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r/RecruitmentAgencies

▲ 3 r/RecruitmentAgencies

Starting a niche CNC / industrial recruitment agency - looking for honest feedback

Hi all,

I’m seriously considering starting a specialized recruitment agency focused on CNC machining and technical roles in this area, and would really appreciate insights from people already in the industry.

Background:

- 15+ years in CNC / manufacturing (operator → programmer → CNC operator Instructor)

- Strong understanding of machining, tooling, CAM, production processes

- My brother (potential partner) has HR + legal + international recruitment experience

Idea: Build a niche recruitment agency for CNC machining roles.

Key differentiator I’m considering: Instead of standard CV-based recruitment, I would:

- technically evaluate candidates myself (real CNC knowledge)

- classify them (Level A/B/C – operator / setup / programmer)

- possibly build a small evaluation/training setup (simulation + 1 CNC machine)

Goal would be to offer:

“Technically verified CNC talent” rather than just CVs.

Some thoughts / assumptions:

- Huge shortage of skilled CNC machinists, programmers, etc. in this area

- Some recruiters don’t actually understand machining → opportunity

- Companies might pay premium if candidates are pre-validated

Questions for those with experience:

- Is niche specialization (CNC machining) a strong enough angle, or is it better to stay broader at the beginning?

- How realistic is it to win first clients as a new agency? (especially without references)

- Does “technical validation / certification” actually add value from a client perspective, or do companies not care and just want CVs fast?

- Would adding additional roles like welders, fabricators, maintenance techs dilute the brand, or is it smart to stay within “industrial trades” as a wider niche?

- Biggest mistake you made (or see others making) in the first year?

One concern I have: This model requires a lot of time on:

- candidate sourcing

- technical interviews

- client acquisition

Did you handle both sides yourself at the beginning, or split roles early?

I’m trying to approach this realistically (not “get rich quick”), so I’d really appreciate honest, even brutal feedback.

Thanks a lot 🙏

reddit.com
u/Creepy_Scale_3934 — 9 hours ago
▲ 3 r/RecruitmentAgencies

Re-subscribing to LinkedIn Recruiter: is old data gone?

Our LinkedIn Recruiter subscription is expiring soon, and we’re considering not renewing for about 6 months, then signing a new contract next year.

Our account manager mentioned that all historical data would be lost if the subscription lapses. I wanted to check if that’s actually the case.

Has anyone here experienced letting their LinkedIn Recruiter contract expire and then re-subscribing later? Were you able to recover your data, or was everything removed?

reddit.com
u/Infamous_Bison2936 — 10 hours ago
▲ 1 r/RecruitmentAgencies

Cyber Security Job Board

During this tough time in the job market, for any recruiters wanting find strong candidates for roles in the cyber security space or job seekers, I came across so many niche roles through https://cypherjobs.io/ , find it much easier than going through spam on indeed or linkedin.

u/Spirited_Grade_2874 — 14 hours ago
▲ 1 r/RecruitmentAgencies+1 crossposts

$80,000 Spent. 8 Months Gone. Zero Placements

Day 1 of Free AI Audit for Recruitment Agencies

We recently audited a solo recruitment founder in the biotech space.
8 months in. Zero placements. Savings running out.
And he had already spent $80,000 just to get started.

Here's what we found
The Pain Points:
→ Paid $80,000 in franchise fees before making a single dollar
→ Only 200-300 manual outreach emails per month
→ Reaching out to job postings already 7 days old
→ No follow-up sequences, stopping at 2 touches instead of 9
→ 5,000 LinkedIn connections completely untapped
→ No system to match 50-100 inbound candidates to open roles

$80,000 invested.
8 months of full-time work.
Zero revenue.
It wasn't a talent problem.
It wasn't even a market problem.
It was a systems problem.

Here's what an AI system changes for him
→ Automated daily job scraping from LinkedIn, Indeed, Biospace
→ Resume-to-job matching — candidate uploads CV, system finds open roles instantly
→ Email sequences with 7-9 touch automated follow-ups
→ Early job alert triggers — be in the first 5 recruiters, not the 30th

The competitor we showed him was sending 65,000 emails per month.
Same 3-4% reply rate. But 200x the volume.
One placement in biotech = $30,000 fee.
The entire system costs a fraction of that.
$80,000 spent to enter the game.
And the only thing missing was a system that costs almost nothing to set up.
That's the part that hurts.

If you run a recruitment agency and feel like you're working hard but the numbers aren't moving — the problem is probably not your effort.
We are opening up a 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 for recruitment agencies

u/tusharmangla1120 — 1 day ago
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