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Lately Regularly, I notice a fair bit of negativity towards Recruiters & Agencies, which half of the time, is utter nonsense. So, by sharing a few personal experiences & work ethics, I hope to shed some light on the problem... From a recruiter's point of view!

As a recruiter, I take the time to get to know all about my candidates, from previous job roles, interests & quirks, to the name of their first car and the song they sing in the shower. For all the sceptics out there - No, I'm not planning to hack their bank accounts or guess answers to their secret questions… I just enjoy talking to people and learning new things.

"I believe that building strong and trusting relationships with a handful of candidates is much more valuable than 5-minute conversations with 100 candidates and firing volumes of CVs out to clients."

- Donna Thorpe, Recruitment Consultant 

Let's put this to bed!

Not all recruiters are the same! Yes, there are a lot of greedy, inconsiderate ones, that's life! However, there are many genuine recruiters out there, who actually DO give a s**t about you and your career, they really do want to help you succeed.
Here are a few reasons I love recruiting. Hopefully, it will help you understand that it isn't all £ signs, we're not all the same... ​For the purpose of this blog, ‘the candidate’ will be referred to as ‘Alf’.

1) Job Satisfaction

After numerous chats about ourselves, Alf’s ideal job role, new job opportunities, interview prep etc, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing Alf’s excited little yelp when I tell him he’s got the job! Watching him progress his career further over the years is the result of a job well done. Whether Alf earned me £100 or £10,000 (can't be much because I don't remember) I get a great deal of job satisfaction, as well as bragging rights for recruiting a superstar!)

I helped Alf change his life for the better - I approached him, I built a great relationship with him, I gave him the opportunity and now, I recruit for him!

 2) Trust & Honesty

Getting to know Alf, hearing about his experience, relating to his stories and sharing similar tales builds a relationship. Good candidate relationships gain honesty and reliability, crucial attributes when establishing Alf's interest, availability and the reason he was sacked from Pound Stretcher 16 years ago... Alf also trusts that I'll provide accurate information & advice, doing what I can to secure him this job! It's good to work from the same page and allows me to communicate efficiently with my client; not wasting time with interviews that don’t take place or disheartened candidates because of misleading info.

I won't 'promote' or 'sell' a company that I don't believe in, I am honest from the get-go and expect the same in return from all my candidates.​

3) It’s not what you know…

So true! Alf was recently made redundant from a large retailer and has friends of all ages, experience and management levels across the country. By helping Alf bag himself a great career, I was recommended to all his retail friends… HELLO! I specialise in Retail & Sales, to me this is like a sea of pure candidate gold. Party poppers, balloons, sweets and Tequila for everyone, yeah!

Overall, Be Selective - Not Dismissive!

As a candidate you should be selective with who you work with, some people are #?£@’s! I won't bore you with the number of Alfs I’ve worked and become friends with, or bang on about recruiters not all being money-grabbing leeches. So, here's what to look for in a good recruiter:

• How easy is it to develop a relationship with your recruiter? You should be able to talk freely about your career goals, what's important and what's not or queries you may have, so they can meet your requirements and ensure a positive outcome.
• Work with recruiters who specialise in your specific industry and actively network with the people you want to meet. A good recruiter should be there to create conversation, guide you to success and open doors that you didn’t know existed.
• Are they available? Recruitment is not a 9-5 job, your recruiter should make themselves available as much as possible. It's easy nowadays to drop a text/email or take 2 minutes to make a 'good luck' call. If they can't accommodate your availability, chances are, they aren't committed!

We like to be different - consultants at Priority aim to answer your calls any day or time, because we love what we do, talk that is! We are more than happy to share our knowledge and give advice to all job seekers, even if you're not suited to our vacancies - we’re just nice like that.

Don’t settle for less than you deserve.
It’s your job search, It’s your career, It’s your choice!