August 5th 2013, not a date that immediately goes down in history for most people, but for me, it was the first day I walked into the office and started Permanent People.
What do you do on your first day when you have no clients or candidates, no one knows who the business is and there’s a million things to do? Answer, you get very busy, very quickly.
Fast forward two years and we have helped lots of people find new jobs within the recruitment industry across the UK, and in various sectors. We’ve built a good reputation with our clients, but rather than this being an advert for how wonderful Permanent People is (we are by the way!), I wanted to share what I’ve learned in these two years in the form of a list.
- Recruiters write blogs in the form of lists – pretty self explanatory really.
- Let it go – if you work or have worked within the recruitment industry, you will of been let down by people at some point, and if you haven’t, it must be your first week. I’ve learned that you can’t account for people doing weird things. You can let this make you a bitter an twisted recruiter or realise it happens and just move on. I do that now and we regularly sing the song in the office to prove this.
- LinkedIn – We all live on LinkedIn and it’s been a game changer for the industry. I’ve noticed though that to make a real IMPACT on what you’re trying to SAY, you must write in capitals to accentuate your POINT as this is a guaranteed way of people responding to your post AND MAKING YOU REALLY STAND OUT. Or not as is more likely.
- Trust Issues – It quickly became clear that there were/are perceptions of the Rec2Rec industry with common complaints being:- people had their CV being sent to clients without them knowing. They had had interviews arrange for them, which was lovely, but they didn’t know anything about it. Clients thinking that we just send CVs over and keep our fingers crossed. And on and on…
- It’s a machine – The more work you put in, the more you get out.
- Writing blogs is important! – Or is it? I like doing them and I like reading them, but do too many people hide behind writing them rather than just getting on with what they are employed to do i.e. speak with people over the phone and fill vacancies (I can do this as I’m not employed by anyone)
- People are people – I know this is a shock and when you’ve been let down by people, I can see why to some they become a pound sign. I think there’s a lost art in treating candidates the way you’d want to be treated. We get it all the time when people seem surprised we get back to them, even if it’s just to tell them they aren’t suitable. Quick case study on this-My son was looking for summer work before going to Uni and he sent his CV off to 6 local agencies around Pontypridd and Cardiff and none of them acknowledged his application. Pretty poor really and I know we can’t respond to everyone but 6 out of 6 I thought was a bit worrying but at least consistent. Anyone who has dealt with us will tell you that we are pretty direct with them, we call them back as much as we can and I’ve learned people generally like our honest but friendly attitude (most of the time!!)
- Being Two – Yes it’s our second birthday, and it’s great, but what did I expect? Us not to reach this stage? I’m glad we have and it’s been down to hard graft and therefore I’ve firmly got the bit between my teeth to continue our good work in the Rec2Rec sector and to build on what we’ve done already with the knowledge and experience we have gained in these two years.
- You’re only as good as the people you employ – I’ve learned a lot about this in the two years and now take the approach that people who work for me should be more intelligent, talented and different from me (not difficult you might say), that way they will have other and better ways of looking at things than me.
- You have to enjoy it – And finally, someone told me a long time ago that we spend the majority of our time in work, so you have to enjoy it. Yes it’s about making money, being professional but ultimately, if you enjoy what you do and you believe in it, you will be at your best.
Anyway, here’s to another year at Permanent People, where we’re looking forward to bringing in more people into our team and building on our offices in Bristol and South Wales. And I’ll no doubt write another blog next August the 5th!
PR
