We all have our reasons why we go to work. As the owner of a recruitment agency, I have one simple mission.
I want to help people make that next step in their career.
The great thing for me is that I have a team of people to help. Looking at the recruitment industry, it is hard to look beyond successful placements as the measure of ultimate success, but for me, helping people take the next step is far more than that. We might not place them, but if we have made a difference to them, then we have done our job.
Making a placement is fantastic because we will get paid, but the true buzz comes from knowing that our efforts have helped someone to move along their path. We have thousands of conversations every month, and if every conversation adds even the smallest amount of value to that individual, we know that we are moving in the right direction. With some people we will accompany them to the end of their search, with many others, we will be a bit player, but we will play a part nonetheless.
The buzz of playing a part is what keeps recruiters going.
Everyone wants a meaningful job. One of the most meaningful jobs is helping others to find their meaning. If we see ourselves as trusted advisors rather than a meat market, people will be far more likely to entrust their careers to us. If they feel that we genuinely enjoy helping them, they will spend that extra five minutes on the phone, giving us those vital snippets of information that could make all the difference. If they feel that we aren’t rushing to deal with the next piece of “meat,” they will relax and open up to us. The more open we are to simply helping, the more open they will be to being helped. It is often the case that we will need their help to find them the right job.
There are indeed so many occasions when our efforts can be in vain, but if we take delight in the small victories, it will never be long until we can feel positive about our job again. There are few industries where people get the chance to touch so many lives so intimately on a daily basis, where the small things matter and where the fewest of kind words can sometimes make all the difference. The buzz that recruiters feel when they help someone is like a drug - when you understand your impact, you just want more.
So, for all the recruitment haters out there, for all the people who think that we don’t earn our “outrageously high” fees, I leave you with one thought…. Everyone needs to earn a living, and recruiters are no different, but maybe, just maybe, we make more of a difference in the world than you think? Maybe we do what we do to help people along their journey, whether that ends in being paid, or not?
For me, and for many of the industry colleagues, that is the buzz of recruitment.