Considering a career in recruitment? If not, and you love being rewarded for the work you put into your job, then maybe you should. We’re here to give you a behind-the-curtains, unbiased view of what it’s actually like, working in recruitment.
How Much Can You Earn Working in Recruitment?
In your first year as a recruiter you can earn anywhere from £28,000 to £35,000 depending on your previous experience.
A graduate who is learning the ropes could earn around £28,000 to £30,000. But someone with sales experience coming into the role could earn around £32,000 to £35,000.
In your second year if you’re consistently achieving KPIs, you could be earning £45,000.
By year three, the sky’s the limit. It’s not unheard of for people to earn over £100,000. Of course this isn’t everyone, but it’s an indicator of what you can achieve with the right mindset, the hard work, and a team that will support you to reach your potential.
Of course there’s more factors to your earning potential than just your hard work and ability.
Your Training
If you’re new to the world of recruitment, the quality and quantity of training you receive will obviously impact have a huge impact on how much you can expect to earn.
- How much will be delivered in a classroom setting vs. how much will be on the job? Will the company take the time to teach you the necessary basics, or are they focused on getting you on the phone as quickly as possible?
- And how much exposure will you get to the senior recruiters and top billers? These are the people with the wealth of experience and knowledge to share, and the more time the business dedicates to you learning from these people has a huge influence on your development.
The Pros and Cons of Agency Recruitment
There are multiple types of agencies you can work at: High street agencies, large multinational agencies, start-up agencies and boutique specialist agencies (like us here at Dynamic). And there are various pros and cons to consider. For example:
- At a start-up agency you will have more exposure to management and more input in who and where you recruit.
- Meanwhile at a boutique agency, while you will only recruit in one specific area, you will quickly build connections and become an expert in your field.
- In opposition to this is working at a large multinational agency. Here you have the opportunity to experience different areas of recruitment and find which suits you best.
The Type of Recruitment You Do
- Do you like consultative sales? Sitting back, letting the client do the talking so you can really understand their needs? Then permanent and retained recruitment could be the one for you.
- If you prefer working in a fast paced environment, contract recruitment with its fast turnarounds would suit you best.
- If you like quicker and higher volume deals and successes, then try your hand at temporary recruitment.
- Or if you would like to be a part of a single business development and help an individual company grow, internal recruitment or RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) would suit your skillset.
No matter what type of recruitment you do, your commission depends on your performance and commission structures reward people who deliver above expectations.
Company Culture
Company culture means more than just drinks after work. As recruitment is renowned for its work hard, play hard mentality, you want to be sure you’re joining a company where you will enjoy you work. But it’s equally important to join an agency that will support you to be successful in your career.
- Holiday incentives and regular company social events are common perks to working in recruitment. They help to foster team spirit as well as give recruiters a target to strive for and rewarding their hard work.
- Look for an agency that offers a defined development strategy: Somewhere that you will have support in your career and long term career prospects, not just in your initial onboarding and training.
- The pandemic has shown that the majority of recruitment companies can effectively work remotely. So when an agency offers flexible working, it’s a healthy sign of a company’s trust in its recruiters.
- In the past, recruitment consultants were secretive and hid their best candidates, even if they didn’t have a role for them: Some recruiters and agencies still work in this way. Here at Dynamic we work collaboratively . Our senior recruitment consultants work with our new hires by supporting their training and development. And we work together to offer our candidates and clients the highest quality of service we can.
Opportunities for Progression
Going hand in hand with the opportunities to be earning an impressive salary early in your career, are the rapid opportunities for progression.
In recruitment, promotions are generally KPI based, not years of experience based. So it’s possible to progress in your career much quicker than in other industries: Your promotions are dependent on your ability and drive.
Something to ask and consider when starting a new position is if you will be working a ‘warm’ or a ‘cold desk‘.
A ‘warm desk’ means you’re walking into a set of client accounts and vacancies to work. So you already have positions to fill, and will be off to an easier and quicker start than someone working on a ‘cold desk‘.
A ‘cold desk’ means you will be starting from scratch. This could be for someone joining a new business, starting in a new market, or just joining an agency which expects you to work independently. A ‘cold desk’ allows you to take control of your recruitment efforts: You choose the clients you work with, and get to put your own stamp on the work you do.
Here at Dynamic, we start our new recruitment consultants with a ‘warm desk’. Our senior recruiters train and develop our new recruiters, before giving some of their active roles to the juniors to recruit for. We find this gives hands on training for recruiters learning the ropes, while giving them the support of our more tenured recruiters.
How Did the Pandemic Affect Working in Recruitment
Similar to hospitality, recruitment was an industry that took setbacks during the pandemic. The majority of companies put on temporary hiring freezes, and recruitment was largely put on hold.
But since then recruitment has more than bounced back, as companies try to make up for their hiring losses, and there are more vacancies than there are people to fill them: meaning it’s never been a better time to be a recruiter!
And the pandemic opened up the world of remote/ hybrid working for recruiters. At Dynamic we’ve carried this forward and now work in a hybrid environment, after seeing how our recruiters worked hard throughout lockdown after lockdown.
These are also some of the questions you might want to ask in your interview. What effect did the pandemic have on the industry you will be working in? What effect did it have on the business, and how did the company navigate the pandemic?
These answers will give you valuable insight into the business, the management style, and what you can expect from the market you will be recruiting in.
Pros & Cons of Working in Recruitment
Working in recruitment isn’t all sunshine and rainbows however. There are long hours, big wins, and big losses. So before you decide one way or the other, we’ve put together a list of the big reasons why a career in recruitment might be great for you, or not the one.
If working in recruitment sounds like something you’d be interested in, we’re always looking for more quality people to join our team at Dynamic Search Solutions: Apply here, or continue reading here to find out more about if a career in recruitment is right for you.