Recruitment companies tend to fall into a few categories. There are the big agencies that cover just about every job type going. There are niche agencies that specialize in particular industries and job types (say IT recruitment or construction).
Then there are the much smaller group of businesses that match particular types of candidates with job opportunities. And it’s this third group that are delivering some innovative niche concepts.
Forties People
A while ago we wrote about an idea for a recruitment agency specializing in placing senior citizens in jobs. While not quite that far down the road, London-based agency Forties People do pretty much what their name suggests.
The company prides itself on its ‘anti ageist’ policies and ethos – and work with employers who take a similar stance. By focusing on providing mature candidates, the company has carved out a clear niche with both employer and candidate clients.
nuResume
There are something like 18 million college students in America and while most employment agencies will have a few jobs suitable for students, there are very few that specialize in finding them work.
NuResume is billed as the ‘first student resume network’. The site allows students to create online multimedia resumes and apply for jobs and internships as posted by employers. There are also an abundance of social networking tools built into the site to allow students to interact with each other, form clubs etc… The site is free for all involved.
Babajob
India-based site Babajob aims to connect employers and potential employees – especially those in the informal sector – through social connections developed on their sister social networking site Babalife. Not only do they facilitate connections but actually reward them as well.
“Let’s say Rajesh is looking for a cook. He creates a posting on babajob.com and adds a few people he knows on babalife.com. Now let’s assume that he ultimately decides to hire his uncle’s driver’s sister. Assuming all these folks are on babalife.com, then both Rajesh’s uncle and his driver, will earn 100R (~$2.5).”
For those without the access to maintain their own profiles on the sites, their accounts can be managed by a ‘mentor’ who can be a friend, a cyber cafe owner or even an NGO. In short, babjob is leveraging the social web to help even the lowest paid members of the community find employment.
More Niche Recruitment Ideas
Here are a few niche recruitment and employment ideas we’d like to see:
- Jobs for Kids – An agency or website that finds after school and weekend jobs for kids – fostering a positive approach to employment and hard work and ensuring legislation and minimum pay rates are adhered to.
- Bi-Lingual – A site for job seekers who are fluent in multiple languages, finding them jobs in translation services, customer service, tourism etc…
- Working Mothers (and Fathers) – Focused on finding suitable employment for full time parents keen to work around their other commitments.
Let us know if you spot any businesses like these (or if you run one) and we’ll make sure to add them here. If you have any other unique ideas, please feel free to add them in the comments below.
Pic: Flickr
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I am surprised that recruitment agencies would choose to market themselves into such tight niches given the current market. Specialisation is important and having the relevant sector expertise will be the difference between solvency or receivership for many agencies if the recession continues in its current vein. Service will be more important than anything else though. Service creates loyalty and referrals. It can be further enhanced by adding newer phenomena such as social networking to your existing business, or as in the case of BabaJob, making it the core of your job. Many people are turning to LinkedIn for hiring and jobseeking but as yet it remains a source that has not been tapped to anything like it’s full potential. The advantages of hiring somebody that comes with recommendations from various sources, some of which will, no doubt, be linked to you are very clear. It is like having multiple reference checks pre-interview. Very nice for an employer.
I agree with you entirely re: LinkedIn and social networking and fully expect to see more recruitment businesses incorporating this into their business models – perhaps following the crowd-sourced / social headhunting models.
The niche question is one that comes up a lot. On one hand, marketing to a niche limits the size of your market, on the other it can be an excellent differentiator, lead to more referrals, help limit costs and make it easier to become an acknowledged expert in a field.
Nearly everyone says they are specialists – but where they fail is in not taking full advantage of what that entails. They need to live and breathe the niche and not simply pay it lip service. If they do, then they can arguably provide a better service than a more generalist firm – in any sector.
Of course, nearly everyone plays to a certain niche. Even a generalist recruitment firm in a local market must be experts in that market. What the Internet does is make smaller, non-geographic niches more viable.
For my money, the nichier the better.
The future is in the networks, referral systems, and free communication.
In the UK recruitment agencies have made things very difficult by generally charging between 15% and 25% of a professional’s first year salary to employers for a successful match. These fees have a major impact on employers being able to recruit, particularly SMEs.
In the current climate this is crazy. How can professionals get back into work if the recruiters who should be helping them go against them?! A dramatic change has been desperately needed for a long time.
I would recommend checking out Playfair & Noble (www.playfairandnoble.com), a company with an innovative and ethical business model who has recently launched and is aiming high by taking on traditional recruitment agencies.
They remove the restrictions imposed by agencies, by providing a platform which allows employers and professionals to communicate directly and discreetly, without the interference and prohibitive cost of a ‘middle man.
The cultural innovation P&N bring to the table is that it pays 50% of the fee it earns to professionals who find work through its website and also rewards referrers with 10% of the fee.
Crucially, the website empowers professionals and employers by giving them controlled visibility and the freedom to speak to each other, a fundamental value that the recruitment industry, acting as a self-serving entity, has prevented.