International Recruiters Day: How did you get into recruitment?.

International Recruiters Day recognises the professionalism of recruiters who are skilled in matching candidates to help them find their dream job and progress their career. It’s often said that people don’t choose to become a recruiter though. Instead, they tend to fall into it, but we know that recruitment is such an exciting, fast pacde, and rewarding industry to work in. So despite only a few saying ‘I want to be a recruiter when I leave school,’ there are plenty of talented individuals who feel completely at home as they find their feet. We asked our recruiters ‘How did you get into recruitment ?’ and this is what they said… ​

Amy Kirby, Executive Director - "I got headhunted by a Consultant from RPCushing for a role and I said I don't want to do that role - I want to do what you do! I badgered them for 2 months until they gave me a job. Never left! Clearly, they liked my persistence."

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Andrea Robinson, Data & Systems Director - "I came to the UK as a secondary school teacher, managed 6 months in London schools, got to the summer holidays and was like, I'm either going home or I try something else for these 6 weeks, found a job on Gumtree, got the Resourcer Job at an IT recruiter in the city, and here I am, a retired secondary school teacher, still bossing people around."

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Hannah Jackson, Group Sales Director - "I was interviewing a chef at a table in the restaurant I was managing at the time and the MD of a recruitment company in Glasgow was having lunch at the next table. She came over after hearing the interview, handed me her card, and told me to call her if I wanted a job as a hospitality recruitment consultant. I started the next week."

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Nadiah Kadir, Operations Manager - "I started my career in the Hospitality and Aerospace industry, and then made my way into the world of recruitment. It was back in 2016 when I joined one of the biggest well known recruitment firms. It was the first recruitment firm I joined, and I was not sure on what to expect at that time but was confident with my experience and knowledge. I am grateful to have decided to join the recruitment industry. Being in recruitment has given me the opportunity to explore various opportunities and exposure, positively challenging myself to progress better in this career.

So, we know that sales expertise is an essential skill to have, but today’s recruiter needs much more to be successful. The common misconception is that recruiters post jobs, wait for candidates to apply, interview them, and close the deal. In these modern times of quick progress and changes, we look forward to more modern recruiter joining us!"

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Laurence Downing, Divisional Manager - "I was pretty much working in dead-end job in retail and realised I could do more, so googled jobs in which you can make lots of money but without needing many qualifications, and recruitment came up. I applied and the rest is history. Recruitment changed my life!"

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Toma Sibly, Business Director - "I was a CRM Manager at a small eCommerce business before my recruitment career. I loved the job, and I was good at it. However, 9 to 5 behind the screen, with no or very little human interaction was not for me. One day I got headhunted by a recruiter for another CRM job. The person wasn't very personal and the whole process was a bit bumpy. No interview preps, no feedback, no well done, just a quick and dry interview calendar invites. In the end, I didn't get the job...but got something more. I decided that I want to become a Recruiter, a good one, that helps people find their dream job or helps a client hire the perfect person to grow their business. I wanted to make an impact on people’s lives!"

So I mapped all digital and tech recruitment agencies in London and started calling them up with my story 😊 After a bunch of rejections, I finally managed to land my first rec gig as a talent manager and progressed from there. I still get the same buzz of excitement placing someone in a job now as I did seven years ago when I began my recruitment career. Also, Running a recruitment desk, whether this is from home or in the office, is like running your own business. Once you’re fully trained and have all the skills to succeed, you have the opportunity to run your own client and candidate base. You can make your own success and, at the same time, share in the success of the recruitment agency as a whole. It’s a great balance of taking control of your desk at the same time as having the support of a wider business. I love it! It is an extremely rewarding profession!"

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Matt Raisner, Senior Consultant - "I landed my first recruitment job by being tenacious in my job search on LinkedIn and connecting with as many recruiters as possible to hear about open sales roles. After being briefed on a role that I was not too interested in, I was asked if I had ever thought about a career in recruitment (which I never had, but the question was intriguing). After learning more about the different aspects of the job and realizing that I possessed all of the relevant skills and attributes through my sales career, I decided to take the leap and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. After having success in my first year in recruitment and working my way up in title and in compensation, I can confidently say that recruitment will be my lifelong career and I really enjoy helping other people find their lifelong careers as well!"

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Matheus Maier, Associate Conultant - "I got my first recruitment job after being approached by Luke Cox, SVP of America for Aspire. As someone who has worked in sales for 3+ years here in the States, I never considered being a recruiter as I really did not understand all the competencies of that role and wasn't sure how to transfer my skills to that field. After a really amazing conversation with Luke, he opened my eyes to how engaging and interesting this landscape is and I was sold immediately! Now I can say for sure this is a career I want to pursue for a long, long time as I already feel extremely fulfilled by what I do."

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Luke Cox, SVP North America - "I actually studied Fashion at University and when I graduated my girlfriend who worked in recruitment suggested I give it a try. I knew that fashion didn’t necessarily pay well to start off with and she told me that there was an opportunity to earn some good money to help pay off my student loans. I found that I really enjoyed changing people’s lives by helping them find their dream jobs. I really liked the team and people that I worked with, and the money that I was earning."

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Azra Akhtar, Talent Consultant - "I got into recruitment about 4 years ago. Being in an operational role I wasn't customer-facing so was involved a lot with internal HR and eventually became an onsite trainer. As part of this role, I was involved in hiring open days, interviews and placing candidates into roles. From there I would train them. During my last year in this role I went back to college as I needed an HR qualification to get an HR role as most companies wouldn’t recruit on experience alone. When I was interviewing for my next role, it was between becoming an HR Administrator and a role in Warehouse Recruitment. I chose Recruitment. It felt like a more interesting and varied role and exactly what I was looking for."

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Naomi Roberts, Executive Consultant - "Like most people, recruitment wasn't something I grew up thinking would be my career however after finishing university and wondering where I saw myself next, I knew I liked sales so started applying for roles I found online which led me to be approached by a graduate fast track company. Fast forward 9 years, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else!"

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Charlene Grullon, Senior Consultant - "With my Bachelor's in Communication, I found an internship with Enterprise Rent a Car working in customer service and sales. After graduation, I found myself with a lot of temporary customer service and sales roles. While utilizing LinkedIn, I gained many connections and I was headhunted by Hays Recruitment for a permanent sales role with a good salary. Recruiting for Engineers was not exciting to me until I was headhunted on LinkedIn by Aspire to work in the Marketing and Media industries which are very exciting to me!"

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Niharika Samuel, Senior Consultant - "I studied architecture at university and in my third year, one of London’s leading design recruitment agencies made up of ex-architects and designers came to present to us in university and offer support with interview prep and portfolio advice. I got talking to the MD, and he gave me his card and said to get in touch. A few weeks later I got in touch and he invited me to their offices. I went in thinking I was going to just get some career advice and came out with a job offer! After I graduated I walked into a job and that kickstarted my journey in recruitment."

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Breno Miranda, Talent Consultant - "My first job in recruitment was via an apprenticeship scheme! I have always wanted a job that would keep me on my toes by giving me exposure to people and recruitment was the best opportunity I had at the time. My career began as the Team Assistant of an internal Talent Team, however, through Aspire I have managed to get my first official role as a Talent Consultant!"

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Jon Colodner, Associate Consultant - "It is a good question with a simple answer that I am glad I moved forward with. I was in the market for a new role and my brother introduced me to my now co-worker and fellow recruiter, Matt Raiser - At first, I thought Matt was going to help find a role for me but then he set up a call with his boss Luke and the rest evolved into wonderful conversations that really sparked my interest in recruiting. Growing up I would always tell people I wanted to be a people person or work with people, and now I feel like that really has come to fruition. Getting to talk to people and learn about their desires and passions and finding ways to help them land their dream job has been really rewarding. The best part is being able to really help multiple people at once. For starters, you are helping the candidate land their dream job, helping the client fill a position in need, and putting revenue into the company’s pockets and mine. I hesitated to take the role at first as it was something new to me, but now am I very pleased I took the leap."

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Alycia Brady, Managing Director SG - "I knew I wanted to work in a sociable job, as I love getting to know people, and I knew I wanted to make money for my future. Sales & recruitment had such a dirty word back when I graduated that I was really unsure about entering the Recruitment world until someone said I would be good at it and should try! I knew that the reward was high in recruitment so approached multiple companies and interviewed to become a Trainee Recruiter. I interviewed for Recruitment roles alongside Marketing roles, and my gut feel was that Recruitment would be a better long-term career option for me. I've never looked back!"

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Paul Farrer, Chairman & Founder - "It was my wife’s wonderful fault! I was in love and my then-girlfriend, now wife, said she wasn’t going to go out with me unless I had a ‘proper’ job. At the time I had lots of jobs as a true interim worker. Promotions, Bar work, removals a spare pair of hands, and plenty of cash in the pocket. But that was not good enough.

So I decided to look for a sales trainee job. At 19 I had sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door for 6 months on a commission-only basis so that seemed the most relevant experience. In those days, 1986, if you wanted a job in London you went to the appointments pages of the Evening Standard newspaper. There were adverts for sales trainees. 'Sales Trainee!!! £7000 basic!!! +OTE!!! Full training!!! Call HMS Recruitment.' So call them I did. I was living in South West London and they turned out to be in Ilford in Essex. Unperturbed I set off on a long-winded journey to find myself at 1 Cranbrook Road, Ilford being interviewed by Julia. After about 10 minutes asked if I had ever considered a career in recruitment? “Yes,” I lied, “What does it involve”? That was enough of a question to be moved on to an interview with Robin the branch manager.

In the non-competency recruitment world of the late 80s, liking each other was enough to progress to a 50-question aptitude test. One hour to complete as many questions as possible with a minimum score of 25 required. My answers went to the receptionist who wrote my score down and handed the results to Robin. Fail! 18 scored, which quickly became 28 after Robin had decided differently. This passed me through to a final interview with the Regional Director, Mandy. “She will hate you” Robin informed me. He then gave me a 30-minute training session on how to get through the interview. The traps that would be set and how to avoid them. He was right. She hated me. But I put Robin’s training to the test with multiple trial closes and she succumbed and I had a ‘proper’ job.

Little did I know what fun recruitment would turn out to be. How it is one of the most meritocratic roles available. How you genuinely help change peoples’ lives by helping them get the jobs they want and at the same time solve problems for employers."

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If you have an inquisitive nature it’s fascinating to find out about both people and organisations and you get to work with interesting people. I have a lot to thank my wife for.​If you're interested in working at Aspire, get in touch with our internal hiring manager - Luke Ward.