TRN Member Panel Discussion: What Makes a Superagency?
TRN Member Panel Discussion: What Makes a Superagency?
Recruitment businesses are operating through one of the fastest periods of change the industry has experienced. In this TRN member panel, Gordon Stoddart was joined by Liam Thomas, Rosa Rollo, Jen Gaster and George Zitko to explore how recruitment leaders are adapting their businesses and what the next generation of successful agencies may look like.
A superagency is not defined by its headcount, turnover or ability to fill large volumes of vacancies. It is defined by the quality of its decisions, the value it creates for clients and candidates, and its ability to turn strategy into consistent execution.
Size is no longer the clearest measure of success
Recruitment businesses have traditionally treated growth in revenue and headcount as evidence of progress.
Those measures still matter, but they do not tell leaders whether an agency is productive, profitable or building lasting commercial value.
Measures such as NFI per employee, GP per employee, profit conversion and customer lifetime value provide a more useful picture. They show whether a business is making effective use of its people, technology and client relationships.
This changes the leadership question from how many people the business can employ to how much value each part of the organisation creates.
A smaller, more focused agency can outperform a larger competitor when it works with better clients, delivers higher-value services and maintains stronger commercial discipline.
Become more selective about clients and work
Strong recruitment businesses are becoming more intentional about who they work with.
This does not mean rejecting every contingent assignment or pursuing only the largest organisations. It means understanding where the agency can create genuine value and deciding how much time, expertise and service each client should receive.
Client segmentation can help leaders establish:
- Which organisations fit the agency's strategic direction
- Which clients have the potential to become long-term partners
- What level of service each relationship requires
- Which products or services are appropriate
- When the agency should decline low-value or low-probability work
This discipline becomes particularly important when experienced consultants have limited time. Asking them to work every available vacancy is unlikely to produce the best commercial result.
The stronger approach is to direct their attention towards clients that value their expertise and assignments where the agency can influence the outcome.
Move from supplier to trusted adviser
The recruitment agency of the future will be involved before the vacancy is released.
Clients are making decisions about workforce planning, organisational structures, skills, technology and future capability. Many are doing so in markets where the direction of travel remains unclear.
This creates an opportunity for recruitment businesses to contribute earlier.
An adviser can help a client interpret talent data, identify capability gaps, assess internal candidates and understand how the external market is changing. Recruitment may follow, but it is not the only source of value.
This requires consultants who can hold commercial and strategic conversations. Industry knowledge alone is not enough. They must be able to connect market information with the client's wider business objectives.
Agencies that develop this capability will be less dependent on transactional vacancy flow and more likely to build trusted, durable relationships.
Build more predictable revenue
Placement fees can create strong revenue, but they can also leave a business exposed to unpredictable demand and competitive delivery models.
Recruitment leaders are therefore exploring ways to improve both the quality and predictability of income.
This may involve moving suitable assignments from competitive contingency towards exclusive or retained delivery. It may also involve adding services such as:
- Interim and contract recruitment
- Statements of work
- Project delivery
- Workforce benchmarking
- Internal candidate assessment
- Talent and workforce consultancy
These services should not be added simply to increase the length of a product list. They need to match the agency's expertise, client needs and commercial strategy.
When implemented properly, they can create recurring income, deepen client relationships and give the agency access to decisions before external recruitment begins.
Longer-term client agreements and recurring revenue can also strengthen the wider value of the business. Buyers and investors are likely to look beyond the percentage of contract revenue and examine the quality, duration and dependability of customer relationships.
Treat AI as a business change programme
Many recruitment businesses began experimenting with AI by purchasing tools and testing isolated use cases.
The main lesson from early adoption is that technology alone does not create improvement.
AI needs to be considered alongside people and processes. Leaders must understand:
- What problem the technology is solving
- How the existing workflow needs to change
- Who will use it
- What training they require
- How quality will be monitored
- What should remain a human responsibility
The most valuable uses of AI are not necessarily those that attempt to replace the consultant.
AI can support market research, analyse account information, compare data, identify missing information and reduce administrative work. This gives consultants more time to prepare, advise and build relationships.
However, introducing too many tools at once can overwhelm employees. Adoption slows when people cannot see how a new system fits into their daily work.
A more effective approach is to start with a focused problem, test the solution with a receptive group and refine it before a wider rollout.
Protect the human experience
Automation can make recruitment faster, but speed does not automatically create a better experience.
Candidates may become frustrated when an entire hiring process is delivered through bots, recorded questions and automated decisions. They lose the ability to read reactions, build rapport and understand the people behind the organisation.
This matters because candidates remember how a process made them feel. Some will later become hiring managers, clients or influential voices in the market.
Recruitment agencies should therefore be clear about where automation improves the journey and where human contact creates more value.
The objective should not be to remove people from recruitment. It should be to remove low-value activity so that people can focus on the interactions that require empathy, judgement and trust.
Reduce founder dependency
Founder-led recruitment businesses can reach a stage where the founder becomes a constraint on growth.
When too many decisions, relationships and operational issues depend on one person, the business cannot scale effectively.
Moving beyond this point requires leaders to give capable people genuine authority. This can involve strengthening the senior team, clarifying decision-making responsibilities and allowing others to run the business day to day.
Letting go can be difficult. Founders may worry that standards will fall or that important decisions will be made differently.
However, retaining control over every detail is unlikely to support ambitious growth. The chief executive's role must eventually move towards vision, strategic relationships, commercial direction and the future of the business.
Ownership models can also influence behaviour. When employees have a meaningful stake in the organisation, ideas such as responsibility, legacy and long-term value become more tangible.
Make change manageable
Strategy does not create results unless people change how they work.
That is often the hardest part.
Employees may understand the direction of travel while still resisting the practical consequences. They may be asked to stop working familiar clients, change commercial conversations, use unfamiliar technology or abandon methods that have previously produced results.
Leaders need to explain why the change matters, but explanation alone is not enough.
They must connect the change to individual motivation. Employees need to understand how it affects their development, earnings, security and future role.
Pilots can make this easier. A small group can test the new approach, identify problems and provide evidence that it works.
Internal champions then become more persuasive than leadership instructions. Colleagues can see a working example rather than being asked to trust an unproven idea.
Change will rarely be implemented perfectly. Leaders need to remain consistent, learn from feedback and recognise meaningful progress rather than waiting for complete adoption.
Specialism creates a stronger foundation
For a new recruitment business, the panel's advice was clear: become highly specialised.
A narrow market allows a recruiter to understand its language, map its talent population and become known for relevant insight.
Specialism should extend beyond choosing a broad sector. It may mean focusing on a specific skill set, employment model, geography or community of professionals.
A specialist recruiter can create value before a vacancy exists by building communities, sharing market information, running events and helping candidates make long-term career decisions.
This creates familiarity and trust. Commercial opportunities follow because the recruiter is already part of the market rather than approaching it only when a fee is available.
The temptation to launch new divisions and solve every client problem should be treated carefully. Expansion can create growth, but it can also distract the business from the service it performs best.
Repeating a successful specialist model may produce stronger results than continually creating new ones.
The opportunity is significant
The current market is challenging because client expectations, technology and recruitment models are changing simultaneously.
It is also creating considerable opportunity.
Agencies that provide little more than access to vacancies or candidate databases will find it harder to defend their value. Businesses with specialist knowledge, strong communities, trusted advisers and disciplined operating models will remain relevant.
Recruitment leaders also have an opportunity to value their work more confidently.
Agencies conduct research, interpret markets, advise leaders, assess talent and reduce hiring risk. These are professional services activities. The commercial model should reflect the value they create.
A superagency is not a finished state or a label a business awards itself. It is an organisation that continues to improve, makes deliberate choices and evolves before the market forces it to do so.
Speakers:
Liam Thomas - Co-founder, Highfield and Data eXec
Rosa Rolo - Managing Director, Major Players
Jennifer Gaster - Managing Director, HR Heads and Heads Resourcing Group
George Zitko - Founder and CEO, Zitko Group