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The unbearable 7 year itch, no one escapes this…

You usually hear this in marriages.

The infamous 7 year itch whereby either spouse cannot take it and decided to call it quits.

Unbeknownst to many, the same happens in business world as well.

I can say this with confidence because I have gone through at 2 cycles of 7 years, having started my recruitment career from 2009.

I will tell you what happened and then what you must do now or next.

In 2016, I signed a new client.

They are the dream client of every recruiter.

The hiring manager dispenses insights about the hiring, the unwritten expectations of each role and believe it or not, hires candidates who demonstrate aptitude over pure fit.

In short, she made me really effective and I was on a roll for a few years.

Then in 2023, things started to slow down.

At first, I thought this was due to the economic environment that has resulted in companies being more cautious with their spending.

Indeed there is a whiff of that but what was equally interesting is that more and more, my candidates were met with concern and rejections became the order of the day.

Every now and then, I do a successful placement but with a great deal of effort.

Sometimes I feel I’m in the red even after the placement. The effort does not commensurate with the income.

I spend many nights pondering over this.

It is a concern because the cash cow has become dry-er.

Why is this so and what can I do about it?

The world doesn’t have an answer for such. The lousy answer is it’s market cycle and seasonal challenges caused by factors we cannot control.

I don’t like that answer. It makes me feel like a helpless victim and is non progressive.

One day, I stumbled across this podcast where they talk about legacy clients. Legacy clients are self explanatory. They are - legacy!

They used to be great but things change. They change because people change.

So what was great isn’t no longer that good. In fact, it can be bad seriously.

And interestingly, the cycle for any client to reach that is about 7 years. They start to feel the itch and want something new and exciting.

7 years is a coincidence?

Probably no one will have a scientific reason but I think in 7 years, if you are not innovating, your client feels bored and they thus want someone new to spice things up.

New can be an upstart who is pitching them crazy low rates, or someone who sweet talks like an influencer charming them off their feet. Or it could simply due to your client no longer holding that position of influence over manpower decision.

Any of these is possible and it doesn’t really matter because you are unlikely able to stop it.

Now you believe what I said is not BS, then this is the WHY you shouldn’t stop prospecting.

Your best clients of yester year may just become legacy and it is not an “all of a sudden” situation. You just didn’t sense it early enough. The more likely reason is comfort zone is comfortable.

As any seasoned recruiter can attest, it’s guaranteed to happen.

So strike first before it takes you down.

With LinkedIn, prospecting for new business is easier than before.

It does make one’s knees go weak when you think of the effort it takes to build a new client but the cost of not doing that is going to hit you harder than you want to imagine.

Do your math, fight your battles wisely and courageously.

p.s. If you want to learn how to prospect for a healthy pipeline, DM for my 1:1 coaching. I hand hold my clients to achieve their first taste of client acquisition and from there on, they know what to do. You can be creative but there is a system behind whatever creativity you want to unleash.

p.p.s. A warm welcome to everyone who subscribed The Solo Recruiter since the last post. You are now a part of this Spartan tribe that supports one another to achieve great results in recruitment business. It’s tough but we make it together.

Let’s connect on LinkedIn and Telegram (The Solo Recruiter Community) where I share tips and Live Stream for recruitment business.

​About this newsletter: You are receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly TSR (The Solo Recruiter) newsletter. Every other week, you learn the strategies that successful recruiters use to grow their businesses. If you are interested to launch your own agency, drop me a DM.