What to do with a recruitment business - ideas please!
Discussion
Posting under a new account for anonymity
I'm the owner of a small, niche, white collar specialist recruitment business. It's been established for over 10 years and over that time it grew steadily to it's record year in which we generated over £1m in margin. I'm not a multi millionaire but it's been pretty lucrative over that time and I'm mortgage free with a healthy pension pot (£650k). The issue is things have fallen off a cliff and the past two years have been awful - in quick succession over half the staff left and we'll be lucky to generate £500k in margin this year and I can't see things improving in 2026. I've been through multiple slow downs and down turns over my career but nothing like this - we're getting squeezed every which way, hiring has plummeted and it's so tough. I'm probably 8-10 yrs away from retirement and I just don't know if I have it in the tank to rebuild again - recruitment is always a tough gig and if I never had to do another days recruitment i'd be happy.
So the issue is what to do and I'm hoping for some divine inspiration from posting this. With the declining financial performance over the past two years the business is probably worth very little if I was to sell (even though it's been a nice earner in the past). We've got contracts with lots of big business and on all the public sector frameworks but the hiring activity just isn't there in our niche and in all honesty I don't feel like I have the energy to plough everything into building the business back up again.
There isn't anyone in the business who can step up to run it so I'm feeling kind of stuck. Apart from selling it which is a non-starter at the moment, what options haven't I considered??
I'm the owner of a small, niche, white collar specialist recruitment business. It's been established for over 10 years and over that time it grew steadily to it's record year in which we generated over £1m in margin. I'm not a multi millionaire but it's been pretty lucrative over that time and I'm mortgage free with a healthy pension pot (£650k). The issue is things have fallen off a cliff and the past two years have been awful - in quick succession over half the staff left and we'll be lucky to generate £500k in margin this year and I can't see things improving in 2026. I've been through multiple slow downs and down turns over my career but nothing like this - we're getting squeezed every which way, hiring has plummeted and it's so tough. I'm probably 8-10 yrs away from retirement and I just don't know if I have it in the tank to rebuild again - recruitment is always a tough gig and if I never had to do another days recruitment i'd be happy.
So the issue is what to do and I'm hoping for some divine inspiration from posting this. With the declining financial performance over the past two years the business is probably worth very little if I was to sell (even though it's been a nice earner in the past). We've got contracts with lots of big business and on all the public sector frameworks but the hiring activity just isn't there in our niche and in all honesty I don't feel like I have the energy to plough everything into building the business back up again.
There isn't anyone in the business who can step up to run it so I'm feeling kind of stuck. Apart from selling it which is a non-starter at the moment, what options haven't I considered??
Amazing, that was me a few years ago. I owned and ran a recruitment business dealing with lawyers for over 20 years and managed to sell up in 2012. I get what you mean by ‘nothing in the tank to rebuild’. I’d simply had enough.
I have no magic solution but I’d be looking to merge or sell. Take a look here:-
https://www.rec.uk.com/recruiters/business-support...
I have no magic solution but I’d be looking to merge or sell. Take a look here:-
https://www.rec.uk.com/recruiters/business-support...
Help101 said:
Apart from selling it which is a non-starter at the moment, what options haven't I considered??
You say you don't have the will to rebuild it. So your only option is to sell, either as a whole or part?
Do you have contacts who you could bring in as partners to share the legwork? Could be an opportunity for someone hungry to buy in, take it on and then buy you out when you're ready to retire.
I'm in a fairly similar situation. I've just decided to run it down. Life is short, you never know what's going to happen. And that works both ways. Business might glide down a lot slower than you would expect. In which case you can enjoy the extra revenue. Or it might, revenue might collapse much quicker, in which case it's not much point fighting. Companies have life cycles, and generally you have to reinvent things along the way to keep the ball in the air.
AI is probably killing your business, but it's also a tool as well that might enable you to automate certain aspects of the business to extend the runway a little bit, or at least make it less stressful for you to pilot the decline.
If you do build it back up, again there are consequences to those actions. You'll have to be responsible for, which might not necessarily be good for your mental health if you're happy to never see another day of recruitment again. I would suggest giving serious consideration to clocking out.
You do not mention what your mandatory expenses are, and a lot of expenses in life relate to making work more palatable, and once the work is gone, maybe you'll find your expenses drop.
I did try exploring selling and that was a whole stressful experience in itself. I've decided that I have earned the option to have less stress in life. What's the point of working all those years if you're just going to be stressed right to the end?
AI is probably killing your business, but it's also a tool as well that might enable you to automate certain aspects of the business to extend the runway a little bit, or at least make it less stressful for you to pilot the decline.
If you do build it back up, again there are consequences to those actions. You'll have to be responsible for, which might not necessarily be good for your mental health if you're happy to never see another day of recruitment again. I would suggest giving serious consideration to clocking out.
You do not mention what your mandatory expenses are, and a lot of expenses in life relate to making work more palatable, and once the work is gone, maybe you'll find your expenses drop.
I did try exploring selling and that was a whole stressful experience in itself. I've decided that I have earned the option to have less stress in life. What's the point of working all those years if you're just going to be stressed right to the end?
OP - your new profile doesn't permit me to email you.
If you send me one, I'll connect you to someone you might what to have a chat with.
ETA.... the chap I'd like to introduce you to is in the same boat in the same sector with the same type of company...... but is adapting what he's doing. Early days but is looking like it could bear some nice fruit. He's not on PH but showed him your post and he would like to chat. Nothing may come of it - but something may. So drop me a line and I'll introduce you.
If you send me one, I'll connect you to someone you might what to have a chat with.
ETA.... the chap I'd like to introduce you to is in the same boat in the same sector with the same type of company...... but is adapting what he's doing. Early days but is looking like it could bear some nice fruit. He's not on PH but showed him your post and he would like to chat. Nothing may come of it - but something may. So drop me a line and I'll introduce you.
Edited by StevieBee on Monday 3rd November 19:05
I’ve been trying to remember the name of the man who helped me sell (if that’s what you want to do). It came to me this afternoon, it was John Bissell. Give him a call:-
https://www.lba-info.co.uk/
https://www.lba-info.co.uk/
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff