Anyone work in recruitment? How does it fit around children?

[Paperbear]

I am looking to change careers and my number 1 goal is that it fits around children. I see lots of people choose a job in a school, or something similar so it fits nicely around school hours however this isn't for me.

Has anyone worked in recruitment and found it flexible?

Not really, no. The opposite actually.

It's a competitive industry predominantly made up of (inexperienced) graduates/young people and you generally work longer hours to be available before/after working hours to interview your candidates.

This is predominantly the case for agency recruitment.

You could find an in-house recruitment role perhaps which would be entry level (ie Admin/Coordinator) most likely and would offer a lot more flexibility and generally be less of a "race", but again those are generally entry level and quite competitive with either graduates, or those within agency recruitment who want to move in-house. Pay is generally poor too.

Recruiters are ten a penny so it's unlikely you'd find a more senior/flexible/mature role in recruitment without any experience - just being honest.

I've worked in recruitment for over a decade now since graduating and now have a huge amount of flexibility in my role, but I needed to put the graft and hours in during the earlier years to get to this point.

If I could go back in time and speak to the old newly-graduated me, I would strongly advise her not to go into recruitment 😅