Is Anyone On Here In Recruitment?

[Big Tav]

Hi,

I just wanted to see if anyone on here is a Recruitment Consultant? I wanted to ask someone who has been in the job for a while (and been successful at it) what exactly it involves? I am looking to start a new job since I have just come over to the UK in December. I am currently in Edinburgh. I have a background in Sales and I have been told I should seriously consider becoming a consultant. I would love to hear the real story of what required, qualifications, base salary, comms etc.

I am sure there several areas or directions you can go within the industry too. How much is in the office as opposed to being out getting new business? Do some recruiters not do any business development at all?

Feel free to post up here or shoot me an email to [e-mail]

Cheers,

Scott

[don4l]

I know two people who took jobs in recruitment, and both of them regretted it quite quickly.

Both of them were on a very low basic salary and ended up borrowing money to pay their living expenses.

Recruitment is an unusual industry. You can set up in business with almost no capital investment (phone + PC + printer/photocopier). This means that there are more agencies than the market can support.

Be careful.


Don
--

[NickHKent]

It depends what you call low...

The biggest basic I pay is £45k (my biggest billing manager) and the lowest is £18k (junior consultant). On average the people within my business can earn double their basic after a year and the vast majority earn over £50k.

My biggest biller earns approximately £150k per annum at the moment.

If you are serious about moving into recruitment I suggest you approach the reputable city based firms (Badenoch & Clark for example) rather than a high street outfit that does industrial recruitment.

Good luck.

[Big Tav]

NickHKent said:

If you are serious about moving into recruitment I suggest you approach the reputable city based firms (Badenoch & Clark for example) rather than a high street outfit that does industrial recruitment.

Hi mate,

I understand it is better to go to a city based firm but what is the main difference over the high street one doing industrial recruitment?

Can you pick what field you go into when you are starting or do you just get trained and the company who first hired you find you a spot?

I am very good at whatever I do if I find the right job and it interests me. That's why I just need the correct advice before I pursue this further. I would hate to go to the wrong recruiter and have them put me off the job or not be able to offer the right options.

I was making quite good money working for BMW in Sydney but I just feel like a change and recruitment came up as an option.

Looking forward to more replies!

[rog007]

Unless you are aiming to be a specialist recruiter as a result of your own qualifications, skills and existing networks in that industry, you'll find it tough and not so well paid to be a generalist recruiter. However, if your interpersonal skills and ability to build up strong networks quickly are good then you may do OK. Good luck!

[Mojooo]

Long hours is a common theme. I know someone who did financial recruitment and 8-6 was norm

As was massive bullstting.

[Romanymagic]

I have been in IT recruitment for 14 years. I started off as a junior Recruiter placing Cobol programmers ahead of Y2K. I then moved into BA/PM's within asset management/investment management which has kept me in car magazines and the wife in karen millen ever since.

The job is hard, especially if you intend having integrity within business. To make it you need to meet specific targets, no matter what (and herein lies the reason the recruitment industry can have a bit of a bad name), however if you work hard, never mind the hours, build up a business network through your placements and client contacts, then it can be a rewarding and satisfying career.

In my first two years I averaged an 11 hour day, which was spent cold calling, resourcing, recruiting, liaising and admin. If successful you will at one stage have too many clients and you will streamline by sorting out those clients that you have a good margin agreed to those who you had no choice but to agree a low margin which subsequently will not be so attractive once you have established more credible business.

I now manage a team of trainee consultants. Financially I have colleagues who have earnt in excess of £190K per annum, our current lowest performer is on £55K per annum. a Recruitment Consultant career is rather unique in terms of the somewhat ridiculous amounts of money you can earn.

[okgo]

How is it unique?

How does it differ in terms of being able to earn large money fairly quickly from IT sales, advertising sales, property letting/sales and to a lesser extent car sales?

Just curious

[NickHKent]

Big Tav said:

NickHKent said:

If you are serious about moving into recruitment I suggest you approach the reputable city based firms (Badenoch & Clark for example) rather than a high street outfit that does industrial recruitment.

Hi mate,

I understand it is better to go to a city based firm but what is the main difference over the high street one doing industrial recruitment?

Can you pick what field you go into when you are starting or do you just get trained and the company who first hired you find you a spot?

I am very good at whatever I do if I find the right job and it interests me. That's why I just need the correct advice before I pursue this further. I would hate to go to the wrong recruiter and have them put me off the job or not be able to offer the right options.

I was making quite good money working for BMW in Sydney but I just feel like a change and recruitment came up as an option.

Looking forward to more replies!

In essence the few differences are credibility, margin, and the type of people that you will deal with.

For example, if you place an interim manager within the NHS or a Local Authority you can expect to make £100/day margin. If you work in high st (industrial) the margin is likely to be 20/day if you are lucky. Candidates at the senior end of the market are much more likely to be reliable and credible, to protect their own reputation if nothing else.

I went into recruitment after 5 years in business management and I was careful to select an organisation that would invest in me, and as a result are much more likely to be patient and allow me to develop. I went through an assessment centre and got selected for the public sector division of a business and made a decent fist of it.

I certainly wouldn't recommend starting in this sector at the moment, you need to be in a market that is trending the right way. It certainly isn't easy though, no other object/product you will ever sell with have the unique quality of a human- the ability to change their mind...

Recruitment is unique in terms of the numbers involved, you can make decent money in letting for example but the margins are terrible.

[skeeterm5]

Big Tav said:

what exactly it involves?

In my experience the mass market end of things involves sending random emails and CVs to random managers (like me). They get short shrift if they even manage to get past my secretary, which is seldom.

However, when I am actually interested in recruiting somebody I will use a very small number of trusted individuals to help me. It doesnt matter who they are actually working for, I buy the skills of the individual.

S

[johnfm]

Mojooo said:

Long hours is a common theme. I know someone who did financial recruitment and 8-6 was norm

As was massive bullstting.

8-6 long hours???

50 hours a week really is not long hours.

[Mojooo]

johnfm said:

Mojooo said:

Long hours is a common theme. I know someone who did financial recruitment and 8-6 was norm

As was massive bullstting.

8-6 long hours???

50 hours a week really is not long hours.

it is when you knock out 35

Edited by Mojooo on Sunday 23 January 22:34

[AJS-]

okgo said:

How is it unique?

How does it differ in terms of being able to earn large money fairly quickly from IT sales, advertising sales, property letting/sales and to a lesser extent car sales?

Just curious

I'd say the difficult thing about recruitment is that every deal requires 2 "sales."

Both the candidate and the company must buy each other. Computers, adverts and houses don't change their mind, accept counter offers, dislike the person who buys them or hear bad things about the company you are trying to sell them to.

Changing jobs is also a hugely significant decision for most people. On a par with buying a new house or car, and that makes the decision part rational, part emotional and very complicated for most people.

On the other hand if you get it right then it's very rewarding, and as you learn to spot the right matches it gets much easier.

[AshBaldry]

I think this would be ideal for me,just getting into it seems difficult hmmm

[okgo]

AshBaldry said:

I think this would be ideal for me,just getting into it seems difficult hmmm

Really?

Every 2nd job on the boards is to be a recruiter!

[AshBaldry]

Trainee though? I expect not so easy! And again it's a big risk

[Gargamel]

I have been in recruitment for 15years, man and boy, hardest game in the world, etc.

Name and reputation are everything, both yours and the business you work for. Do some proper due diligence on the businesses you are looking at.

Hays and Michael page for example have good market position, brand name and the training is excellent. In the longer run they are probably not specialist enough. But as an entry point they are both good firms.

[Original Poster]

AshBaldry said:

Trainee though? I expect not so easy! And again it's a big risk

It really isn't hard to get into recruitment. When I decided I wanted to get into recruitment I just applied for every trainee position in the area, you will get interviews regardless of your background as long as you throw a cover letter in stating how keen you are to get into the industry.

[AJS-]

Getting in is easy, staying in is hard.

[okgo]

Michael Page want 7 interviews out of you to join.

Utterly ridiculous.