Any recruitment advisers on here?

dunnowhattodo

Hi all, long time lurker but first time poster on here...
Bit of background info- I am 30 years old, and have been working in the same sales job for about 5 years now. I have reached the point where I am really bored with it... I know, I'm lucky to have a job and should be grateful, but I can't take much more of doing the same thing every day and really fancy a change.
I have been applying for a few different jobs to test the water, and the first one that has got back to me is for a trainee recruitment adviser. I have never done this type of work before, and wondered if anyone could give me any tips?
Is it a good field to be in in the current climate? I have been told the job is dealing with cadidates rather than companies at first, which sounds right up my street as I love helping people and trying to get the best out of them.
My main concern though, is leaving a stable secure position and jumping into the unkown. I really dont want to end up in a job with really high staff turn over as I have always stayed in my job for a few years and I feel it would look bad on my CV if I start jumping from job to job.
I suppose I'm wanting someone to tell me to go for it, but if anyone has had previous experince in this industry any advice would be fab.
I hope this makes sense, thanks for taking the time to read!

an9i77

I'm not a recruiter, but I work with them a lot as I do internal recruitment (amongst other things) so I'm their first port of call when they are trying to get new business with the company I work for. I think people either love or hate recruitment, if you've already done sales, and you like sales (or at least can deal with the rejection aspect) then you may be ok. To give you a picture, we get a lot of cold calls from recruitment agencies, so many that I eventually had to get reception to block the calls as they were interfering with other work (they have to email through now rather than call unless we are already working with them) . So it can be pretty hard to get your foot in the door with a new client, usually unless an existing contact cannot come up with the goods I won't consider letting a new agency have a try. In my experience there are a lot of bad recruiters, a lot of mediocre recruiters but not many really great ones. The great ones are the ones who can build really good relationships with candidates and clients, and then really understand what the client is looking for (sometimes better than the client itself knows) to match those needs from the available candidates. If that sounds like you, then best of luck. I think its fairly easy to get in to recruitment, particularly with a sales background, but turnover rate is something like 1 in 3 leave before the end of the first year. Best of luck.

dunnowhattodo

thankyou so much for taking the time to reply, its really good to have a bit of an insight into what will be expected of me... And the 1 in three bit has really given me food for thought!
I suppose I'll just just have to think long and hard about whether its worth the risk.

an9i77

dunnowhattodo wrote: »

thankyou so much for taking the time to reply, its really good to have a bit of an insight into what will be expected of me... And the 1 in three bit has really given me food for thought!
I suppose I'll just just have to think long and hard about whether its worth the risk.

Can you approach any recruitment consultantancies currently recruiting in the field you'd like to work in/recruit for (most of them are permanently recruiting due to high turnover) and ask for an informal chat/visit to the office/ see what it's like ? I did this once (it put me off going any further tbh but then I'm not really a sales person) and I think most recruitment agencies will want to have people who have their eyes open to the reality of the job, it may help you make your mind up.

Wellery82

I worked within recruitment consultants for a number of years before moving into "in house recruitment" and HR.

Each industry sector is quite different, although generally speaking recruitment has high rewards, very good opportunity, but low job security - it is very much a sales role and you are judged daily on your sales ability.

In my experience whilst a large number of people left recruitment in the first three months, those who were there after a year mostly went on to get very good financial rewards or moved into new careers where their recruitment skills aided them greatly. The skills to achieve in recruitment are similar i guess to many sales roles, the main difference being the product you are selling is people.

In the current climate new business in recruitment will be hard to find as companies look to strip out all recruitment costs. That said however there are always going to be certain roles that require recruitment agencies, and certain companies that will engage them. It is just possibly harder now than a few years back. I note as well you are dealing with candidates at first - this is likely to be speaking to people, understanding their skills, motivations and aspirations, and then matching them to open positions. This i would suggest will be less pressurised than the generation of new business through cold calling, and a much "safer" intriduction, albeit possibly less lucrative.

Recruitment can be very rewarding. Not just financially, but also in getting someone a job. It is a great thrill to offer somebody employment and in all of my time in the role that never left me. The office atmosphere is generally lively and upbeat, and often recruitment companies, especially the larger ones, are seen amongst the top companies to work for due to their pastoral care of employees.

If it isn't for you, it is a great way to hone your own skills in finding a job, will provide good sales training and expeirence on top of what you have, and may even let you build up contacts at companies you can approach yourself for work in the future.

I hope that helps and am happy to answer any other questions either on here or by PM based on my own experiences. I know a few other people on here have worked in similar roles and am sure they will also help

dunnowhattodo

Thankyou so much for your replies, you have rally given me something to think about. I really like the idea of working directly with candidates, but I'm not so sure about cold calling companies. My interview is Friday, so I think I'm gonna go for it based on what you have said... I think it could be a great career as long as I can stick with the candidate side of things... fingers crossed!
I'll let you know how I get on, Thanks again!