Thinking of a career in recruitment? Here is the inconvenient truth.
1. Some clients will use and abuse you, they will rarely be loyal and they will sometimes treat you with utter contempt for no good reason.
2. Some candidates will lie to your face, blame you and disrespect you and because of that place you in the most impossible situations that will jeopardise client relationships you've worked tirelessly to nurture.
3. You'll work your absolute socks off for weeks, go above and beyond and just when you think you've made a placement it will all go to shit through no fault of your own often for a tiny reason you have no control over! p.s. It's unlikely you'll be able to charge for this work/effort, so you've done all this FOC!
4. The role can be so frickin boring. Reading CV after CV for days or weeks on end is so incredibly dull!
5. Other recruiters in other agencies will try to screw you and in doing so you'll then try to screw them. We call this STFU - it stands for stitch the *ucke** up. It breeds an incredibly unhelpful, nasty and competitive culture.
6. The industry is packed full of *ick swingers who talk loud and say nothing and rarely last the distance. They'll get you down and make you doubt yourself.
7. Knowing you're only as good as your last month or quarter can cause incredible anxiety which can have a big impact on your mental health.
But…..
8. Making a placement is the most fulfilling and exciting thing, helping someone improve their life for the better and in many cases find happiness in their vocation is extraordinary, exciting, inspiring and it never ever gets tired, not even after 25 years. It's a Perennial pleasure!
9. You never stop learning
10. Sometimes 8 and 9 isn’t enough to offset 1-7!
Look, this job is really tough, it can be so disappointing, so unpredictable, so disheartening it takes unbelievable strength of character because sometimes bad luck can follow you for months.
Want to know why so many recruiters bail out of recruitment. It's because they're rarely ready for the reality. Why, because they rarely told the truth about the tough stuff!
Before you accept a role in recruitment be under no illusions, this job is not for the faint of heart.
It is, without doubt, one of the toughest jobs around, but when it goes right it's frickin brilliant.
Note to the industry - be more honest, be more supportive, be more patient!
