Over the last 2 years I have found myself having to defend my role as a recruitment consultant time and time again. What is it about us that seems to make seemingly normal people foam at the mouth at the very mention of the word ‘agency’?
I get it, there has been some bad press surrounding how agencies operate in regards to their actions, their morals, basic levels of communication when dealing with candidates and shockingly the advertisement of bogus jobs BUT that is a minority. I am genuinely baffled to why any agency would advertise a job that doesn’t exist, but apparently this is something that is quite common based on the quite apparent hatred certain people have for us. I would at this point like to thank the agencies that operate in this way for making my job of proving I am a credible and professional human being just that little bit harder.
Carrying the job title of Recruitment consultant is a burden let me tell you, having the person on the other lines voice change from lively to almost scathing as soon as you mention the word recruitment, the times you end up with your face on the desk whilst your potential candidate tells you they have been treated appallingly by so and so at so and so agency. Others just want to shout at you.
Some of my favourite insults to date have been:
“You are just a parasite feeding off my good nature and my earnings”
“I have met murderers with more morals than people like you”
“What would a silly young girl who worked in a shop know about my industry – its downright insulting”
Ouch! Surely this is unfair? Now I haven’t gone and cried into my latte but am I just a little bit offended? Absolutely! Insulting an industry as a whole is one thing but insulting me on a personal level without having had any dealings with me is quite frankly playground antics. I have had grown men call me things that would make my little Italian nan do the sign of the cross 10 times over. Yes I work in an industry that unfortunately showcases a lot of the worst traits in the human race – greed, self-obsession, disregard for others but these are traits of PEOPLE not of INDUSTRY. If you look at any industry there are bad apples in all – there are builders who do a shoddy job, there are financial experts who deceive, there are sales people that lie, there are doctors that are negligent. These bad apples however are not a true reflection of a whole industry and the people who do a very good job are massively tarred with an opinion. I am being battered with a supersize brush that I have spent 7 years rebelling against. I am VERY good at my job – the reason being is I pride myself on my moral code. Heck ive even turned a fee down just to prove my commitment to a client! If that doesn’t show I have credibility I don’t know what does. A money grabbing recruitment agent TURNING DOWN MONEY? Now now pick yourself up from the floor and keep reading:
A client once asked me why he should bet on me and not on the other 12 sales people trying to give him staff. That was an easy question for me, and without going all Jerry Maguire on you – I have less clients. I have dramatically cut the amount of clients I deal with hence providing me much more time to really get to know their business, find out who and what they need in their work setup and developing, dare I say….mutual respect along the way. My aim is to work in partnership with these clients and not for them. This applies to the candidates also. In this industry we are militarily drilled into us that more is always better, that more calls equal more results, and more candidates result in more money. BUT candidates like a cuddle, like all of us we like to feel that we are being listened to, respected and ultimately understood. If you tell an agent you only want to work in London with a salary of no less that 50k and I come back to you with a 30k role in Manchester clearly I haven’t listened to you. This basic, fundamental mistake is causing people to turn away from us. This industry spends too much time collating people into files, promising them they will call when they won’t, and focusing solely on money. What my agency realise utterly and completely is that our candidates ARE our money. Without them our industry is defunct. Without treating candidates with basic respect we are turning our backs on the money we fight for. All agencies do this at some point but there are a hell of a lot of recruitment agents who have integrity and honesty when dealing with their clients/candidates.
Now reading this back I have painted myself as a pretty poor salesperson but taking all the labels away, when I do my job I am conscious that I have to work a little bit harder to show that I am different to these agencies who have caused such deep rooted dislike. Clearly these opinions have not been plucked out of thin air, and I agree there is a lot of truth in many of the stories I’ve heard BUT how about taking another chance on me? I am different and I promise you won’t regret it.
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