I love being a recruiter.
Seriously, I think it’s the best job in the world.
Yet 80% of people who enter this industry, fail in the first 2 years, leave, and are never sighted again.
And it’s true, it is tough being a recruiter. And I believe in the modern era it’s getting even harder. During the downturn it got even worse. We all worked harder and harder, and earned less and less.
On top of that, our customers seem to resent us more than ever, as can be seen in my recent blog, ‘God I hate recruiters’.
Ironically there is a fate worse than being amongst the 80% of recruiters who fail. Yes, being an average, mediocre, ploddy recruiter who survives is real purgatory. Why? Because this job is too hard, has too many disappointments, not to be great at it. You have to be a great recruiter to reap the rewards that make it all worthwhile.
So for the top 5%, the cream, recruiting is the coolest job in the world.
Here’s why:
- Recruiting is a win/win/win. Unlike most commercial transactions, recruiting is not a win/lose scenario. If I sell you a car I aim for the highest price, you push for the lowest. One of us will feel we ‘won’, the other a bit despondent that we ‘lost’. But in the perfect recruitment scenario everybody wins. Happy client, happy candidate, happy you. This is not as trivial as it seems. There is something intensely rewarding about doing a job where everyone is grateful, everyone is excited with the outcome… and then you get paid as well.
- You create great outcomes. Maybe the coolest thing about being a recruiter is that this is a job where you actually make good things happen. The candidate is reluctant to go on an interview, but through your influencing skills they reluctantly go along, do fantastically well, love the job, and get hired! The client won’t see your top talent because of something they spotted in the resume, but you persist, explaining the person is better than the paper, the client relents and your talent gets the job, gets promoted and in time becomes your client! For me, when I recruited, this was the real buzz. Making things happen. Controlling the process. I would crack open a beer on Friday and reflect. That would NOT have happened if I had not seen the opportunity and influenced the outcome. Beyond cool.
- And of course that leads us to another reason why recruiting rocks. What we do actually matters. I mean it really matters. Recruiters get a horrific rap sometimes, and often it’s deserved but hey, at the end of the day, we find people jobs! And that’s a good thing right? Something to be proud of. It makes an impact. We change people’s lives. We solve companies staffing issues. We help people further their career ambitions. Fantastic!
- One of the beautiful things about our business is that it is so measurable. This does not suit everybody I know, but in recruiting there is nowhere to hide, and I like that. If you have the right temperament, you will thrive in this competitive environment, love the fact that you can measure yourself against your competitors and colleagues, and revel in the transparency of fee-tables and pay-by-results. Truly in our business, you eat what you kill.
- You can own your market. If you have longevity, if you maintain integrity, if you deliver service and outcomes that your customers want… you can elevate yourself to a true trusted advisor, and then recruitment becomes a beautiful, beautiful thing. All your work is exclusive, all your candidates come via referrals and commendations, clients treat you with respect, seek your advice, bring you into the tent . You actually ‘own’ your patch and that is a wonderful place to be!
Yes it’s true. Recruiting Rocks. When it all boils down, what all of us want from a great job is just two things. Fun & Money. And if you’re a great recruiter you’ll get lots of both. The fun of winning, the fun of finding people jobs, the fun of working in a job that actually counts. And money? I don’t mean how much you earn, although of course that important. I mean working in a job where you get a great return on your efforts. That is where it is at!
So if you are having a down day. Never forget. Fun and money.
Recruitment rocks!
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I really liked this article Greg – my day didn’t start so well, but you have reminded me of all the good bits. Thank you.
Great read. Happy Easter to all.
Greg, I really enjoyed this.. I spend a bit of time reaffirming the value of what we Recruiters do…. you have summed it up very nicely indeed… Thanks for this
Absolutely spot on, enjoyed reading it as I totally agree. Some of that would actually make a great add for a recruiters position. Have a wonderful Easter break.
I agree Greg, I have been doing this for 16 years and one of the things that keeps me coming back for more is the altruistic part of being a recruiter – finding great jobs for fabulous talents and getting them what they want in their careers and seeing them do well in good companies. Oh and the money making part is good too! Early on in my recruitment career, someone told me that a recruiter is like a king maker, we decide (to a certain extent) who gets to be king!
Some parts of this are going up as my FB status
Great post Greg – brilliant sentiments, and I am certain it should be a wake-up call to all recruiters: If you don’t feel like this about your `career` as a recruiter, then you need to get out.
What we do is great. If it isn’t, then we’re doing it wrong.
Fantastic, exactly the reasons why I am in recruitment. The challenge, the buzz, the rewards and the fun. I agree with Steve, if you don’t feel like this about being a recruiter, probably time to look for something else
Recruitment gives you a feeling like Rocky at the top of the steps
Fantastic post yet again Greg. From the day I entered recruitment/search till now I havn’t looked back.
The trouble with the bad publicity and retention rate is that “anyone” and their pooch can enter recruitment. Getting a job in recruitment is almost as easy as getting a job at a supermarket, I could even argue that it is easier to get a job in recruitment than retail. When you have an unlimited number of people entering the industry invariably a large percentage of them are going to leave early on.
Amazing writing, perfect insight , excellent motivation – thanks for sharing can’t wait for your next piece!!
Great post! So true!
Someone else agrees with me!
Work hard, Play hard.
You made my day:) What you mentioned are absolutely true. We do change lives for the better , if I may add, and get good Karma! Sharing this piece with my colleagues & fraternity.
How true….rarely have I seen the essence of why we love this career encapsulted so well…top post.
Thanks Greg, that’s a kick-arse article – and absolutely spot-on!
Thank you Greg, I love the artical and it has given me the amunition to do well and made me feel very proud of what we do.
Greg Savage You ROCK : ))) That post has to be one of the best posts Ive read on here. Its like enjoying and listening to a Legendary Classic House Track … You could post it again in a few months and we would all love reading it again !
Molto Grazie’. I needed this article.
I completely agree Greg, after my 30 years in the industry your sentiments still ring as true now as they did when I first started.
Thank you and Happy Easter
Great blog….Greg….I have never heard so good about Recruitment. thanks to you.
Greg, it is so good to read your post. 17 years and I feel I make a difference every day. I love what I do!
Thanks for this! A great start of a Thursday morning!
Brilliant!, finally some positivity around the job I love
fair one
Great article Greg. I’ll remember read this next time I have a bad day
Absolutely true Greg – thanks for reminding me of all the good reasons why I enjoy the industry so much. I love making a difference!
Beware the industry where only 5% of employees derive any degree of success and job satifaction. In the 80s Allied Dunbar the insurance sales company hired and lost at such a rate that someone calculated that it wouldn’t be long before thay’d hired everyone in the UK!
The 95% that leave disallusioned tell their stories in pubs up and down the country and their message does untold damage to the industries image and reputation.
The solution is to change recruitment into a more diverse and less punishing career. At the moment it is neither diverse, less punishing or a career.
This article made me smile. The last few days have been a complete cluster-f*ck of recruitment, and it makes me weary and at times hate my job. But, you have reminded me of what I so often forget – I make a difference for people! To me it’s not about reaping the benefits in the way of monetary gain, but about meeting new people, getting to know them through in depth interviews and then skill marketing them to my clients. When the client is happy, the associate is happy, and in the end, I am happy. As you said – Win/Win/Win!
Nice post. I am glad some people out there feel this way. In case any of you are contract recruiters looking for more jobs to fill, visit http://www.aa-staffing.com/jobs.html to see a bunch of available jobs.
We are looking for contract recruiters for 50/50 splits.
Greg, again, great article. Thanks for giving us all hope!!
Working onsite for a corporate client is even better! No sales!
The sales driven KPI telesales mentality is what gives agency recruitment its bad name, as a large percentage of agency staffers are only interested in the commission cheque at the end of the month.
Go onsite or in house, study for an professional HR qualification and discover ‘real’ recruitment.
Agree 150% I have been in the Industry 8 years and love my job. For me it is the most rewarding job in the world! Where else do you as an individual have the opportunity to improve the quality of another individual’s life?
So many times I look back and shed a tear as my candidates have with me and remember what it felt like finding that person who has been unemployed for an extended period of time a job… THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD!!!
Greg wonderful article , wonderful thoughts. After reading this article i feels proud to be a recruiter. It creates dignity towards our job.
I like this article at a such extent, I am gonna post it on the wall of my house. Thanks a lot.
I have been recruiting for more than 20 years now and I have explored different aspects of HR during that time, I still always come back to recruiting and staffing. The key is that I can truly affect people in this role. It’s kind of like paying it forward… I just start the chain. One of these days what goes around will come around and I will be ready!!!
Great article, so true! thank you for sharing
That’s a cool Peppy Article… Great Thoughts & Motivating….Thanks for sharing
Loved the article too as it is spot on and a reminder of what happens behind the scenes.
Fanatastic article….Iam Proud to be a recruiter.Thanks for posting such a good one…
Brilliant, Greg. I couldn’t agree more.
The leverage that a recruiter has is enormous. Good recruitment is a positive to the candidate, the client, the agency and the entire world economy. Getting the right person in the right job – not just merely near enough – can double or quadruple – or increase ten or a hundred times – the effect of the transaction. And if you think that’s over-stating it: For every Google or FaceBook or LinkedIn there are a thousand failures. So the key people in the winning companies are a thousand times more productive than the also-rans.
But finding the RIGHT niche for someone is hard. And it’s rewarding, and satisfying, and makes recruitment the best job in the world.
And it is SO enjoyable to have a candidate come back – repeatedly – and ask your advice about where her career should go, and they take it, and they thrive.
Greg, loved this article… Well said… Recruitment rocks… Keeps me going..
ray@upandgo.net.au or 0404200000 Up & Go
Great article! I love what I do and passionate about it. The biggest buzz for me….we have a positive impact on peoples lives. Think about it….we can change their financial status for the better, improve their quality of life and create opportunities for people who may not have chance otherwise. We all should be proud of what we do!
Great read!
I’ve just found this blog and article, and it truely reflects my belief’s.
I love it.
My boss just sent this to me… great motivation for a Monday morning! This week is going to be a good one
Day 4 as a recruiter … terrific read!!
Totally agree- I love to say that recruiting pays me for all of my bad qualities, I’m chatty, impatient, and blunt!
Only discovering your Recruitment blogging talent now Greg, but delighted to have found this little nugget in our world –
Great writing – keep it up
Great comments really made me think and I DO LOVE MY JOB AT CERTAIN TIMES…….I have been doing it for 20 years and have made myself and a lot of applicants really happy!
It is good to recruit but how best to go about it is what matters and the end result.
Before reading this blog i was only 70% sure i want to get in to recruiting but now I’m 110% sure……. I wan’t too learn as much as i can. At the moment Im looking for work experience. If anyone out there in Sydney looking for a new very energetic recruiter please email me Brentonmartin19@hotmail.com
CHEERS
David Palmer has made a very good comment above, Chris Walker is in my view completely out to lunch, and the rest, well, it’s just manic rambling from the Mutual Admiration Society of Transitory Salespeople isn’t it.
What recruitment requires has changed. Forever.
Either;
- you ‘get’ this, OR,
- you’re open enough to learn how to get it, OR
- you’re desperately trying to figure out why your work just doesn’t mean much anymore, to yourself or to others as it did back in the nineties and naughties.
There is hope – a new mentality and practices that can be applied – you just have to want success really badly (that hasn’t changed), position yourself close to a mentor or two who get it, and ideally have no recruitment experience or background pre-2008.