to ask about the recruitment industry?

[BulliedNoMore]

I work for social services currently and I am bored of it. Looking for a change. Have lots of transferable skills. Always been interested in working for a rectuitment agency since I was a temp myself years ago. A lot of the ads for recruitment companies on Indeed etc. have ludicrous salary ranges; starting very low then going to £80k or "uncapped". I understand that it's largely commission-based but how likely is it to get to these very high salaries? Also they say perks of the job include (for example) work trips to Vegas / Ibiza / Dubai etc. I guess if something seems to good to be true then it probably is.... But I would love to know your experiences... Is it a horrible dog eat dog world? Do you really get these high salaries? I am in a position now where I can't earn more than ~35k unless I move into management which I don't want to do as am a single parent (shared care but I have DC majority of the time. Also if recruitment really doesn't work with having smallish kids please be brutal and tell me...). Many thanks!!!

@tealandteal

When I worked in recruitment I didn’t see a lot of people working there with kids, one of the reasons I left was that it was not family friendly and I wanted to start a family. Working hours 8-6, you were expected to meet 5 clients and 5 candidates a week I think, as well as making 20+ calls a day. All very target driven, everything you do is recorded. You would be expected to call new clients to try and get them to work with you, call existing clients to check for any vacancies, sell one of your candidates to start with them. A temp desk is very fast paced, if a client calls with a vacancy you were expected to tell them all about your candidates and get them to agree for one to start then and there. If you go on holiday this has an impact on your earnings for the month. The base was around 22k and some months you could earn and extra 1k, the higher ups would obviously earn more. It’s very cut throat, people leaving suddenly, other agencies trying to take your roles, even other consultants at the same company claiming part of your fees.

Thank you very much, this is really helpful to know. Telling that not many of your colleagues had kids 😬

@Blahdyblahbla

It's a work hard play hard culture. You'll be expected to work 8-6 as a minimum, and be available on Friday nights for drinks etc. From your user name, if you are being bullied at work, you'd probably HATE recruitment. It's dog eat dog, and you can be sacked or managed out on a whim. Most successful recruitment consultants are arseholes in my experience.

I agree with this in spades, worked in recruitment industry for years and it's a revolving door of staff

@heymammy - do you mean like people leaving / getting poached by other firms and / or getting fired all the time?

One of my best friends owns and runs a very successful niche (blue-chip, City-based) recruitment agency, and it is HARSH: he's the first to admit it was one of the deciding factors in the breakdown of his marriage.

As PPs have said, it is sales on steroids and really, REALLY not for the faint of heart. Definitely not a nice 'let's find nice people nice jobs' kind of a career.

I too lasted a year, I was in a start up, IT headhunting firm. I'm pretty tough by nature, (I've since successfully worked in sales in investment banking for 20 years), but sometimes I'd sit in my car and cry at lunchtime.

I covered NW London, living in SE London. I was expected to get up around 5.30am, drive to NW London to conduct the breakfast candidate meetings, then drive back to the SE London office, do a full day of cold calling and receiving threatening calls from candidates employers threating to break my legs, then drive back to NW London after work to conduct the after work candidate interviews. Candidates want to talk to you outside their own working hours i.e. evenings and weekends and if you can't/won't, they will soon find another recruiter who will.

There was so much back stabbing in the office about which candidate 'belonged' to which recruiter, I had to tell so many lies, both to find potential candidates and then to candidates about how good the job was to get them to apply. I made good money, certainly compared to friends of similar ages, but I wouldn't return for £1m a year. Investment banking has far more integrity than recruitment in my own experience.

@BulliedNoMore people getting fired all the time, usually within their first 6 months if they don't start making fees pretty quickly.

It really is all about the sales and not even remotely about helping people. The recruiter's primary relationship is with their clients and not their candidates

Like any industry there is a huge range of roles and businesses.

I started in recruitment and now do board-level search but have only worked for lovely companies in the 15 years I’ve been doing it. Very family friendly (I work three days) and the pay is excellent.

Some industries are tough and salesy - I would say IT and finance being the most like this.

I think if you pick a sector you’re interested in and work for a small firm with good values, possibly start more research focused if you are keen on doing senior end of the market, or account management if freelance/temps is more interesting to you.

@edwinbear

I too lasted a year, I was in a start up, IT headhunting firm. I'm pretty tough by nature, (I've since successfully worked in sales in investment banking for 20 years), but sometimes I'd sit in my car and cry at lunchtime.

I covered NW London, living in SE London. I was expected to get up around 5.30am, drive to NW London to conduct the breakfast candidate meetings, then drive back to the SE London office, do a full day of cold calling and receiving threatening calls from candidates employers threating to break my legs, then drive back to NW London after work to conduct the after work candidate interviews. Candidates want to talk to you outside their own working hours i.e. evenings and weekends and if you can't/won't, they will soon find another recruiter who will.

There was so much back stabbing in the office about which candidate 'belonged' to which recruiter, I had to tell so many lies, both to find potential candidates and then to candidates about how good the job was to get them to apply. I made good money, certainly compared to friends of similar ages, but I wouldn't return for £1m a year. Investment banking has far more integrity than recruitment in my own experience.

Jesus that is brutal 😳 😪 I would hate lying to people.

what is sales in investment banking, out of interest?

@DoThePropeller

Like any industry there is a huge range of roles and businesses.

I started in recruitment and now do board-level search but have only worked for lovely companies in the 15 years I’ve been doing it. Very family friendly (I work three days) and the pay is excellent.

Some industries are tough and salesy - I would say IT and finance being the most like this.

I think if you pick a sector you’re interested in and work for a small firm with good values, possibly start more research focused if you are keen on doing senior end of the market, or account management if freelance/temps is more interesting to you.

Thanks for this it is nice to hear it's not all bad 😊