Is recruitment a dead end industry.......?
Originally, coming out of uni, I was interested in recruitment as it seemed to be the easiest positions to get into as there is generally a low entry requirement and you don't even have to go to uni for it. However, my dad (who's an electrical engineer) said that recruitment is a dead end job and not well respected my employers as they are generally a bit of a nuisance and are unskilled.
The more I deal with them, the less I like them as well as they seem to be useless bull****ters. They invite you in and say,' yeah we've got loads of positions for you, blah blah blah' and then you never hear from them. They don't even have the decency to bother returning your calls when you call them and leave a message. Essentially, they are just trained to lie, I often know what they're going to say before they even say it, i.e 'yeah, its a great company' etc. lol. So I'm guessing going into it isn't such a good idea? I did an Economics degree and was hoping to get into inside sales of some sort
The more I deal with them, the less I like them as well as they seem to be useless bull****ters. They invite you in and say,' yeah we've got loads of positions for you, blah blah blah' and then you never hear from them. They don't even have the decency to bother returning your calls when you call them and leave a message. Essentially, they are just trained to lie, I often know what they're going to say before they even say it, i.e 'yeah, its a great company' etc. lol. So I'm guessing going into it isn't such a good idea? I did an Economics degree and was hoping to get into inside sales of some sort
Original post by ebam_uk
I have no idea, it would be good for some insiders to shed some light over the recruitment business.
There seem to be so many recruitment/ sales jobs out there on jobs websites, I am surprised we don't have a sub-forum to discuss since they clearly do recruit.
There seem to be so many recruitment/ sales jobs out there on jobs websites, I am surprised we don't have a sub-forum to discuss since they clearly do recruit.
I know, I am literally bombarded daily with recruitment advertisements, earn 50k ote blah blah, whatever
It's a horrible job mate. Avoid it at all costs. The OTE thing is BS too most of the time since they put the targets so high that you'll never reach them. It's a field of deception, bull**** and putting people into any **** job just to get a bonus.
Original post by newts2k
Originally, coming out of uni, I was interested in recruitment as it seemed to be the easiest positions to get into as there is generally a low entry requirement and you don't even have to go to uni for it. However, my dad (who's an electrical engineer) said that recruitment is a dead end job and not well respected my employers as they are generally a bit of a nuisance and are unskilled.
The more I deal with them, the less I like them as well as they seem to be useless bull****ters. They invite you in and say,' yeah we've got loads of positions for you, blah blah blah' and then you never hear from them. They don't even have the decency to bother returning your calls when you call them and leave a message. Essentially, they are just trained to lie, I often know what they're going to say before they even say it, i.e 'yeah, its a great company' etc. lol. So I'm guessing going into it isn't such a good idea? I did an Economics degree and was hoping to get into inside sales of some sort
The more I deal with them, the less I like them as well as they seem to be useless bull****ters. They invite you in and say,' yeah we've got loads of positions for you, blah blah blah' and then you never hear from them. They don't even have the decency to bother returning your calls when you call them and leave a message. Essentially, they are just trained to lie, I often know what they're going to say before they even say it, i.e 'yeah, its a great company' etc. lol. So I'm guessing going into it isn't such a good idea? I did an Economics degree and was hoping to get into inside sales of some sort
There are those that are great at their recruitment jobs but this is built on reputation and connections. If you know the right people, then as a recruiter, you will have the substance when you approach people to hire for that role. However, like I say, the amount of recruitment agencies etc. that are out there far exceed the demand of actual substance-worthy roles; i.e. not cold-calling or working in a data-entry processing centre.
I know two people who have gone into recruitment. One was a qualified solicitor and she went into legal recruitment. She absolutely hated it. The working conditions were horrible; long hours, treated like a robot who would just be let go if you didn't make very high target recruitments and she didn't get paid enough for the suffering. With the high turnover, these agencies often don't care if you give up and leave because there's always someone else willing to fill the gap, if only for a short while. The other is a graduate and he's applying to loads because the benefits package look great but I suspect he'll feel cheated when he eventually finds something. You're a graduate and you're being paid to find other people in the same level as you really good jobs? Sounds wrong to me.
Don't waste your time; your dad is right. If you're an aggressive salesperson whose good at bullshi***** then give it a whirl but if you want to do something more meaningful then look elsewhere.
So I don't have direct experience of working in recruitment, but I have 3 friends who do... hopefully sharing their experiences might help a little bit....
Tow of the guys absolutely hated it, they felt it was pretty morally berefit, essentially a target driven sales role to get people into roles and they found themselves telling lies daily and trying to weasel information out of candidates, e.g. if a candidate said they had an interview somewhere they would ask "oh is that with James, he tends to do recruitment there" (they would have no idea if it was anyone called James) the applicant would then say, oh no it was XXXX actually... They then had a name to call up the company and say we heard you are looking for support in hiring people. Just seems a bit sneaky really.
On the other hand, one of my friends did recruitment for a couple of years, before moving into a much more specialist recruiting/headhunting role and is now on 65k a year quite comfortably with a target based bonus on top of that.
Tow of the guys absolutely hated it, they felt it was pretty morally berefit, essentially a target driven sales role to get people into roles and they found themselves telling lies daily and trying to weasel information out of candidates, e.g. if a candidate said they had an interview somewhere they would ask "oh is that with James, he tends to do recruitment there" (they would have no idea if it was anyone called James) the applicant would then say, oh no it was XXXX actually... They then had a name to call up the company and say we heard you are looking for support in hiring people. Just seems a bit sneaky really.
On the other hand, one of my friends did recruitment for a couple of years, before moving into a much more specialist recruiting/headhunting role and is now on 65k a year quite comfortably with a target based bonus on top of that.
Original post by newts2k
I was interested in recruitment as it seemed to be the easiest positions to get into as there is generally a low entry requirement and you don't even have to go to uni for it.
Possibly the worst motivation to enter a career field. Ever. Have some self respect and self belief.
I work as a headhunter and have done so for the last three years. I expect I will continue to do so for the rest of my working life. Prior to that I worked in various business-to-business telesales jobs and a brief stint some years ago when I was new into the workforce at a "recruitment agency" that proved disastrous.
Recruiting is, in many ways, the most rewarding career you can choose, in terms of income and job satisfaction versus working conditions. There is no other job you can do which has a similar earning potential that doesn't require horrendous working hours, constant travel or several years of post-graduate education. This comes with big caveats, however - you have to learn in the right environment (90%+ of recruitment companies are awful), you have to be an incredibly disciplined, tenacious and resilient person with a faultless work ethic, as well as being emotionally intelligent and empathetic yet assertive, and many other things besides. It's an extremely difficult job and there are many, many FAR easier ways to earn a good living.
The reality is, only a small minority of people who try it out ever stick with it, and a smaller minority still ever excel at it. And it's really not worth doing unless you excel at it and reap the rewards of it. Think of it like acting - it's an amazing career for a few people, and a frustrating, uncertain, stressful hand-to-mouth existence for everyone else.
To add to that, it's never been harder than it is right now. Not only do third-party recruiting services suffer more than any other sector in a recession (indeed, 70-80% of recruiters leave the industry altogether with every recession), but the market is becoming increasingly commoditised and marginalised due to companies bringing their recruiting functions in-house.
I would absolutely not advise going into it straight out of university. Get some life experience first, and some experience in a more straightforward sales environment.
Recruiting is, in many ways, the most rewarding career you can choose, in terms of income and job satisfaction versus working conditions. There is no other job you can do which has a similar earning potential that doesn't require horrendous working hours, constant travel or several years of post-graduate education. This comes with big caveats, however - you have to learn in the right environment (90%+ of recruitment companies are awful), you have to be an incredibly disciplined, tenacious and resilient person with a faultless work ethic, as well as being emotionally intelligent and empathetic yet assertive, and many other things besides. It's an extremely difficult job and there are many, many FAR easier ways to earn a good living.
The reality is, only a small minority of people who try it out ever stick with it, and a smaller minority still ever excel at it. And it's really not worth doing unless you excel at it and reap the rewards of it. Think of it like acting - it's an amazing career for a few people, and a frustrating, uncertain, stressful hand-to-mouth existence for everyone else.
To add to that, it's never been harder than it is right now. Not only do third-party recruiting services suffer more than any other sector in a recession (indeed, 70-80% of recruiters leave the industry altogether with every recession), but the market is becoming increasingly commoditised and marginalised due to companies bringing their recruiting functions in-house.
I would absolutely not advise going into it straight out of university. Get some life experience first, and some experience in a more straightforward sales environment.
Original post by ProStacker
Possibly the worst motivation to enter a career field. Ever. Have some self respect and self belief.
The problem being I couldn't get into more respectable careers like accountancy and finance as I fell just short of a 2.1 in my Economics degree and got decent A levels and an A at Maths at school but all of that means **** all with a 2.2. I resent the fact that I did a tough degree and got a 2.2 but basically can barely find a graduate job. I understand if someone has a 2.1 in a similar degree should be above me in the pecking order but think its wrong that someone with a mickey mouse 2.1 from a poly should have precedence over me when applying
Original post by HighestKungFu
It's a horrible job mate. Avoid it at all costs. The OTE thing is BS too most of the time since they put the targets so high that you'll never reach them. It's a field of deception, bull**** and putting people into any **** job just to get a bonus.
yeah true, the whole industry is based on lies. I mean the people who stay it are usually bereft of morals and greedy
Just part of the modern world, we all sit in offices selling each other insurance policies. There are a handful of good recruitment consultants around and they make a fortune, the rest barely make a living.
My advice is to go self-employed in something you like - if it works out and you can earn a living, then brilliant, if not at least you gave it a go, and McDonalds will still be hiring.
My advice is to go self-employed in something you like - if it works out and you can earn a living, then brilliant, if not at least you gave it a go, and McDonalds will still be hiring.
It's called rec to rec, are you sure you're at uni?? I'm in recruitment we fill jobs on average commanding £100k salaries we charge 20%=. £20,000 fee. I keep between 10%-30% plus my basic. I went to uni got a 2.2 in engineering went into wealth management only made 38k in my first year, so I went into recruitment. Never ever looked back. We are recruitment ****ers and we earn more then you because we place you in these
Not everyone is cut out for it and the culture within rec agencies probably varies from the cowboys to the more professional outfits. As with any career or employer do your research and choose carefully I guess.
Original post by newts2k
The more I deal with them, the less I like them as well as they seem to be useless bull****ters. They invite you in and say,' yeah we've got loads of positions for you, blah blah blah' and then you never hear from them. They don't even have the decency to bother returning your calls when you call them and leave a message. Essentially, they are just trained to lie, I often know what they're going to say before they even say it, i.e 'yeah, its a great company' etc.
The more I deal with them, the less I like them as well as they seem to be useless bull****ters. They invite you in and say,' yeah we've got loads of positions for you, blah blah blah' and then you never hear from them. They don't even have the decency to bother returning your calls when you call them and leave a message. Essentially, they are just trained to lie, I often know what they're going to say before they even say it, i.e 'yeah, its a great company' etc.
Haha, it sounds like you've been to the same sort of interviews I've been to!
I had a final interview with a company where I was told I would receive an answer on the day. The interviewer left, his subordinate came in and said he'd phone me tomorrow. Since then it's like they've been wiped off the face of the earth, which is funny since you'd think a recruitment firm would know how to handle this kind of thing.
It doesn't seem like a terribly fulfilling job though: long hours, cold calling and the only reason people get into it is money. I've noticed there's a lot of variation between firms. The more relaxed ones don't seem too bad but a few that I've been in are almost like cults.
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