Timing

Please excuse the typing as I have a brace on my hand and it is not easy to type..

Is this a good time to start a recruiting business?

I/we (my wife and I) have 20+ years starting and running small businesses and are looking to do something on scale with only a few employees.

A small office setting with 2-4 desk people with one support person..

Is this a good basic plan?

Thanks!

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Thanks for the question. I guess my answer is that depends!

Here in the US, some parts of the country are experiencing some rebound. Other parts are not. Some parts of the country have business friendly governments, others do not.

As an example, I would not start any kind of business in San Francisco, CA. The burdens on business related to employees is unseemly and only a big business with strong backing could afford to put in enough infrastructure to handle the level of regulation required of a business in that area.

Now on the whole there are some positives to starting in this business and getting in now. For instance, in many areas, there are half as many business doing staffing as there were 3 years ago. If and when we do have a recovery and business starts hiring, we have a workforce that is burned out and will be looking for a better work environment. That means lots of movement between companies. Being in the middle of that could be very lucrative.

Another suggest is to check and see if there is a local trade association where you can talk to other independents. I know Texas, North Carolina, California, New York and many other states have staffing and recruiting associations. There are some nationals but they tend to be much more expensive.

My biggest suggestion is to find yourself someone who can help you find the right niche. Unless you have a lot of cash or a good funding source, you probably don't want to get into light industrial as the margins are very small and it takes a lot of volume to make any money.

So my answer is if you have a long term view of things then yes, it is a good time because I don't thing things are going to get significantly better for a couple years and if you can get yourself established before hand you can ride the wave back up.