To find clients when you start a recruitment agency, three levers count in the first months: your network, a specialism that makes you credible, and regular prospecting of the companies publishing ads in that specialism. The first assignment often comes from someone who already knows you.
This article covers these three levers, the legal points to check in France before canvassing, and the mistakes seen in agencies that are starting out.
Article checked on 11 November 2026.
Start with your network
Your network is the fastest source of assignments, because trust already exists. The managers you recruited with know how you work. The candidates you placed have sometimes become managers. Former colleagues who moved in-house know your methods. Tell them one by one, with a personal message.
Announce something specific: your agency's specialism and the type of role you can help with. A message saying "I'm starting my agency, feel free to get in touch" gets congratulations. A message saying "I recruit maintenance managers in the Lyon area, do you have a role open?" sometimes gets an assignment.
Before writing to a client of your former employer, reread your employment contract and any exit agreement. A non-compete or non-solicitation clause may limit, for a set period and area, the companies you can approach.
Choose a specialism
A specialism is a role, a sector or an area where you recruit better than others. It gives you a candidate pool that works from one client to the next, a vocabulary hiring managers recognise, and a list of companies to prospect short enough to work through every week.
To choose, look at where you have already placed people, where you know candidates, and where companies struggle to hire. France Travail's Besoins en main-d'œuvre survey gives hiring plans and hiring difficulties every year by occupation and employment area.
Prospect from published job ads
Once your network has been asked, assignments come from prospecting. The most effective kind for an agency starts from published ads: the company has an open need, and you offer it a candidate for that role. French agencies call it adchase, and we explain it step by step in a dedicated article.
In practice, every week:
- Spot the companies hiring in your specialism; see where to find companies that are hiring.
- Choose a candidate to present for each role, with their agreement.
- Call the hiring manager; see phone prospecting for a recruitment agency.
- Follow up in writing, by email or LinkedIn; see LinkedIn prospecting in recruitment.
- Follow up again with something new, then record the next step.
Set clear terms
An interested hiring manager quickly asks for your terms. Prepare them before the first call: how fees are calculated, the payment schedule, the replacement guarantee, timelines. Clear written terms reassure a client who does not know you yet, and spare you case-by-case negotiation under the pressure of an assignment.
- Fees: see how to set your fees.
- The contract: see drafting your first commercial contract.
- Legal status: see choosing your legal status as a freelance recruiter.
Fees are paid by the client company, never by the candidate: the French Labour Code forbids charging a job seeker any fee in return for a placement service (article L5321-3).
The mistakes of the first months
Agencies starting out rarely lose clients over the quality of their candidates. They lose them over organisation: prospecting in fits and starts, forgotten follow-ups, vague terms. Here are the mistakes that come up most often, and the habit that avoids each one.
- Prospecting only between assignments. When the assignment ends, the list is empty. Block a prospecting slot every week, even a busy one.
- Taking every role. A role outside your specialism takes time and does not feed your candidate pool.
- Keeping follow-ups in your head. Without a CRM, a hiring manager who said "call me back in March" is forgotten in March.
- Sending a CV without consent. A candidate presented without knowing it no longer trusts you, and the CNIL asks for their agreement before their name is passed on.
In Marvin
Marvin brings together from day one what an agency needs to prospect: companies and contacts live in the same database as your candidates, with their pipeline and their LinkedIn, email and WhatsApp prospecting sequences. A hiring manager who asks to be called back in March gets a reminder, and the history of exchanges stays on their record.
Job ad monitoring, Radar, in beta and included in the Suite plan, spots the companies hiring in your market every morning and flags those you already have a process under way with. For a freelancer, see the freelance recruiter page; for a team, the recruitment agency software.
FAQ
How do you find your first clients as a recruitment agency?
Start with your network: managers you helped to hire, placed candidates who have become decision-makers, former colleagues now working in companies. Then choose a specialism, and prospect every week the companies publishing ads in that specialism, offering them a candidate.
Can you approach your former employer's clients?
First reread your employment contract and any exit agreement. A non-compete or non-solicitation clause may prevent you, for a set period and area, from approaching certain clients. If in doubt, ask a lawyer before the first call.
Should you specialise when you start your agency?
Yes, at least at first. A specialism, whether a role, a sector or an area, gives you a candidate pool you can reuse from one client to the next and a credible pitch to hiring managers. It also shortens the list of companies to prospect each week.
Can a candidate pay a recruitment agency in France?
No. The French Labour Code forbids charging any fee, even partial, to a job seeker in return for a placement service. An agency is paid by the client company.