08/04/2021
There’s no shame in doing this job to make money
Nick Boulton
Why recruitment? A question I’ve been asked many times over the years and a very valid one.
Well, I’ll let you into a little secret: to make money!
Say what you like, but that is the only reason I went into recruitment in the first place. Don’t be fooled by anyone who says they got into recruitment so they could help people finds jobs, businesses grow, change lives, blah, blah blah. Absolute BS!
True, those are things that are a positive by-product of the job and over time you start to enjoy them the more you do the job. BUT let’s not beat around the bush, let’s not lie to ourselves or try to make up some noble reason why you decided to get into recruitment in the first place.
It’s simple: you want to make serious cash or make something of yourself or both!
How you got into it in the first place might be debatable:
- You didn’t pay enough attention at school, college or uni (guilty)
- You didn’t get onto the grad schemes at UBS, EY or Clifford Chance
- You’ve heard the streets of recruitment are paved with gold
- One of your mates does it, they live the rock star lifestyle, and you want some of that action.
In truth, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I took those first tentative steps into IT recruitment with Client Server. I had heard that recruitment, and technology recruitment, in particular, was an industry you could make some serious money in if you worked hard enough. I was motivated to work for it.
It’s at this point most people fail in recruitment. There is an assumption that you can join a recruitment business and just start writing your own cheque. True anyone can do it, there are no necessary qualifications, degrees or previous experience needed, but there are a few vital ingredients that the vast majority of people lack:
- Hard work
- Discipline
- Ambition
*booooohisss* I can feel the glare of every scorned recruiter's eyes on me now.
It feels like in the last few years, the world frowns upon success or hard work. People who are willing to work all hours to become successful and enrich their lives are either ‘workaholics’, anomalies or just don’t have the right work-life balance.
You know what, if you feel like this in your company, give us a call, come and join us. I want those ‘freaks’ who are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.
I can just see those little naysayers shaking their righteous little heads as they read this thinking,
“They don’t care about their staff, they just want their pound of flesh.”
That couldn’t be further from the truth but what I do expect, and I think if you have any aspirations of being successful in recruitment, you should too, and that is honesty.
Yes, be honest about why you came into this job in the first place. Be honest with yourself about how hard you work at the job and don’t make excuses! There is nothing wrong with coming into recruitment and then realising it’s not for you, it’s too competitive, you’re more suited to in-house, HR, you want to be a teacher, lifeguard, whatever it is but don’t become bitter towards others success just because you haven’t put a shift in yourself. Or more commonly, you aren’t willing to work hard enough for that success.
Don’t frown upon those who revel in being successful and work the arses off to get there. Be proud of them, share in the success and hopefully this inspires you to do well, achieve and strive to be better at whatever career path you take.
A collective environment of success breeds more success. It also improves culture, employee wellbeing, mental health and comradery. All the ‘stuff’ companies talk about needing. Having success, working hard, making money and having a great environment are not mutually exclusive in business. In my mind, you should be striving to have all of these things in tandem and that is what we are after at Client Server.