Experts say that becoming an independent recruiter is more popular than ever before. While that doesn’t mean that a good portion of professionals doesn’t still enjoy working for companies, providing them with regular pay, job safety and the tools to perform their job. Still, going freelance and becoming your own boss remains a rather inviting career initiative for most.
Inviting or not, going about without a plan is completely foolish. So, how can you prepare for the next big thing in recruitment and transition into working as a freelance expert? Find out below.
Freelancing, Remote Work and Gig Economy Trends
The pandemic ushered in the trend of remote work on a global scale and tempted companies to cooperate more with freelancers. The benefits of remote arrangements became evident pretty quickly, as people didn’t lose time on commuting and they had more time to spend with their families instead of working. Not a large number of companies hired new people due to all the uncertainty, and recruiters didn’t have as much work.
However, the pandemic passed and companies started looking for new hires again, requiring the help of recruiters. And because of the improved trust in freelancers, some companies started looking for independent recruiters to find qualified candidates.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, 57% of Americans participated in the gig economy, while 43% were freelancers by the end of 2020. That number was on the rise before the pandemic, but the pandemic accelerated the interest in jobs that are more flexible. While this is American data, the numbers are similar in Europe as well.
Fortunately, as a recruiter, you can always take part in the freelance movement. You understand the commissions you get and the percentage of money that goes to your company. By freelancing, you can get a much higher percentage of your income if you put in the effort and understand the risks.
Pros and Cons Working for a Company as a Recruiter
To understand why becoming an independent recruiter is appealing to a lot of people in this industry and why people are hesitant to make a move, we must understand what it is that the companies offer that keeps recruiters happy.
Working for a recruiting company has numerous perks. The three biggest ones include:
- Pro: Stability
Job stability is paramount for most experts. When working for a company, you have a stable number of clients, tasks to perform, get a monthly paycheck, don’t have to deal with career-related taxes, and have health benefits. A steady job with a good commission allows you to plan other areas of your life without worrying too much about what will happen next month.
- Pro: No Marketing Costs
When you work for a company, you don;t have to worry about posting job ads for open positions, marketing, branding, site maintenance, and typically, you have to worry less about your online presence. Independent recruiters have to handle this themselves, reducing their profit margins.
The expenses aren’t the only problem. These tasks can also take up a lot of time, and some recruiters may not even be comfortable doing all these things just to be able to recruit at the end of the day.
- Pro: They Provide Expensive Tools
A well-equipped recruitment company also provides everything you need for your job. From LinkedIn corporate accounts to comprehensive ATS interfaces, the costs of these tools can easily surpass ten thousand dollars a year that not many recruiters would spend if they went solo.
Also, they often allow you to use specific software that helps you track the statuses of your candidates, along with automation tools that allow you to send multiple emails at once and use a variety of templates that make you a more effective recruiter.
All these tools cost a lot of money; make no mistake.
All these things sound great, but why is becoming an independent recruiter more appealing now than ever?
Let’s see some of the negative sides of working for a recruitment agency:
- Con: They Take a Large Percentage of Your Earnings
Recruiting agencies incur large expenses. They pay office bills, pay for tools, job ads, marketing, your taxes, and so on. It’s natural for them to take a percentage of every candidate that you find for their client.
However, not all agencies can provide you with top-notch conditions, and some of them still take a large portion of the money you bring in. And that’s another fact.
- Con: You’re Under a Lot of Constraints
When working for an agency, you often don’t have enough space to do things your way. While that can be good because they’re using a system that works, it doesn’t mean that it’s the best thing to do.
Most agencies focus on profit, meaning that they want to find candidates as soon as possible, filling out positions as they come.This doesn’t allow you to build relationships with candidates and provide a personalized approach for clients as well. Usually, recruiters find a good match, but because they’re in a rush, they may skip on some opportunities.
The Reality of Becoming an Independent Recruiter
To become a successful freelance recruiter, you need to find clients of your own and connect them with candidates. Companies are looking for reliable people who can help them find the best workers. They aren’t interested in your status – whether they hire agencies or independent recruiters is irrelevant as long as they have their vacancies filled by highly-skilled people.
How you become a freelancer has no set rules. You can either quit and devote yourself to independent work or you can start things as a side gig and go from there.Recruiters may even approach employers who partnered up with their previous agency, explaining to them that they were the ones who were recruiting and asking them to continue their operation outside the agency. It all comes down to how much risk you want to take.
Test the Waters First
There’s a lot of opportunity for recruiters who work full-time jobs to move towards independent work that they aren’t even aware of. Unless you have amazing connections and a few clients in your pocket, don’t make any sudden moves. There’s no reason to take a massive risk and go all-in if you can work on it for a few additional months to prepare the ground and do everything to ensure that you succeed as an independent recruiter.
You might think that being independent is for you, but once you get into it, there can be various aspects of the job that you dislike, so you opt to stay. Keep in mind that as a freelance recruiter, you earn money once your candidate starts working or works for a specific period of time.
The Benefits of Becoming an Independent Recruiter
- Unlimited Time Off and Flexible Schedule
Independent work means leaving the 9-5 structure behind and you can organise your day however you want. Start work earlier or later, at your own pace, setting your own priorities.
Having a flexible schedule offers a lot of benefits – you can do some chores in the middle of the day and avoid crowds. You can work from any location, which means that you can combine traveling and work. Also, if you need a day off to spend time with your family, you can just organize your work in such a way.
While this sounds like an exciting concept, there are pitfalls to it. When you’re an independent recruiter, you have a lot more things to worry about, which requires more time. On some days, you can’t just log off at 5 and be done for the day. Things will not often go as planned, and you’ll have to stay in late.
However, the good news is that there will be days when you simply don’t have as much work. And you don’t have to do meaningless tasks, pretend that you’re working just because everyone around you is busy. You can just take care of things in a few hours and have the rest of the day off.
But even if you’re staying late, your mindset is different because everything you earn goes directly to you, and you work for yourself.
- No Stress to Achieve Quotas
Working in agencies often means that you have quotas to achieve each month to get the bonuses. In agencies, recruiters work for a base salary and earn bonuses, but often, it’s the bonuses that keep them grinding.
This means that they need to achieve weekly or monthly goals and be the best on their team. Over time, this can become stressful, especially if you’re looking for a financial boost.
Working from home as an independent recruiter relieves you of that stress. There are no
quotas to achieve, and you can work as much or as little as you like. You’re the one determining the amount of work once you gather enough clients to choose from.
- Huge Earning Potential
Working as an independent recruiter means that you have huge earning potential. When you become independent, you stop selling your time and start selling your expertise.
Clients don’t care if you work for eight hours or more as long as you complete the project on time.
Your ability to make money at a paid job is constrained by your monthly hours worked as well as your salary. Working harder is the only way to earn more up to that point.
Because you no longer have to charge for your time, as a freelancer, your earning potential is limitless. Being more of an expert and finding solutions to larger issues are the keys to earning more money! Work smarter, and you’ll earn more money.
Downsides of Working Independently as a Recruiter
- Paying Taxes
Working independently means that you’ll be responsible for taxes and your health insurance. When you work for an agency, they sort these things out for you. You’ll need to look at the freelancing laws in your country and what percentage goes to tax.
If you’re not sure how this works, find an accountant who will help you set everything up. They can even help you with income and expenditures for a fee.
- Working Alone
If you’re looking to become an independent recruiter, you’re setting yourself up for working alone. Although that’s a benefit in so many different ways, as you get to dictate what you do and how much you work, a lot of recruiter success depends on the networks you create and relationships you form.
These can be with candidates, clients, or other recruiters. Helping out other recruiters and receiving help is an underrated aspect of the job, not a lot of recruiters utilize. As an independent recruiter, you need to have this in mind and have someone to turn to in case things do go as planned.
- Lack of Business Experience Besides Recruiting
Lastly, what can stop you from succeeding is a lack of experience in other fields. As an independent recruiter, you’ll need to do other things besides recruiting. These include:
- Marketing
- Writing
- Website creation
- Design
- Accounting
You can either take on these challenges on your own but they require a lot of time. The other is to outsource the work, especially web development and design. This costs money, but buys you time to focus on your candidates.
Hire Abroad Supports Independent Recruiters
Going independent has its perks and appeal. The flexibility and the potential to earn more are great motivators, but without proper help, things can go south. At Hire Abroad, we help independent recruiters who want to start their own recruitment company or unlock some new opportunities for their candidates.
Who Can Join Hire Abroad?
The platform was created by recruiters for recruiters, making the job as easy as possible and providing you with a comprehensive platform where you can access hundreds of vacancies and more.
Feel free to contact Hire Abroad:
- If you’re an independent recruiter who needs more clients;
- If you’re a recruiter working for an agency who wants to become independent but doesn’t know where to start;
- If you are a recruiter and want to earn some extra money on the side;
- If you are a recruiter and want to see what it’s like to work independently.
The platform focuses on recruiters who specialize in blue-collar employment. There’s no charge for accessing the platform but you need to fulfill the minimum requirements to join.
The beauty of Hire Abroad is that you remain fully independent and can still work on your branding and marketing outside of the platform!
We help you reduce your expenses by paying for some online tools, but more importantly, you get access to high-quality jobs in the Netherlands that you can immediately offer to your high-quality candidate base.
The employer provides accommodations for each candidate you send through Hire Abroad. They will also sign a contract either online or upon arrival, but we’ll explain how everything works.
Contact Hire Abroad if you’re interested in starting your independent recruiter journey on the right note!
