Phone system setup for a new recruitment agency
Starting a recruitment business, you need a number that looks established, a way to dial candidates from your CRM without typing, and recordings you can review — at a cost that makes sense at three seats. What you should avoid is buying something so basic that you replace it at fifteen seats, or signing a long term on equipment you will outgrow. This page sets out a sensible day-one setup and how it grows.
- Numbers, dialling and recording live without on-site hardware
- Day oneNumbers, dialling and recording live without on-site hardware
- Add seats and desks without replacing the platform
- ScalesAdd seats and desks without replacing the platform
- Cloud-delivered, so there is nothing to buy and depreciate
- No hardwareCloud-delivered, so there is nothing to buy and depreciate
- A professional presence from day one — real business numbers, proper greetings, no mobile-only setup.
- CRM click-to-dial from the start, so activity data exists before you need to manage anyone by it.
- Recording configured with a policy from the outset, rather than retrofitted at thirty seats.
- Room to grow: adding a desk is a licence, not a project.
A sensible day-one setup
What a new agency genuinely needs, in priority order.
- A business number in the area you want to be associated with, with a professional greeting and clear opening hours.
- A softphone on each consultant’s laptop plus a mobile app, so calls are never made from a personal number.
- Click-to-dial from your CRM from the beginning, so you never build the habit of typing numbers.
- Call recording with a documented lawful basis, retention period and access control — far easier to set up now than to retrofit.
- Voicemail to email and missed-call alerts, because early enquiries are too valuable to lose.
- Connectivity that can carry the calls, whether that is an office circuit or a home office.
- Microsoft 365 configured properly, with multi-factor authentication on from the start.
Decisions that get expensive later
The things founders most often wish they had done differently once the agency reaches twenty or thirty people.
- What it costs later
- Relationships and data leave with the consultant
- Better choice
- Business numbers and a mobile app from day one
- What it costs later
- No CRM integration, no recording, replaced within two years
- Better choice
- A platform that integrates and scales, at a small-seat price
- What it costs later
- Paying for handsets you have outgrown
- Better choice
- Cloud licences and softphones, hardware only where wanted
- What it costs later
- Retrofitting governance across a large estate
- Better choice
- A retention and access policy agreed at the start
- What it costs later
- Friction when you change provider
- Better choice
- Numbers held as your own, portable
- What it costs later
- No baseline when you start managing performance
- Better choice
- Call reporting from day one, even at three seats
Want this looked at on your own setup?
A review is free, there is no obligation, and you keep the written summary either way.
Growing from three seats to thirty
What should change as you scale — and what should not have to.
- Adding consultants is provisioning a licence and a number, not a new installation.
- Desk structure arrives later: skills-based routing and separate desk numbers when you have specialist desks to route to.
- Wallboards become useful once there is a team to compare, typically well before ten seats.
- Campaign or progressive dialling when you have a defined volume workflow, not before.
- A second brand or office plugs into the same platform rather than starting again.
- Connectivity gets revisited when you take an office or pass the point where home circuits can carry the load.
New agency setup checklist
- Choose the number and dialling code you want to be known by.
- Confirm which CRM you are starting on, so dialling integrates from day one.
- Decide your call recording policy and retention period now.
- Set up Microsoft 365 properly, with multi-factor authentication enforced.
- Check the connectivity at whatever premises or home office you are starting from.
- Avoid any agreement with a minimum term longer than your business plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is a cloud phone system worth it at three or four people?
Yes, mainly because of what it prevents. Starting on personal mobiles means no recordings, no CRM activity data and relationships attached to numbers you do not own. Fixing that at twenty seats costs considerably more than doing it properly now.
Can we start with softphones and add handsets later?
Yes. Most new agencies start with laptop softphones, headsets and the mobile app, then add desk handsets if consultants prefer them once there is an office.
What if we grow faster than expected?
Adding seats is a licence change. The platform, numbers and integrations stay as they are, which is the entire reason for not buying something you outgrow.
Do you tie new agencies into long contracts?
We will discuss terms with you openly and explain what each option costs. What we will not do is bury equipment finance inside a service agreement — which is the practice that causes most of the contract problems we are asked to unpick.
Related recruitment guides
Set your agency up properly from day one
Tell us how many consultants you are starting with and which CRM you are using. We will set out a day-one build that will not need replacing at twenty seats.
- Full audit of every line, number and contract you hold
- Honest view of what your CRM will and will not integrate with
- The call data you are not currently seeing, including missed inbound
- A written summary — yours to keep either way