The Rewards of Solving the People Puzzle

In the middle of 2018 I left my marketing job with an industry leader under one of the biggest companies in the world, to move to Japan and work as a recruitment consultant.

Do I regret it? OF COURSE I DO. Would I do it again if given the chance? ABSOLUTELY.

Recruitment is a people puzzle and the things I have learned, the connections I have made, and the market experience I have gained in solving this puzzle have all been invaluable to helping me discover what I love in work.

These are my 4 reasons recruitment is the best step of your career plus the 4 reasons it's the toughest step I have taken.

I hope this will help you decide if you want to take the plunge!

Best: Learning the Market 

What do you want to do next in  your career? 

What skills do you need to develop to move in the direction you want to go?

What do you love most in your work?

If you want to find the answers to these questions, become a recruiter. Coming to Japan, I had 6+ years of professional working experience, but no idea how limited that experience actually was. Helping other companies fill their headcount really gave me the insight I needed to decide what I wanted to do and what would be the best way to do it.

Additionally, being involved in hiring gives you an inside perspective on what is going on internally with your clients and what direction the market is moving. You can use this as a compass to guide you on the cultures you like, the work styles you are attracted to, and things you are passionate about in your work life.

Toughest: Unpredictability

This exists in every sales job, but is heightened in recruitment.

You never know what is truly going on in the minds of your clients and candidates. You can come close and cover your bases, but you are not the one hiring and you are not the one joining. You can’t, well maybe you really shouldn’t, force anyone to do anything, and because there are two sides to recruitment, there are even more moving parts that are out of your control. 

Anything can and will go wrong, sometimes all in the course of one placement. A candidate could be hiding a second business, another interview process, or only using this to gain leverage at their current company. A client could have other candidates they are not telling you about, another recruiter can send a last minute super star candidate, or the market could take a downturn due to a global pandemic. 

Dealing with this unpredictability is a skill in its own right that takes time and experience to learn.

Best: Building Lasting Relationships

At its core, Recruitment is about building relationships with your clients and candidates by learning who they are as people and by delivering high quality service.

This was not something I had ever considered before I became a recruiter, but I have had high level conversations with Country Managers, Global Directors, New Grads and everyone in between. Being able to listen and learn from these amazing people has been one of the greatest experiences of my career. Meeting with, discussing their ambitions, and helping them map out how they want to get there has formed bonds that I hope to take with me for the rest of my career. I am so grateful for the time I have spent with each of my connections and I personally consider them friendships. I hope they would consider me the same way. 

If you are looking to grow your network while building lasting relationships and even gaining friends along the way, recruitment is a great place to be.

Toughest: Extreme Ups and Downs

With Unpredictability comes extreme highs and extreme lows. When you forge a new relationship with a client or help a candidate finally get the position with their dream company and they say thank you from the bottom of their heart, it is a feeling that is hard to match. But when that client decides to go on a hiring freeze or the candidate tells you that they decided to stay in their current company, it is hard to not feel personally betrayed. 

There are times when this will be your everyday and it is going to take real perseverance to push through and keep a positive outlook for the future, but if you can do that the highs are absolutely unmatched.

Best: Developing Soft Skills

The ability to communicate effectively is crucial for this job and you will sharpen it or develop it. Any hesitation or fear you have around cold calling, client meetings, or closing candidates will be one of the first things you learn to overcome. 

Having a two pointed sale means having to navigate conversations with a broad range of people, from Country Managers and Talent Acquisition to People looking for their first job, so there is a need to be extremely empathetic in order to guide them to the outcomes you are hoping to achieve. 

These soft skills are relevant in almost every customer or client facing role and will set you up for success.

Toughest: Long Hard Hours - Agency Work

I am fortunate to have joined a company that offers flextime and values results more than hours worked, but not all companies are like this and even here there are times you have to grind it out. That means calls, meetings, and dinners that can be at all hours of the day and night. 

Having clear priorities is a must, but coming back to the unpredictability of the role, you never know when the one candidate you have been messaging for three weeks finally has a moment to speak with you or the CEO of your overseas client can make time to Zoom with you. 

Especially at the beginning, You need to be ready to sacrifice your time to do what is in the best interests of your clients and candidates, which is why we made that our one guiding rule here at Wahl+Case.

Best: Growing Real Business

This one doesn’t get mentioned often, but it is possibly the one I enjoy the most. As a recruiter you get to be a part of building businesses and helping them succeed. Not only are you contributing directly to your own company, in my case Wahl+Case, but you have a hand in the growth of your client’s. 

When you work with them on developing a hiring strategy, you hear their pain points, their targets, OKR, and assist in providing a step towards having a successful quarter or year. This shared success is a great feeling, like being on several winning teams all at once. There is nothing like it that I have experienced in my years of work, let me know if you feel the same way.

Toughest: The Industry Perception 

This one isn’t directly related to the job, but it can cut the deepest. When I first googled “How to become a recruiter” the top article I saw was “10 things to never ever tell your recruiter”. Immediately, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be associated with an industry that left such a bad taste in people’s mouths. I am sure we all have heard horror stories of the cutthroat overly aggressive recruiter, and although I have met some, largely I have found this to be a bit of an exaggeration. 

It is true that recruiters can be tough to get a hold of at times, and that comes from a lot of the things that I have mentioned here, but generally we do care about your process and we genuinely want to help our candidates and our clients find success. Which is why when I met with Wahl+Case for my first interview, I knew that this was the place I wanted to work. The culture we have put together here really promotes and rewards a positive experience for our clients, our candidates, and our team members.

We’re on a mission to solve work.

If this sounds like something that you would like to experience, please reach out here on LinkedIn, via email, or give me a call! I am always happy to talk over my experience and give you my recommendations on making recruitment the next step in your career.

Bryan Rios
Consultant | Advertising & Marketing Technology

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