The single most effective thing a recruiter can do this year to improve his or her income is to sack "profit-killing" clients, says trainer Ross Clennett.

During his webinar late last year, Clennett urged recruiters in 2010 to work only with "committed clients who assist in enhancing your reputation with candidates".

This is because too many recruiters work with companies that are "simply not committed to the recruitment process, or they're not committed to them as recruiters". As a result, consultants spend "days, weeks, maybe even months... hanging on to the thread of a job that they hope they will fill. And in most cases, they fill about five per cent of those jobs".

Clients can be profit killers even when you do make a placement, Clennett says, because sometimes the number of hours spent filling the job wasn't worth it for the fee you earned, or the candidate will be unhappy in the position and you'll need to go through the process all over again.

"There's nothing that I've seen that tells me that working with uncommitted, multi-listing clients is the way to really get ahead," he says.

"I'm not saying you can't make money - you will make some money. But I'm interested in maximising the amount of money you make, for your skills, your time and your expertise. And I believe the only way to do that is to work with committed clients."

Recruiters need to have frank conversations with clients that "aren't doing the right thing", Clennett advises. "Let them know what you expect, and how it's going to help them to do that, and if they're not prepared to play ball then I would stop working with them, because they are preventing you from finding better clients."

Recruiters need structured professional development

The next most important thing recruiters should do this year to be more successful is improve their skills through a structured professional development program, Clennett says.

While conceding his vested interest in training, he points out, "let's look at the world of sport. How does a professional tennis player go about improving their results? How does Rafael Nadal go about building and getting better? It's because he looks to improve his skills.

"In the world of professional sports it's really obvious. The way you get better results is that you develop your skills. But amazingly in the world of business, you don't see this. You see a lot of companies paying lip service to it, but... what do they actually have in place for their employees?"

Most professional development, Clennett says, involves training for people who aren't performing well, when the opposite should occur. "People who are doing well should be doing a lot better. How do they get a lot better? Well, they get a lot better most effectively through a structured professional development program, which could mean external training, internal training, a combination of both, coaching... but something, rather than leaving it to chance."

Too few recruitment companies have a structured program, says Clennett. "They think 'we'll get around to it' or 'we're too busy right now' or whatever. As far as I'm concerned, you should never be too busy to get better at something, because when you get better at something, inevitably you'll make more money. And recruitment is no different.

"What most recruitment companies do is say 'we need more people'... My response is 'well what have you done to make your existing people better? Because you're already investing in their salary and their phone line and their computer and their desk... you're already investing in all of those things, why put another $60,000 salary in there when if you only invested $10,000 in a training program for three or four people you're likely to get a much, much better return?'."