I joined recruitment back on June 13th. It’s been exactly three months. So I wanted to take this time and reflect on my experience so far.
Firstly, let’s talk about my expectations. Before joining the recruitment industry, I mostly heard about the negatives. I knew a lot of people working in the industry and most of them talked about how stressful it is, how unrewarding it might be. I also heard from candidates how they had a negative image of recruiters. I myself never used a recruiter so I couldn’t comment on it. But hearing all these stories made me expect the worst. I knew that I was in for a rough ride and I should buckle up.
Three months into recruitment I can say that my expectations weren’t actually. That is a good thing since my expectations were rather negative. Firstly, let’s talk about stress. Just like every other job, recruitment has stress too. But I don’t feel like it is different from any other job. Yes, some companies might be overworking there recruiters by setting crazy KPIs, but I have been lucky. The culture at my company has helped me keep the stress at minimum. It also might be because I enjoy the work a lot. So, I don’t feel that stressed. But for someone who doesn’t enjoy the work, it might be a lot of stress.
Secondly, let’s talk about it being unrewarding. I heard from some friends in the same industry that there is a lot of failures in the job. You sometimes speak to candidates for months and then things don’t work out. So you do feel your work has gone to waste. In my case, I do enjoy this aspect of the job. I welcome failure with open arms. This keeps my everyday pretty challenging and exciting. I am up for it, every single day. The fact that things can change at any moment, is great motivation for me. In my first three months I have tons of stories to share for the future. It’s an exciting industry to be in.
Finally, I do agree a lot of candidates have a negative image about recruiters. That is one thing I can try and change. I think a small group of bad recruiters give the whole industry bad name. It’s not easy to control.
Overall my experience has been positive. I am not sure if it’s the industry or the company. I have enjoyed every single day and things are still exciting for me. Hope I can continue like this.