Enticing Opportunity

There’s no limit to what you can achieve as an independent business owner under the Select Appointments brand

Select Appointments is a national recruitment agency franchise with an unrivalled back office support and training package that allows ambitious professionals to build successful businesses of their own in opportunity rich territories.

To give you an idea of its heritage, Select has been offering both temporary and permanent placements to a wide variety of white collar sectors since 1980 and the company opened its first franchised office in 1992.

That is quite a rare level of expertise in both industries and is what undoubtedly makes Select such a desirable brand and enticing franchise opportunity to so many.

Straightforward ethos

The ethos behind the franchise model is actually pretty straightforward. Select has created a franchise system that lets creative business people from any background follow a proven structure that helps them build their own successful recruitment agency.

They will recruit for both temporary and permanent positions across most white collar sectors, but often owners have at least one sector in which they have particular expertise. In many cases, they will use their knowledge and connections in this sector to grow their business in the early days.

Thanks to Select’s comprehensive training academy, however, it’s not long before they’re confident in branching out to each and every sector that’s represented in their local area.

John Mayer, Select’s franchise operations manager, says: “Ask any of our owners what their competitive advantage is and they’ll tell you it’s the door opening power of such a well established brand and, perhaps most importantly, the fact our head office support team and back office systems take away all the stresses and strains of being a self-employed recruitment professional, ie dealing with payroll, invoicing, human resources, legal issues, IT, marketing, etc.

“This is backed up when we talk to small independent recruiters about what their biggest stress is. They say it’s the headache of trying to manage all the necessary back office systems, while driving the business forward and managing their teams.”

It’s often a big part of what leads people to buy a franchise in the first place - expert training and support from a great brand that allows them to get out there and build their business quickly.

John adds: “One of the greatest benefits of being part of a larger franchise network is the sharing of best practice. All our owners are at different stages of their business development and have come to Select with a wide variety of skills and experience.

“They are not in competition with each other, so there’s a genuine culture of sharing and support across the company.”

Proven methods

Select has opportunities all over the country for franchisees to use its proven methods to open their own offices and employ their own staff. And as there are no restrictions on growth, there’s no limit to what they can achieve as independent business owners under the Select Appointments brand.

Some of the network’s most impressive franchisees, in terms of speed of growth and the impact they’re having in their local markets, are among the newest to join. Very few had any recruitment experience beforehand, so have stuck rigidly to the system and embraced all the training and local marketing offered to them.

“Our model, Office Plus, is based on them working from a small office and hiring two consultants to begin with,” John says. “Together, the entire team will drive the business forward, winning new clients and building solid relationships with major local employers, while finding and matching the best candidates.

“The model doesn’t require you to have a high street retail office, with all the expensive associated costs, just somewhere comfortable, accessible to candidates and with the potential to accommodate a few more consultants and staff members when the time is right.”

What decades of experience have shown is that a consultant starting up on their own cannot wear all the hats needed to grow a business - networking, client visits, interviewing candidates, etc.

The Select model casts the franchisee in the role of business development director, while their two experienced consultants will hit the phones straight away, thanks to the quality local database provided by Select. This means business can be won and done on day one, which is normally something you would only expect from a retail franchise with a large outlay for stock.

In-house training

And the training and support doesn’t stop there. Select is one of only 15 recruitment training providers accredited by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and it conducts all training in-house.

In practice, this means franchisees know their staff will be trained to the same high standard by the support team, which saves them the time and expense of doing it themselves or bringing in an external trainer. It also provides a great extra incentive for consultants to want to work for a Select franchisee in the first place.

So while all franchises have to start somewhere and, indeed, first mover advantage can be attractive, particularly in the food or technology sectors, there’s a significant benefit to franchisees when investing in a brand and system as established and proven as Select. Select is part of the Staffline Group, a brand partner to the REC and member of the British Franchise Association.