Working as a recruiter

its_brew

Hi all, im in the running for a position within a recruitment agency at the moment.
Im currently working in a fast paced sales environment in a busy clothes shop.
However, I applied for this job on a whim, and suddenly got a reply.
Ive so far passed the first stage of the interview process and must now complete an online assessment.
I'm wondering, what the position is like , has anyone out there on boards.ie been a recruiter/know someone who is. If so, is it a good job?
Cheers. .

Esse85

You'll spend most of the day on the phone.

Mr. Loverman

Is it a good job? It depends which industry you are recruiting for. If it's an industry with a lot of jobs, a lot of people looking for jobs, and a high staff turnover, you'll make a fortune. If they stick you in a dreaded sector like construction, you won't be happy.

Ray Palmer

They are pretty reliant on commission and do long hours. 60-70 hour weeks are pretty common in order to get a commission.

Plus people will hate you with a passion. Lots of people see it as a parasitic business.

murphym7

You are essentially moving from one sales job to another.

whatnext

its a tough gig, but.....

If you put in the work, are good with people, not afraid of the phone and can take many highs and lows in equal measure you can make a good living from it. Its a very transparent business from the inside, if you are not putting in the work and delivering the goods its easy for everyone to see and you will hate it and worse not last. Those who do well are not lucky, they have skill and work hard.

It is a sales job of sorts, you are selling jobs to candidates, candidates to clients, your company to clients. You are constantly negotiating, fee levels with clients, advertising budgets with management, salaries with candidates and clients. Your "product" and your client both have opinions, its not the same as selling a suit, a suit will not refuse to be worn after a sale is agreed or the asking price matched, it wont exaggerate its ability to you or lie on the label. One similarity to retail however is that a lot of clients have expectations beyond their budget.

You deliver more bad news than good, for every vacancy you fill there are rejections to be made, and people you have to tell things to that they don't want to hear or may not accept.

People tell you stories about their personal / career circumstances that make you choke and smile in equal measure.

The most important skill off all is to be able to read between the lines, and matching personalities is just as important as skills.

Having said all that it can be very rewarding financially, professionally and emotionally.

People do say thank you, occasionally, I don't have stacks of thank you cards, but the ones I do have mean a lot for some reason.
And then there is the money - the basic should not be your motivation, a lot of good recruiters earn 2 or 3 times their basic salary in commission.

The biggest piece of advice I can give if you do enter the industry is to remember you are dealing with someones career.
If you are good at what you do the service you provide to candidates is as important as that of their accountant, solicitor or financial adviser and you need to respect that.

Achtung Maybe

I have worked in the recruitment sector for over a decade and used to own a well-known agency in town.

The industry is not for everyone, you need to be trustworthy, personable, presentable with solid sales experience. A typical recruiters role encompasses 3 duties, 1) interviewing candidates 2)presenting to / visiting client companies 3)using your sales skills for day-to-day telephone conversations with clients and candidates alike.

Think of recruitment in its crudest terms as a glorified dating agency; on one hand you have candidates looking for work and on the other hand you have clients seeking to fill jobs.

Following your interviews with candidates your role will be to go through your open roles to decide which position (s) they are most suitable for. Common variables for this include the candidates preference for location, industry type and salary expectations. It is your role to provide him/her with jop specs based on the criteria mentioned. Once the candidate decides on the role(s) they they want to be put forward to then your sales/influencing skills come the fore. You should then send the cv through and call the client and tell them that you have sent a candidate through and provide 3 key reasons why this candidate is a fit for the role. A good tip for this is to use a couple of achievements of his/ her when alluding to their suitability for the role.

Here is an example - say you had a Project Manager who completed a project on time and under budget, find out of the him how much money he saved the company by delivering it under budget. Then you could say to the client something like "I have sent tnrough an outstanding Project Manager for the Project Manager role. Amongst his achievements is that he saved his current company 100k (or relevant figure) by delivering a project underbudget. By doing so within time frame he also provide them 60 extra man-hours to use on other projects. He is working for a company in the same industry is very personable and is very keen on working with you..."

It is a stressful job, but then again what job isnt.. the very best of luck whatever decision you make