By MARIE LARSEN
Recruiting is a tough business and definitely not for the faint of heart. When you start out in this business, a lot of what you’ll hear is about succeed and lucrative commissions. A lot of what you’ll see is downtime, a fast-pace and a non-office office environment. It all seems pretty cool for someone starting out in the business. But if you’re serious about getting into Agency Recruiting, then take a second look. Things aren’t always what they seem.
If you’re going to last in a job as a Recruiter, you have to understand it inside and out. While we spend a lot of time online discussing all the positives and benefits of a Recruiting career, at the end of the day, it’s like any other profession; there’s always a flip side. Recruiting can be high stress, thankless and full of shockingly abrupt highs and lows. So pay attention, read on and start planning for the future.
Dealing with Stress: Recruiting is a stressful job. I mean, we spend our days racing against the clock and beating out the competition while balancing the candidate’s needs and the client’s demands. It’s harder than it sounds. Unfortunately I have seen this lead to all sorts of difficulties for Recruiters, even the most successful ones. Dealing with a high stress job, day in and day out eventually starts to take its toll. Some Recruiters pick up some bad habits to deal with the stress. Others lose sleep and grind their teeth until they’re struck numb with migraine headaches. And still others burn themselves out and their career fizzles. If you’re planning on staying in this career you had better have a stress plan. Knowing when to walk away and when to take up yoga will be key to surviving in the long-term.
The Highs and Lows: The highs are amazing. That’s just the truth. Making placements and closing deals is awesome. You’re making money, you’re successful and you get some swagger. But you know? They end startlingly fast and without any warning. Then the lows rear their ugly head. When the lows hit it’s like you can’t make a placement despite everything working in your favor. It’s quite literally, anti-karma. It may sound like a quaint joke, but after you’ve been in the business, not only will you believe in the anti-karma…you’ll expect it following a particularly good period. Keeping your equilibrium in the midst of the highs and lows is a rare but necessary talent. If each deal gone bad knocks the wind out of you, you’re not going to last long. So be truthful with yourself: Do you take disappointment well? Can you shake off a loss (or ten) and come back just as fresh and ready to fight? If not, this may not be the career for you.
Keeping Positive: When I train new Sourcers and Recruiters, one of the first things I tell them is to keep themselves positive. It’s crucial. Recruiting in general can be difficult, thankless and frustrating…throw the term ‘Agency’ in there and you get all sorts of more negative stereotypes thrown your way. It gets difficult to keep moving forward, let along keep a positive attitude in place. But you know what? If the positivity starts to slip, if the optimism starts to wane, then you’re in trouble. That’s when you find yourself in the no placement spiral. If you’re considering being a career Recruiter then you need to be an optimist, you need to be able to shake off the losses and keep a positive eye on the till.
Agency Recruiting is a tough business and you won’t find a lot of folks out there trying to help you do better. After all, most people don’t understand what we do and let’s be honest, what Agency Recruiter is going to help the competition? (and we are all, all competition). If you’re considering a career in recruiting then be honest with yourself. Take a good, hard look at yourself before you make the decision because it’s going to mean the difference between great success and a difficult and stressful journey on to your next career.