For a long time, I had started to wonder if all recruitment agencies really were the same. You’re often told that as a consultant working in the industry that the working environment in recruitment agencies is pretty similar across the board and that you shouldn’t expect any different. It makes it hard to believe someone when they say their agency really is different, but when I met Gerard, the managing director at RECRUITERS, I knew it really was different.
Other recruitment consultants reading this might be used to vibes similar to loud sales floors, with lauded top billers, a lot of stress and office politics. There’s an energy that comes with that type of working environment and it’s clear when you walk into any office. The reason this model is so common is that it works in the short term. Encouraging competition among employees driven by money will lead them to bill more and by extension make more money for the company. But it doesn’t create a good working atmosphere or retain staff.
So, what made me believe that RECRUITERS was different from the more common model?
When I met Gerard, I thought he was very authentic. He had no ego and a leader like that always bodes well for the rest of the employees because I believe workplace behaviours, both good and bad, come from the top.
I also liked the fact that even though he’s the managing director, he still recruits and I think that’s important because when even the most senior people in the business are billing it means they have an up-to-date understanding of the market, they know what support you need and they know the pain of rejection that invariably comes with recruitment.
I used to believe that bigger was better because it meant more opportunities, but I’ve actually come to realise the size RECRUITERS is now and even the size it plans to grow to is much better for consultants to grow their career.
It also means there’s no internal politics, no excessive meetings and a lot more hands-on support. Again, the positive energy and genuinely supportive culture is something you can see and feel as soon as you walk in the building; it can’t be faked.
I have met a lot of agencies and no one has ever given me anything to take home from an interview. But when I met Ger, he gave me a handbook that clearly explained the commission structure, showed what life in the company was like and what’s expected of consultants.
It was brilliant to have a tangible handbook to walk away with because when you’re having a meeting like that, there’s a lot of information to take in, especially when it comes to numbers and commission. To be able to take that information home and to be able to see that the commission structure was clear was really unique because I didn’t get anything like that anywhere else.
I always liked the consultant part of my role as a recruiter. I always said it to my team over the years as well, that it was important to remember their title is ‘recruitment consultant’ and that the second part of that title is huge.
From speaking to Ger and hearing that the company works towards putting that consultancy piece back into the recruitment role, really appealed to me because I think it instils a different behaviour.
Being sales-driven is fine and the skillset that comes with it is an excellent asset, but treating it completely like a sales job can encourage bad behaviour. I’ve always believed that focusing on the consultancy side of the job gives consultants room to grow and develop their career and also bed down in their market and become a real expert in their field instead of only focusing on fees.
I remember around my third week into the job, I was worried I wasn’t busy enough. I said this to a friend in the industry who made me realise that it’s not that I wasn’t busy, it’s that I wasn’t stressed. You can so easily associate stress with busyness and productivity, which leads you to think if you’re not stressed, you must not be working hard enough.
But working in RECRUITERS has made me realise that you don’t have to be stressed out to be busy, and that’s clear throughout the company. There’s an energy in the room that’s excitable and buzzing, but no one is tearing out their hair.
My ideas are already being encouraged and supported. Recruitment is a brilliant industry but it can also be repetitive in a way, so being able to stretch creative muscles and get involved in other areas is great to stay engaged.
If you are ever interested in events, in podcasts, in writing, or anything else, you can do it here but you’re also supported. For instance, I’m working with the marketing manager on a HR event but the work isn’t all on me, it’s much more collaborative and planned out. The team here are really passionate about ensuring that everyone is working at their best in whatever way they can.
Generally, negative or tough work environments lead to high turnover rates and I think recruitment is one of those industries that suffer from high turnover, due to the model I mentioned, which can sometimes nurture negative behaviour and unhealthy competition. I believe these were the problems the RECRUITERS directors wanted to avoid when setting up the company and I think those problems are still quite common within the industry.
If anyone was wondering what makes RECRUITERS different, the staff retention speaks for itself. When I looked at the RECRUITERS team page and saw many of the consultants had been there for three, five or seven years, that really said a lot about the kind of working environment I was joining.
One of the biggest things I noticed since joining RECRUITERS is that while being a top biller is praised and targets definitely need to be met, as with all recruitment, consultants are praised for all aspects of their abilities, not just for how much money they made.
There are other attributes that are celebrated. Everyone’s performing really well but there are other things that you hear about them, such as the best reviews on Trustpilot, company cultural champions, praise for working tough roles, or even being a good ambassador for a client. There’s no big obnoxious prize at the end of the year that instils a competitive streak that can lead to people trying to grab fees, because everyone is celebrated.
Money is always going to be a factor, but numbers follow numbers and if you’re working hard and you’re supported and guided in your role, then it doesn’t sting as much when you’re having a tough month. And when a business is there with support for the down days, it becomes a much nicer place to work and that’s what I’ve found here.
Interested in learning more about working at RECRUITERS? Check out our Life at RECRUITERS page or click here for our current vacancies.
By Patricia Lynch
Patricia is an Associate Director at RECRUITERS
