Hi,
I am an economics student at University of Warwick and will be graduating in July. I have received offers for graduate roles from both a Recruitment firm (specialising in Fintech recruitment) and Personal Tax with Saffrey. I dont know anyone who has gone to uni let alone looked into these roles, if anyone has any experience within these fields and could give me some guidance/advice that would be extremely helpful.
Context: I am 22 yo, I live with my long term boyfriend and will have to be able to pay rent and bills lol. Both of our families live an hour away from Bristol, we live in Warwick but want to move to south west to be closer to family (south west graduate salaries suck). I have no friends and would like to make some but idk i could just be chatty at the gym or something lol.
Both have sent me offer letters, Im not sure which to pick. The recruitment role will take me regardless of grade, saffrey need a 2.1 (but im pretty certain ill get the grade).
The Recruitment role:- starts at 23k (I want to live in Bristol to be closer to home so unfortunately have to take a pay cut in general) but this is the base pay and there is uncapped commission (however, I have been told that it usually takes 8-12 months for people to start making deals to get that commission).
- Lots of progression steps (but not very large salary increases between them), id expect to be getting 30k base pay after 2 years.
-More social (lots of young ppl so i can make some friends - beneficial as i currently have none lol plus im moving to a new city)
- They have been really communicative and nice to me
- unstable pay bc of commission structure? (may cause problems with future mortgages/ renting due to lack of evidence of pay and lack of stability)
- more casual
- target based promotions (hit target, get promoted)
- unstable? high turnover within recruitment (ppl typically quit after a few years)
- Less flexible (no work from home)
- A lot of travelling to London to meet clients (paid for by firm though)
- A lot of cold calling
- 45 hours a week roughly (but they want me to sign a 48-hour working week opt out which makes me think its likely to be a lot more than that) (hours make base pay under £10 an hour but obviously there is the commission element)
- Potential to earn a lot more but not sure on the realistic odds.
- Both have lovely offices but this one is a bit nicer and a bit more fun (ping pong table

)
The Personal Tax Role:- 24k + 1k Christmas Bonus
- They pay for my ATT and CTA (takes 3 years)
- Qualifications beneficial for future (however does mean more exams and learning when i thought i was done

)
- Feels a little more 'grown up'
- Once qualifications are completed, salary rises to 45k (and role becomes senior personal tax consultant) and christmas bonus gets larger depending on performance. There is also a mid-way promotion once the ATT is completed (after around 1.5 years) however was not given a set amount probably around 30k.
- Only 35 hours a week (approx £14 ph)
- Flexible: As of 2nd year, you have the option to work from home (only have to be in office 2 days pw) and all overtime can be done from home (and is paid despite salary system)
- More of a 'long term career' and the flexibility may be beneficial when I have children in around 8-10 years
- Less social - partly due to the work from home model, and typically older staff (there will be other grads but not in my department) so less potential to make close friends but with less hours I will have more time to spend with my boyfriend who I live with.
- Feel like I would be using my economics degree more with this role
- Probably a more respected role
- People typically stay for a long time, low turnover rate compared to recruitment
- Would provide greater transferable skills if i ever change jobs due to the qualifications required and the demand for accountancy/tax roles in all sectors.
- Perhaps less opportunity to earn big bucks but stable income and potential to progress to management in the long term and earn 70-90k
Any advice regarding either of these careers would be extremely helpful. Thankyou!!!!