How to Win and Retain Business in Recruitment

Winning business in recruitment has changed. The old playbook—cold calling, mass emailing, networking events—still works for some, but the winners are taking a different approach.

Specialisation Wins

Generalist recruiters are being squeezed. AI can handle generic sourcing. Job boards can handle volume. What remains is deep expertise in a specific domain.

When you specialisation:

• You know the market better than your clients
• You build a reputation that travels
• You can charge premium fees
• Clients come to you

Trust Before Transactions

The best recruiters I know don't sell. They advise. They share insights freely. They help even when there's no immediate fee.

This builds trust. And trust is the only moat that matters in recruitment.

Retention is the Real Metric

Winning business is easy. Keeping it is hard.

Measure your retention:

• What percentage of clients use you again?
• How many referrals do you get?
• What's your average client lifetime?

A recruiter with 5 retained clients for 5 years beats one with 50 one-off placements.