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Every day we talk to candidates about the possibility of working in recruitment as a career.

We talk about the pros and cons of what it is to be a recruiter, what the industry is like as well as what it takes to be successful.

When we think back to careers days at school the traditional career choices didn’t lead to recruitment, it generally went along the lines of becoming a lawyer, nurse/doctor or even a musician. The recruitment industry was, and still is, sadly looked over.

So, how do people find out about recruitment? Many find out through word of mouth, perhaps through a friend or even through an online post. But the question we often get asked is, “What’s it like to work in recruitment?”

We thought we’d try and sum up what it’s really like to work in recruitment in 5 bullet points.

• Demanding. When you work in recruitment you are providing a service to candidates and clients. This means that if you say you’ll do something you need to do it and sometimes this may mean that you’ll end up staying late after work or even getting into the office early. It’s those that go the extra mile that reap the rewards.
• Not for the faint hearted. Recruitment can be a tough old business, some days you’ll feel like everything you touch turns to gold, on others you’ll feel like it’s falling apart. Every day is a new day and with that comes new opportunities and challenges, so you need to be resilient.
• All about people. Your business is people. Whether you’re selling a client to a candidate or a candidate to a client, your product and your business is people. This means you can’t just have good communication skills, you need excellent communication skills. Recruitment is about fulfilling needs, managing expectations and providing an add-value service.
• Fast paced. You’re in the middle of a phone call or writing an email when a colleague shouts “Job on!” You drop everything in an instant and get on the phone briefing candidates on your new role, making sure that every second counts. If your team aren’t on the phone calling and briefing candidates you could lose that candidate to another agency which could mean losing out on a fee. It’s a flash of adrenaline, it’s excitement, it’s fast paced and definitely not a role for a slow coach.
• Rewarding. Placing your first candidate or even your hundredth, this industry is hugely satisfying. Working through the entire recruitment process from sourcing a candidate to briefing them on a job and coaching them through the interview process to the offer stage, it’s a job that you can see the benefits of from the beginning. Knowing that you’ve not only made a great fee, but have made a difference to someone’s work team and career makes this job really worth it.

In a nut shell, that’s what it’s like to work in recruitment. Obviously, nothing beats the experience and really getting to grips with the role than being in it.

But if you like a challenge, you like working with people and you want a career where you can see the benefits from the start, then recruitment is a no-brainer. If you want to find out more, read our consultant interviews here on the site and get the inside story from people who do this job every day.