Recruitment consultant - risky move or not??

smiling_through

Hi Everyone,

i have been reading some of the posts on here and most people seem very level headed so i thought i would join. My first post so please be kind!!!

A girl I have been seeing on and off for while now has just landed a role as a recruitment consultant. I know they have a bad rep but she is a really nice girl which is part of my worry.

The main question is this - will this be a good career move as i hear a lot of horror stories about people taking up this work but either leaving or being fired within 6 months. Can you make a good living out of it or is it all long days and pressure for no payback?

The reason I ask is that the role is over 100 miles away and she will be giving up an ok job with a salary most of us would be proud to earn to take this role up. Just for background info she would be moving back to somewhere she lived for a number of years and she has friends there so the move is not such a worry more the job. I really care about this girl and will back her 100% but if people have worked in this industry before and it's as bad as they say i would like to give her the full picture not just what the agency says about earning £1000000000000 if 2 years

thanks for taking the time to read and/or respond to this.

claret_mike

There is a lot of competition and not many jobs so I couldn't imagine a more difficult time to enter into the cut throat world of recruitment.

Is she specialising in an area of recruitment? What does that industry look like for jobs?

She will need to pay for her seat - i.e. earn fees from her clients being placed - like any other sales role, you wont last long if you are not paying for yourself.

If she is good at it and has the toughness and tenacity it requires, could be a great move but its not for everyone and without knowing this person it would be very difficult to say for sure by anyone i guess

smiling_through

Hi claret_mike and thanks for the response.

I believe it is in Engineering but again I think the agency will teach you about the industry you just need to be good at selling it to the client and job seeker- just my opinion as i have never done it before.

She is smart though sometime gullible, very quick to pick up new things and not afraid of hard work. She is actually looking forward to the challenge even if it means 9-10 hour days and I know she won't fail through lack of effort. However, MY concern is that these people feed you great stories of earning huge sums of money but why then are there 100's of recruitment jobs out there??

You sound like you have some background to this industry - what would be the expected fees she needs to be hitting to "pay" for her seat and are the targets they set realistic?

Thanks again!

ILW

Bottom line is that if she is making money for her employer she will be pretty safe. If she is making loads of money for her employer she will be safe and well rewarded.

smiling_through

Hi ILW,

I'm sure your right I'm more worried that she is to be honest lol

I thought I would help her prepare for the job interview and some of the stories stunned me – one guy made after tax £12,500 one month but was fired 6 months later for missing targets 3 months in a row and the average drop-out rate for new starters seems to run between 60-80% in the first year depending on which forum you read.

That said there was also some positive comments on from people who had done ok – but they did say they had to work 12 hour days and sometimes weekends under huge pressure to make it work. That said if your single with no ties and want to make the same as a doctor and enjoy all the other perks then why not give it a go.

I would be interested to hear the perspective from anyone who has worked in one of the big agencies such as Hays, Michael Page etc

beckysbobbles1

My boyfriend of eight months took a job as a recruitment consultant. Six weeks later we split up!

His personaility changed quite a bit because he had to be this confident hard seller all the time. He was lurred in with the false promises of making £75k p.a. in the first year. But a basic salary of £25k it's unlikely.

Unless this girl is a very good sales person, then she may struggle. I personally think RC are a neccisary evil. They serve a purpose but not always in the most ethical way.

smiling_through

Hi Becky,

Thank you for your response and sorry to hear it broke you up. We break up every week so maybe moving 100 miles is what we need lol

Do you know if he is still in the job and doing well or how long before he was out of there? I read that you have to be a hard sales person and it must be hard to drop that side after a 12 hour day. I must say if I didn’t do the job I do meeting sales people every day then the stuff they put to you does look very tempting from a rewards point of view.

InsideInsurance

To be a good recruitment agent you need to be a hard seller as you must sell the job to the candidate and the candidate to the client. At the same time you must be friends with everyone to be able to steal the march both on good candidates becoming available and getting to hear about vacancies first.

Moving into an industry which you dont have knowledge on will be hard given you have neither any connections nor be the best at knowing what the candidates should or shouldnt have.

There are now more candidates than jobs and increasingly PSLs are used. It can work and you can make good money but most dont

smiling_through

Hi InsideInsurance,

My main concern is about the economic times we are in. As you say plenty of people to pick from but are people hiring. I have no doubts this girl can and will pick up the knowledge over time but will she get time as I’ve heard it’s a tough industry and you don’t get time unless your producing results.

Either way she is going for it and good on her you only live once I suppose, worst that can happen she is looking for a new job in a year but on the other hand she could be stinking rich and taking me on an all inclusive holiday lol I just hope it works out for her.

Loft_Boy

OP it really depends on a number of things.

I have worked in Recruitment for 10 years. I started in agency recruitment and am now 'In house' for a large company.

Working as a Rec Con on the agency side depends massively on the type of company you are working for. There are some firms that personally I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. My first firm I worked at was brilliant. Small friendly agency, developed over a number of years working with a good core of key clients. I loved working there and only left because I was made an offer by another firm with this that and the other, so after 2.5 years I moved. I stayed at my new firm for 3 months. Was the worst move I ever made and hated every minute of it. There were no ethics, the owner was a complete nightmare although my line manager was great.

I would make sure she knows everything upfront. What her targets will be from day one, is she inheriting a 'warm' desk i.e are there existing clients or is she starting from scratch. Is she doing Perm, Temp or a mixture of both.

Recruitment can be a great career, and I enjoy it, but the company you work for is key.

smiling_through

Hi Loftboy,

Can I PM you for a little more details?