they?
There are several types of recruitment agencies that recruit employees for organizations that have submitted appropriate applications. In addition, applicants may be sent for preliminary training if such a clause is specified in the agreement between the employer and the recruiter. Often the customers are plants and factories, private small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as manufacturing companies of various profiles. It is known that finding good specialists can take a lot of time. For this reason, organizations turn to recruitment agencies for help and impose a number of requirements on applicants, according to which the necessary employees are selected.
If a person has firmly decided to organize his own personnel search agency, he should know about the features of this type of activity. As with any other type of business, there are pros and cons. The advantages of running a recruiting company include:
If an enterprise selects highly qualified specialists for a customer who fully meet his requirements, partnerships are subsequently built between both organizations. This leads to them collaborating on an ongoing basis and on mutually beneficial terms. An entrepreneur has the opportunity to choose any format of a recruiting agency and develop in this direction. In addition, there are practically no serious obstacles to entering the market, so when proper organization activities, you can quickly find your niche and develop successfully.
Despite such a rich list of advantages, this business is not without its shortcomings. First of all, you need to understand that not every employer is ready to allocate their own funds to pay for the services of such agencies. In addition, a significant part of organizations prefer to cooperate with recruiters on an ongoing basis. For this reason, it will be quite difficult for a young company to find large customers at first until it gains a certain authority. Also, entrepreneurs who want to develop their own recruitment agency, production, or, for example, must remember high level competition.
Before opening a recruitment agency, an entrepreneur needs to decide on the direction of his activity. There are several types of such organizations, each of which has a specific specialization:
Important: International companies have the right to provide recruitment services only if they have the appropriate licenses. It is extremely difficult to get foreign employers as business partners. Entrepreneurs who want to try their hand at this niche should remember the high competition and also create a very advantageous offer for potential partners.
Let's look at the main stages.
A new entrepreneur who wants to create his own recruitment agency or, for example, is required to register a business. To do this, you need to contact the tax office at your place of residence and register a company with limited liability or IP. The second option will be preferable for a small agency: registration is quick, and the state fee is 800 rubles.
Registration of an LLC takes much longer; in addition, it is mandatory to deposit the amount of 10 thousand rubles in the form of authorized capital. You can choose UTII or simplified tax system as the taxation system. You also need to open a bank account, which is necessary to receive cash and display of company expenses.
When registering an agency, you will need to indicate OKVED codes. To do this, select 74.50.1 “Provision of hiring services labor force"or 74.50.2 "Provision of personnel selection services." Upon completion of the registration procedure and receipt of the appropriate certificate, the entrepreneur can begin conducting business activities.
The recruitment agency's office will have specialists working and will also receive visitors. For this reason, you need to create there comfortable conditions for the company's activities. Repairs should be carried out and the uninterrupted operation of utilities (electricity, telephony, Internet, water supply) should be ensured. In addition, it is worth installing high-quality furniture inside the office. It wouldn’t hurt to divide the room into several zones:
The location of the building with the office of the recruitment agency is of great importance. The ideal option would be to find premises in the central part of the city or business district of the village. If this is not possible, the office should be opened in any other location, but to attract clients you will need to spend more money for advertising.
The building where the company will be located must be located near a major transport hub and have parking. For the activities of a recruitment agency, it is enough to choose a room with an area of 50-60 m². The monthly rental cost varies within 30 thousand rubles.
Important: if new entrepreneurs have extraordinary ideas that will benefit the state and good profits, they can contact such educational organizations, How . Participants in training programs are provided with assistance at all stages of the formation of a young organization right up to the start of independent activities.
Agency after repair work it is necessary to equip it with furniture and modern office equipment. This will create the necessary conditions for the operation of the enterprise. To equip a small company you will need:
Thus, the cost of purchasing equipment and furniture will amount to 175 thousand rubles. You will also need to purchase stationery, office paper and leave some money for travel expenses. Total - the total investment amount is 180 thousand rubles.
It is necessary to attract specialists to the staff of a recruitment agency who will perform certain functions. The company administrator must communicate with visitors and customers. In addition, his responsibilities include coordinating the work of all specialists. The administrator keeps order in the company, buys consumables and is responsible for managing the work process.
HR managers must look for new agency clients, communicate with customers, be able to conclude contracts and organize meetings between applicants and company management. The recruiter enters data into client base and also communicates with people about available vacancies. He must be able to explain to a person how to behave during an interview and get the desired vacancy, what rights and responsibilities the applicant has, etc. The agency's psychologist conducts trainings for his colleagues, talks with clients and provides assistance in work situations.
The staff of a recruiting company may look like this:
Total - the cost of staff salaries will be 75 thousand rubles. In a small agency, the position of client selection specialist and manager can be combined by one employee, which will reduce the company’s costs. For the same reason, the duties of an accountant should be outsourced, which will take about 8 thousand rubles monthly.
First of all, even before opening an enterprise, it is necessary to create a business card website for the organization. This will allow a large number people learn about the company's activities and promote business via the Internet. On your own resource it is worth placing information about the location of the spacecraft, indicating contact numbers, address email, regularly publish updates on available vacancies and highlight the benefits of cooperation with your agency. Good results will come from promoting your business in social networks- in groups you need to constantly post information about vacancies, cost of services, and also secure commercial offer for employers.
Advice: The Internet allows you to get any information in a matter of minutes (for example, quickly find information about, information about competitors, etc.). According to statistics, 75-80% of clients turn to recruitment agencies using the Global Network.
Talking about marketing tools, printed materials should be highlighted. You need to contact designers who will develop booklets and business cards for the company. Advertising in the media will cost approximately 50 thousand rubles. This includes placing advertisements on radio, municipal television channels and in the press. Taking into account the creation of a website and its promotion, the costs of carrying out advertising campaign will amount to 67 thousand rubles. In the future, this amount will be reduced to 20 thousand rubles for promoting the agency.
To organize the work of an enterprise, you need a recruitment agency. It represents calculations that allow you to find out the amount of one-time investments in the project, mandatory monthly costs and its profitability. So, to open a company, one-time expenses will be:
Total - the amount of initial investment will be 433 thousand rubles. Now let’s calculate the amount of mandatory monthly expenses, which include:
The total amount of payments is 155 thousand rubles. As practice shows, after 2-3 months of work, a small recruitment agency can count on a profit of about 120 thousand rubles. Return on investment is possible after just 6 months of active activity.
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To summarize, we note that the success of an enterprise will largely depend on the organizational abilities of managers and the professionalism of employees. For the stable operation of a recruitment agency and to compete with similar companies on the market, businessmen need to be able to quickly find optimal ways to meet client needs and develop a flexible pricing policy.
Housekeepers, governesses, drivers, tutors - these specialists are becoming increasingly in demand today. Where to look for such people? How can you be sure of their professionalism? These questions interest many job seekers. That is why the question of how to open a recruitment agency is becoming increasingly relevant. After all, this can become a really interesting and profitable business.
Visiting the magazine today Reconomica Olga Vasilyevna Demirova from Odessa, who has many years of experience in this field and knows all the nuances of such a business, as she now owns her own recruiting agency.
My name is Olga Vasilievna Demirova, and I live in the city of Odessa.
From 30 to 35 years old I worked in recruiting agency as a HR manager. In 2015, when I turned 35, I opened my own agency for the search and selection of domestic staff, which is still operating.
I worked for almost 5 years in the largest recruiting agency in Odessa as a HR manager.
My responsibilities included:
In other words, the client asked to find him a nanny or a cook, voiced his wishes and requirements, based on them, we looked for several options for workers. Then a meeting-interview between the client and the staff was organized, where he chose a suitable candidate.
With diligent work, I managed to earn $200-250 a month.
As intermediaries, managers received a percentage of the transaction. In general, from one transaction the agency received up to 50-70% of the future employee’s salary. The manager, that is, me, got 8% of those 70 - mere pennies. But with diligent work, I managed to earn $200-250 a month.
While I was working in the company, everyone was there: they raised the salary, and reduced it, and cut it, then raised it again. After 4 years of work, I was promised the position of deputy manager, who dealt with personnel issues within the company. I waited for six months, but no one appointed me. And one day, at the beginning of the working day, the manager introduced us to a new deputy - as it turned out, a cousin. And I stayed in my same position, but it didn’t last long, and after 3 weeks I quit.
I sat at home without work for a month, resting. Then I started looking for something suitable, but I realized that with my experience I didn’t want to go to work for the salaries they were offering.
The idea of opening my own agency appeared suddenly when I was cleaning my work computer and almost deleted all my work and databases.
My husband dissuaded me from this idea, which is very logical: when I worked as an ordinary manager, I left home at 8 and came at 8, or even 9, in the evening. But I promised that since I would be my own boss, my working day would last as long as I wanted.
Opening a recruiting agency from scratch is not so easy. It takes a lot of time and effort to:
But since I had my own base of clients and applicants who had previously approached me not through my main job, but directly, the matter remained small.
In numbers, I needed about $1,500 to start a business.
This amount included:
I missed the moment of analyzing the work of competitors, because I knew how most agencies work and on what basis. In most cases, their offices were located in the city center, closer to the old part: from Malaya Arnautskaya (Odessa) to Bazarnaya. And mine old work In general, it was in a residential building, and in order to get to the office, it was necessary to walk through half of a residential Odessa courtyard and go up to the 3rd floor.
I decided to take a different path - not to look for an office in such conditions, but to find a more presentable one. Both the client and the applicant should find it easily. In terms of location, I also looked at the center.
In most cases, offices are located in the city center.
I found my future office in the city center, a 5-minute walk from the central railway station. The building is large, administrative, with entry only by passes. On the ground floor there was one room for rent - 15 sq. m. m, which suited me quite well. The floor had its own kitchen with appliances, a small storage room, a toilet and 3 more offices: a private lawyer, a ticket sales agency and an accounting office.
My room suited me quite well: small, bright and warm. Furniture included with the rental were two desks, chairs and a single cabinet-rack. The rent was asking $120 per month.
For furniture I bought:
Total: $345.
It took about $130 to purchase the necessary office supplies. I took my work computer from home and installed it in the office; I also had to buy:
The rest of the small items (cups, spoons, tea, sugar, coffee, etc.) cost another $50. Part of the money was spent on preparing the relevant documentation, developing a seal and obtaining a license. When all the documents were ready, we could start working.
To open my own agency, I did not take funds either on credit, or from debt, or from investors. When I left, I was fully paid off, and I received a salary of about $400 for all the transactions I conducted. I took part of the money from what I personally saved - it’s $250,
The husband allowed the remaining amount to be taken from the general budget.
According to rough estimates, it was planned to return the $1,500 invested in six months.
Although, as I knew from my former manager, her investment was returned only after a year of work. I still hoped for luck and for my work.
My personnel agency started on March 3, 2015. However, I completely forgot about the company’s advertising and promotion. Therefore, for the first 2 weeks I was developing business cards, printing flyers with advertisements, working on the texts of advertisements for customers and applicants on the Internet, reviewing and screening out my databases.
In a week I sent out more than 500 SMS newsletters to clients: numbers mobile phones were in my database, and only about 20 people responded to them. At the same time, many simply took into account that I went to “my bread”; some did not yet need staff.
There were no questions from the applicants. The daily flow of people wanting to find a job ranged from 3 to 7 people. I immediately rejected many because they did not have experience or appropriate education.
The search for clients was carried out through the Internet, mailings, calls, leaflets and other sources.
In the first month, I received only one order to find a nanny for two children. I earned $200 from this transaction.
Applicants:
Clients:
I worked with clients in several ways: after receiving an application, the client contributed 20% of the amount of the future salary of the staff, and after the employee was selected, the rest of the payment was made: another 30 or 55% of the amount of income.
If the client entered into a contract for a year, he paid 75% of the employee’s salary one time, and received:
If the contract was concluded for 6 months, then the payment was 50% and the opportunity to replace an employee was valid only for 3-4 months.
When paying 25%, the client paid the agency after the employee’s probationary period and did not have the opportunity to replace him.
From the beginning of March to the end of May, I accepted 7 applications for the selection of domestic staff: these were 3 nannies, 1 housekeeper, 1 driver, 1 cook and 1 nanny with a rotational schedule.
During this time, earnings from transactions amounted to $870. Income from the applicant database amounted to $255.
In the summer, I directed my work in a slightly different direction: there were few applications for domestic staff, and I decided to specialize in searching sales staff. I went around to all the shops and boutiques in the area and left my business cards and leaflets.
After 6 days, a man turned up. He was looking for two sellers for a battle clothing store. The requirements were serious, and there were problems finding suitable candidates: few had experience working with clothing of this kind. But within a month we still managed to find suitable candidates. We entered into an agreement with the client for a year of service, and my income was $170.
Before the end of the first year I managed to reach stable income.
In June, I broke even: the profit received was enough to pay rent, internet and mobile communications. For July and August, net profit amounted to $420.
By the end of the first year, I managed to achieve a stable income of $300-350 per month.
Monthly expenses:
Total: $213.
Months Income Expenses Net profit
March-May 1125$ 640$ 485$
June-August 1055$ 630$ 425$
September-November 1540$ 640$ 900$
December-February 1670$ 700$ 970$
In 8 months I managed to return the invested funds.
Over the two years of operation, the agency has reached a new level of work:
When did you manage to reach stable income and even to increase it, I found myself an assistant. She performed the tasks that I had done before. I was responsible for all the meetings with clients she found, closing deals and administrative issues.
From an attracted client and a successful transaction, the manager received 10% of the fee. At the same time, there was a basic rate: $110 per working day from 10:00 to 16:00.
Today, the agency's work consistently brings in an income of $2000-2500 per month, excluding all expenses. The office is still at the same address. Personally, my profit is $1300-1500.
Some changes also affected the organization of work. To make interviews more comfortable, clients were given the opportunity to conduct video interviews with candidates.
For comfortable interviews, clients are given the opportunity to conduct video interviews with candidates.
A system of discounts was also developed for regular customers: if a person applied for the service more than once, there was a 3-5% discount on selection.
Changes have also occurred in working with applicants. If a candidate did not complete the probationary period or exhibited aggressive or criminal behavior (theft), the agency reserved the right to terminate cooperation with the candidate. The candidate was also blacklisted.
If a candidate’s profile was completed and funds were accepted, but during the verification hidden facts were revealed, the agency automatically stopped working with the person without refunding the funds.
In general, the work is carried out comprehensively and responsibly, also taking into account modern trends.
Many modern mothers today prefer to hand over the reins of home rule, and with them the upbringing of their own baby, into the experienced hands of professionals. This trend is intensifying every year.
Being a mother, experienced parents assure, is also work. Moreover, it is really tiring and difficult: long working hours, lack of salary, constant headaches due to nervous tension. The kind of work that will make any office position seem like a resort on seashore. This is partly why many modern mothers today prefer to hand over the reins of home rule, and with them the upbringing of their own baby, into the experienced hands of professionals. This trend is intensifying every year.
Therefore, staff selection for children of different ages in recent years from the category of simply developing business has become very profitable.
Personal features
Irina Gurenkova, head of the domestic staff recruitment agency "Assistant", greets me, as usual, with a cup of tea and a box of chocolates.
- Grateful parents? - I nod at the 600-gram colorful package of Assorted chocolates.
- Of course! – Irina smiles in response. – Grateful employed people. Parents rarely bring candy. They think: they paid, and they have enough.
- It’s somehow strange
-What's so strange?
- It seems like they often pay for school tuition, but they still bring sweets to teachers
Selecting household staff in general and a nanny for a child in particular is one of those types of business in which a lot, and even too much, depends directly on the human factor.
“The difficulty is that mothers choose a nanny not for the child, but for themselves,” says Irina Gurenkova. “Therefore, it is often important not only how professional the nanny is in this or that respect, but also how well she knows how to please people, how she can present herself in the family. It is also important how the customer sees the future nanny. Too much in this business depends on people's opinions and personal views.
Irina places an application form from one of her clients in front of her. In the column “telephone numbers of potential governesses,” about 30 names are written in Irina’s own neat handwriting. In the margins are also someone’s phone numbers and some notes like pros and cons.
“I’ve been looking for a nanny for this lady for two months now.” Nonsense really. I selected at least 20 first-class nannies for her and who knows how many simply good ones. Her arguments not in favor of these workers, as a rule, are as follows: “She wants to please me. I don’t like it when people flatter.” Of course he does. She wants to get hired. But can you explain this to my client?.. And sometimes the nanny doesn’t look right and her manicure is not of the highest quality. In a word, I didn’t like it - that’s all.
It has gotten to the point where nannies are often chosen based on their zodiac sign. We even have a column in our questionnaire: “Zodiac sign.”
– Why are you bothering with such a difficult client? – I’m interested.
“I’m curious to “finish off” her in the end,” Irina laughs.
Another feature: a recruitment agency for the selection of domestic staff does not have basic guidelines in selecting personnel for its clients. Hence, there is a huge problem with the search for picky clients.
“We have no idea what a nanny should do,” says Galina Alekseeva, general manager home service agency "League" - the law does not even stipulate what kind of profession this is. Work book, as a rule, people who work in this field do not. Accordingly, the responsibilities are blurred.
“People want a nanny to look after the child, clean, and cook for the whole family,” continues Irina Gurenkova. – All this, at best, costs one and a half thousand euros a month. And if, God forbid, the nanny does not meet all these requests and requirements, the agency is to blame.
At the height of fashion
Recruiting in the direction of "domestic staff" originated in Moscow in the mid-1990s. And it all started with nannies and governesses. It was then that women appeared in the capital who did not see anything bad or reprehensible in their child being raised by “someone else’s grandmother,” while they themselves, providing their child with a decent future, would rise higher and higher in the world. career ladder. Moreover, says Galina Alekseeva, these years, hiring a nanny, and even “from an agency,” becomes a matter of prestige.
Galina’s deputy and simply a colleague in the shop, Elena Karachkova, notes: “Don’t forget, there is always a fashion for everything. In the mid-90s, a fashion for nannies arose. If we talk about families with average incomes, in Soviet times it was not customary to let your child be raised by child to anyone other than the teachers kindergarten. Of course, high-ranking officials in the country hired both governesses and nannies for their children. But until the 90s, middle class people could not afford this. There was even a certain stereotype: it was not good to take someone into your house, especially a servant. And in the 90s, stereotypes collapsed. Young families want to live in a new way. And such a “fashion” arises. In the wake of this fashion, many agencies that exist today were created."
Galina Alekseeva, however, is inclined to believe that the emergence of agencies is due not only to the notorious fashion, but also to the natural need of people: “Working people need a nanny. And in the 90s, a lot of working women appeared. So, imagine: you choose your own nanny For example, they wrote that you need a woman from 30 to 40 years old with Moscow registration. Yes, a dozen of those who are already over 50 will call you, and two dozen of those who do not have Moscow registration. A normal person has no time to filter such “callers”. That's why we became needed."
New wave: who wins?
Those who emerged outside the “wave” have chances, recruiters say, but they are small compared to the opportunities provided to agencies in the 1990s.
“Today, more than 300 agencies in Moscow are engaged in the selection of domestic staff,” says Galina Alekseeva. “That’s a lot. The competition is huge, and it will be difficult to make a name for yourself. But it’s possible.”
Irina Gurenkova tells her story.
– I came into this business in 2000. At first I came simply as a manager, and then the idea arose to “open up” myself. I got a job as a top manager with one person who was ready to finance his own agency on the condition that another person would actually manage it. Then, after a while, I saved up money and opened up on my own, because we broke up with that partner. And then I just realized what the work of a recruitment agency is. Firstly, it’s search and stress around the clock. You need to call your parents in the evening: only at this time do normal people get free from their work. Accordingly, the negotiations are also in the evening. And during the day you run around like crazy in search of the right people for the positions of governesses and nannies. In addition, it takes a lot of effort to find a suitable office. And you also need to keep track of your profits.
- Well, of course, this is business.
- Yes, business. The situation around recruitment agencies is so uneven, everything is so unregulated by law that the market is actually “black”. There are a lot of private traders who work directly with parents and often scam recruitment agencies. They suggest: maybe we can come to an agreement without an agency? And the parents are happy. There is no need to pay taxes to the state.
For a year, Irina worked only for the salaries of her managers, rent and advertising in printed edition. There was simply no money left for my salary. That's how we survived.
Oksana Ozerova is just starting her business: the agency for recruiting professional nannies and governesses “Country of Oz” opened under her leadership just a year ago. “The only thing I can say,” Oksana comments on the situation, “I’ve been in business for the tenth month. But during this time I haven’t earned anything yet.” The head of “The Land of Oz” plans to survive the period of lack of money in the same way as Irina, as if it were a natural disaster.
Nevertheless, the profitability of a business that has gained weight and age, according to professionals, is usually not lower than 30%. The most profitable services– selection of a nanny “for an hour” (as a rule, there are much more such applications than applications for the selection of a nanny “with a schedule”, and such a nanny costs more).
“And also,” says Irina Gurenkova, “we noticed such a trend.” If there are five applications for temporary baby sitters, then similar orders will continue. It’s like a sign or something. It’s better to give advertising, if things are going in this direction, in this direction.
With, it would seem, minimum costs The return on investment for a business from a recruitment agency is difficult and slow. Why is this happening? Unforeseen advertising expenses are to blame.
Basic development tools
Colleagues Galina and Elena believe that in order to survive in modern conditions, a recruitment agency must first of all monitor the quality of its services and not forget about advertising. It is also important how enterprising and inventive the leader is. At the same time, he does not necessarily have to have specialized education– in the field of psychology and pedagogy.
– You yourself are not a teacher by training? – I ask Galina Alekseeva.
- What do you! No, not a teacher,” she smiles in response.
– In general, does the head of such an agency need any special education? Should he be a teacher or not?
– Don’t confuse business with profession. There is, you know, such a specialty - businessman. He is the one who should generate ideas.
“You know,” Irina Gurenkova tells me, “I also used to think that since I’m a psychologist, I could select personnel, and especially for the house. This was given to me. But a businessman is something completely different. Over the years of working as the head of a recruitment agency for home services, I realized that it doesn’t matter whether you understand people or not, whether you are a teacher or not. Those who select nannies for themselves are people so unpredictable that no amount of professionalism can help here.
"Grandma on call"
The main thing, all the heads of recruitment agencies say in unison, is advertising. Without it, it will be almost impossible to survive. It is also the main expense item in the budget of every company that decides to engage in the selection of domestic staff.
“As for advertising, the question is complicated,” says Galina Alekseeva, “specialized magazines do better.” You can't guess which ones. In some places, advertising works for some agencies, and vice versa for others. Everything is individual here. It is difficult to recommend any specific publication. But this is definitely gloss. The Internet has been active lately.
“The main thing is, of course, the message and demand for the services you are advertising,” comments Elena Karachkova. – Once we came up with a wonderful advertisement for the newspaper - the slogan was: “Granny on call.” There were tons of calls. In general, the “nanny for an hour” service is in great demand. But the way we beat her is worthy of attention. You always need to place the accents correctly.
“And also,” says Elena, “after two years of work, we began to notice that about 40% of newly arrived clients are friends of our old friends who came to our agency on advice. So it would be nice to use impeccable quality of work as another promotion tool.
Oksana Ozerova notes the impeccable operation of her website on the Internet as a tool for promotion: “Our main clients come from the Internet. Or through friends. But there are a lot of them from the Internet. The only thing is that our location is not always suitable for these clients. We haven’t found the right one yet. office in the Center."
From ten to thirty
I meet with Oksana Ozerova in her office on Shchelkovskaya. According to the map, it seems to be very close. But where is this building A, which is so carefully hidden between the piles of five-story buildings? It turns out that this is an extension to a large hotel complex that stands proudly nearby. The external unsightliness of the premises, however, is more than compensated for by the homely comfort that reigns in Oksana’s office. The small room is furnished and decorated with photographs.
“This is where we sit,” Oksana says, spreading her arms. “Everyone is promising to give us space in a nearby high-rise by the summer, but now they say: sit here.” These are all promises, of course. But we are waiting. We are thinking about how to arrange new office.
The basic problem that many home service agency managers face is not new to small businesses. This is a search for a suitable office. But it is precisely for this area, according to all my interlocutors, that the problem of finding suitable space is very acute. Only if the office is located in the city center can you count on clients not only from a particular district, but from all over Moscow. Moms and dads are very reluctant to go to the outskirts.
“Clients from somewhere in Maryino won’t come to us here,” says Oksana Ozerova.
- You need 25 - 30 meters at most. Yes, the meeting room is about ten meters long. – Irina Gurenkova complains. “And you simply cannot find an office with such parameters today.” Because demand exceeds supply several dozen times. So I’ve been looking for my office on Oktyabrskaya for six months. The whole thing.
Seasons
A woman, most likely a client, comes into Galina and Elena’s meeting room right after me. Spring, as it turns out from our conversation with the heads of recruitment agencies for home service, is a hot season. For all its apparent independence from climatic conditions, this business also has a certain seasonality.
And it depends primarily on the time of vacation.
“July and August are a velvet season for some, but a dead season for others,” says Irina Gurenkova. - For us, for example, dead. Those who need to look for a nanny put it off until September and quietly went on vacation. And those who needed a governess for their child during the holidays had long ago found one ahead of time, that is, on the eve of the summer season - in April - May.
The dead months, says Irina, should also include the holidays of such a project as a recruitment agency for recruiting children's personnel.
- Let's start with the office. Let’s say you’re lucky and, in the best possible scenario, you find an office 30 meters away from the metro, in the Center. The cost per square meter of such area per year is at least $700. Based on this minimum, you can calculate that such a room will cost you 21 thousand dollars per year. Per month – 1750 dollars. Sum number one.
- Well, what about sum number two?
– Now what we will install in the office.
- Great. Computers and office equipment – about $3,000. And don’t forget about managers’ salaries. Minimum two managers - $800 salary plus interest.
– The total is about 8600 dollars?
- Yes. But don't forget about all the little things. For example, sockets in the office, light bulbs, and so on. Two thousand more will flow. So this business as a whole costs about $10,000 minimum to start.
From the dictionary of a personnel officer specializing in the selection of children's personnel:
Babysitter. Babysitting (from English babysitt-ing) is the practice of “temporary” care for a child. Teenage girls agree to babysit your baby “for a reasonable fee” while you visit the theater.
The term "babysitting" appeared in 1937 in the USA. In the West this is commonplace. In our country, babysitting exists in the form of the services of younger sisters and grandmothers, who are ready to come and sit with your child at the right time. The babysitting service is not common among the services offered by recruitment agencies. This is actually free profitable niche. Since the demand for babysitters is great, and their salaries are much higher than the salaries of ordinary caregivers.
Governess. A nanny who does not take on housework, but is only involved in the upbringing and education of children. Helps with homework or prepares for school. May know foreign languages. This category of governesses is most in demand today.
Nanny. According to professionals, in Russia the concept of “nanny” includes not only feeding a child, raising him and minimal education, but also very often routine housework, such as ironing, washing, cleaning, etc.
Complete care. Full care is a full range of child care services, including the nanny’s participation in cleaning and washing the children’s wardrobe, preparing a children’s menu, and so on. In fact, a nanny who performs such a range of services replaces the baby’s mother. In our country, full care is a common requirement for any nanny.
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