Hilton Lord Associates Ltd

Hilton Lord Associates Ltd If you’re a successful, experienced recruiter, we can back you to start your own recruitment business

20/05/2024

Who are the people behind the scenes at Hilton Lord?

We have a solid team supporting all of our partners needs, whether it’s, finance, IT or advice… or just moral support.

You are in safe hand with these amazing people.

The Xmas fairies have put up the decorations in the office… Those fairies look like they are up to no good though!! ...
05/12/2022

The Xmas fairies have put up the decorations in the office…

Those fairies look like they are up to no good though!!

31/08/2022

We're recruiting into our finance team in Bolton - if we sound like your cup of tea, give us a nudge!

Senior Payroll Specialist - Bolton - £30 - £40K

People are keen on getting paid.

They have a thing about it being the right amount. And on the right day.

We’d like someone to come and help us make sure that keeps happening as our group of companies grows.

We’re only a small team (just about double figures). That includes a finance team of 5 bloody lovely people, and we’re looking for number 6.

It’s a relaxed environment, with zero micro-management. We employ very capable people and give them autonomy, ownership of their role, and the flexibility to work from home some days if they choose.

We invest in, and support, start-up recruitment businesses, and we need someone to help us run weekly payrolls for temporary workers, and monthly payrolls for internal employees, across that group of partner companies.

Alongside the payroll stuff, you’d spend some time helping us look after the bookkeeping for those same partners.

You’d have plenty of support from our Payroll and Finance Managers, and work closely with them and the wider team.

You’ll need payroll experience. And we'd specifically like some of that experience to be from an ACCOUNTANCY PRACTICE. You’d be handling queries from partners, employees, temps, etc, so it’s important that you’re good with people, as well as numbers. You’d largely work with Sage, but also bespoke and other 3rd party software.

Any accounts / bookkeeping experience would also be a big advantage, and any relevant qualifications would be a plus.

We’d ideally like someone full-time (Monday to Friday – fairly standard office hours, with flexibility around specific times), but could also consider someone part-time. It’s all about the right person, but we’d probably need at least 30 hours.

If we sound like your cup of tea, please give us a nudge!

28/09/2021

Hiring (and retaining) Recruiters is one of the toughest jobs when growing your recruitment business.

Billing, as a single person business, isn’t actually that difficult. The big challenge comes when you want to build a team.

So many recruitment business owners get it wrong. I certainly did - several times. And there's often a large element of trial and error before owners figure out what DOES work for them when hiring.

The first hire can be toughest (unless you achieve the holy grail of bringing across an old colleague who you know is solid), but once you’re past that, I've seen successful teams built with experienced recruiters; trainees; people with experience from the sector into which the business recruits…

Recruiters, if you were to hire someone to work in your (perhaps hypothetical) recruitment business, what would you look for in the first couple of hires?

24/09/2021

A short while ago, we ran a Poll about whether or not AI could replace some Recruiters.

The results (ca. 600 votes) were as follows:

- 21%: Yes – transactional roles only
- 65%: No – soft skills are too important
- 14%: Unsure / Too early to say

The respondents were largely a split of IT Professionals and Recruiters.

The IT Professionals generally seemed quite keen to jump on the, “most recruiters could be replaced by my ZX Spectrum” bandwagon. An unfortunate symptom of that market being so candidate-short and recruiter-saturated for many years.

The Recruiters were largely split between the first 2 options, with votes weighted more towards “soft skills are too important”.

Personally, we think all 3 answers are pretty sensible.

- We don’t think anyone can say for sure what AI will be capable of in the future (it excites us and scares the crap out of us, in equal measure).
- It seems likely that tech will eventually be able to take on more and more of the repetitive tasks recruiters currently complete. Which is surely a good thing, because…
- It has to be harder for tech to replicate the skills that really good recruiters use on a daily basis: Influence. Negotiation. Advice. Reading a room and reacting appropriately. Pushing things over the line. Making Things Happen.

If machines become capable of successfully replicating the soft skills in that final point, that’s surely an entirely different world. One we find difficult to picture.

22/09/2021

When you’re ready to start growing your recruitment business, what should hire number one look like?

Is it an experienced consultant? A trainee? A resourcer? An account manager / 180 consultant?

We've seen all these approaches tried. And, to some extent, we've seen them all work.

But, we've also seen them all fail. And what fails FAR less often is the experienced consultant.

Yes, they will probably be more expensive than a trainee. And restrictive covenants can be a factor. But the pros far outweigh the cons.

When considering hiring a trainee consultant, most people factor in the learning curve and perhaps plan for a ramp-up period where the trainee will be a cost to the business without generating any additional revenue.

What they DON’T always consider, is the amount of time you will need to devote to that trainee. So, not only will the business’ overheads increase, but its revenue will also drop.

Your personal billings are critical to the business in the early days, so you can’t afford to take your eye off the ball.

Keen to hear other views on this - let us know in the comments below.

15/09/2021

"Recruiters never get back to unsuccessful candidates"

That’s complaint number 1, right? Always top of the list.

We've seen it debated on here a hundred times.

For us, it’s a simple argument… Recruiters should make an effort to get back to every candidate who's made a ‘sensible’ application to a ‘relevant' job.

If you’re applying for a job that states you need to be a qualified electrical engineer, and you apply on the back of your extensive fuse-changing experience, you shouldn’t expect a response.

You can’t demand a recruiter’s time if you’re playing Daley Thompson’s Decathlon with Apply buttons (yes, I’m that old).

But, if you’re making sensible applications to jobs for which you have a relevant (or possibly transferable) skill set, you should expect a response.

From a recruiter’s perspective, that’s smart. It’s doing the right thing by relevant candidates in your niche.

Candidates who might not be quite right for this role, but great for the next.

Candidates who recommend you to their colleague the next time they’re looking for a role, or to their boss when they’re looking to recruit.

09/09/2021

Do Boiler Room Recruitment Agencies still exist?

Are there still offices full of shiny, pin-striped people at their desk 8am – 8pm every day? Stood up until they make a placement?

I’m coming across this less and less – has that old school mindset disappeared?

Have you worked in a Boiler Room over the last couple of years? Or do you know a recruiter who has?

03/09/2021

Recruiters hardly need to pick up the phone anymore.

Genuine comment from a recruiter who wanted us to invest in him.

The recruitment industry needs to continually adapt, and marketing and personal branding have definitely become more of a focus for lots of recruiters. Rightly so. Multi-channel approach and all that jazz.

But…

The most important of those channels is still the phone. Or, more correctly, conversations – phone, video, in-person.

As tech gradually makes it possible to automate some of the work recruiters have traditionally done, conversations are where you will add value.

Without conversations, you can’t be consultative, you can’t influence, you can’t read reactions, you can’t effectively manage the process.

Are we wrong? Any there any recruiters in my network who have adapted their business model to the point where they successfully recruit with minimal phone time?

31/08/2021

Are you the Kanye West of Recruitment?

If so, we probably can’t be friends.

A huge ego is a major red flag for us when we’re considering backing someone.

Confidence? Yup.
Drive? Of course.
Ambition? Defo.

Egotistical k**b? Pass.

We actually think I’ve seen a gradual shift away from that Wolf of Wall Street stereotype in recruitment over the last 12 years. People see through it from a mile off.

The switched-on folk see that a bit of humility can go a long way, and the bigger billers we talk to tend to be the ones who understand they don’t know everything. They’re always learning. Which is probably why they’re the bigger billers.

Do you still work with a Kanye?

25/08/2021

If you're looking to start your own Perm Recruitment Agency at some point, get comfortable pitching retainers before you make the leap.

Doesn’t matter if your market isn’t senior hires. And it doesn’t need to be the traditional ‘Exec Search’ thirds model. Just a financial commitment up front. And do it whilst someone else is paying you to get comfortable.

It’s all mindset. The more you do it, the more normal it will become for you.

You’ll do a better job for your clients. You’ll make more money. You’ll enjoy it more.

Learn to pitch well. Learn to search well. Learn whilst someone else is paying you.

Then go and do it for yourself.

You’ll do an even better job for clients. You’ll make even more money. You’ll enjoy it even more.

24/08/2021

There are big advantages to having more than one person in your recruitment business.

That applies whether it’s a business partner or an employee.

Someone you work closely with on a day-to-day basis dramatically increases your chances of success.

Bouncing around ideas. Sharing highs and lows. Being accountable. It can make a huge difference.

Just one person is all it takes.

We say this based on over 12 years of experience backing recruitment start-ups.

So, if you start your business solo, aim to get to two as soon as it’s financially viable.

Address

1-3 The Courtyard, Calvin Street
Bolton
BL18PB

Telephone

+441204216516

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Hilton Lord Associates Ltd posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category