I am often asked why I got into recruitment….I always loved being on the phone ( This photo is me!)
I remember it like it was yesterday. I had a young child, was just rebuilding my life again and didn’t have much money. was temping at the time and the guy running the business, mentioned that his friend, was looking for recruiters.
I remember walking into the offices for the interview and thought I was out of my depth. I braced myself and sat down with one of the directors called Clive, He told me all about the company and mentioned it was construction recruitment. I massively doubted myself as knew nothing about construction or recruitment!
I left the interview and thanked them for their time. I thought it wasn’t for me.It sounded so tough.
I was contacted by the hiring company again and asked if I would like to go back for a 2nd interview. I still wasn’t convinced, but spent time with a lovely guy (the top biller) called Paul Gurney. He was really open and honest with me and convinced me. I felt nervous and didn’t want to let him down. I needed the money and I convinced myself that I could do it.
The first week was horrible. It felt like a whole new language. I heard words such as Bills of Quants, Take off’ s and variations. I didn’t know what I was talking about. Clive Todd spent time with me, gave me a couple of companies and got me off to a good start. I had the senior biller (the legend Paul Gurney) and a top Residential biller (Jason)sitting next to me. They helped me so much. They gave me the confidence to do the job well.
I listened to them, how they spoke. I went through each CV word for word. I questioned everybody if I didn’t understand it. I went out to site visits and learnt about master programmes, key plot stage reports, tool box talks, re- measurements…it started to make sense.
I focused on the commercial sector and called hundreds of surveyors in the first month. I thought that they were called Quality Surveyors and spent my entire month selling “quality surveyors” until I was corrected by a client- who laughed. He became a great client. Since then, that was over 13 years, I have had the pleasure of building teams and training recruiters, along with recruiting. I have met lovely people that I would now consider friends.
I am in love with my job.
The advice I would give to anyone thinking about getting into recruitment is:
· Its tough- you have great days and bad days
· You have to be good at talking and connecting with people
· Learn your product- People respect you more if you understand what you are talking about.
· Have mentors that you can bounce ideas with (I was super lucky)
· Don’t be put off by the steep learning curve’s- it does get easier
· Meet people, talk to people- build the relationships- they can last a life time.
You can make a great career from recruitment and you meet some incredible people along the way!
