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This blog is from our Agency Recruitment Consultant Simon Rigby who joined The Candidate in October 2015 and gives us an honest and thoughtful insight into his experience in his role so far.
I began my career at Sky Media when I left university, which gave me my first foray into the marketing industry which I now realise has been a key building block in my career in digital recruitment. My role consisted of selling television TV advertising space to TV media agencies, who were buying it on behalf of large digital media advertisers. Throughout my five year career at Sky, I gained a really strong understanding of the marketing world, not only within TV, but also digital marketing, social media platforms, press, radio and outdoor.
I actually started looking for a new role after becoming stagnated in a comparatively small office, where I felt there was little chance of career progression. I contacted Laura here at The Candidate, a Digital Marketing Recruitment specialist who was extremely helpful and lined me up with some digital job interviews. At this point, I hadn't considered a role in digital recruitment, but after coming into the office to meet Laura, I got a real feel for the atmosphere in the office which really intrigued me, and when Laura talked me through her role it sounded very appealing.
Obviously, I wasn't immediately dead set on completely changing my career, to digital marketing recruitment and had a lot of questions for Laura to help me make up my mind. She had also come from a similar background and has really excelled in her role, having just been promoted to eCommerce Director level!
"Will I be able to do it?"
"Will I be able to grasp the digital marketplace in order to recruit for roles there?"
"Will I ever bring in enough money to get a bonus?"
Obviously, I accepted the job offer here at The Candidate as an Agency Recruitment Consultant, and began my journey of sourcing SEO Executives, PPC Managers, Social Media Executives and Web Analysts. Three months ago I didn't even know these roles existed, or what SEO stood for (Search Engine Optimisation), so it's been a very quick transition!
A lot of things have surprised me since starting here, including the fact that no, we do not have to wear navy blue suits with a red tie and brown brogues! No no no! What else surprised me was how quickly I took to the recruitment role. Obviously, you have to fully immerse yourself in it, geek up on learning what makes a good candidate or a good CV, and getting to grips with how much candidates are worth in terms of salary. What I especially like about working here is that it's completely different to a lot of other digital agencies, who I dealt with before getting a new job. Here we are all about servicing the candidate, not just getting jobs on and matching them. Brian Matthews, one of our Managing Partners, is massively enthusiastic about doing things right ethically. If we have a candidate that approaches us who we think should stay in their current digital or marketing job and get more experience, we'll tell them that. That surprised me! I assumed before starting that we'd see every candidate as a walking talking pile of cash - but it's really not like that at all!
What I really like about working here is that, unlike in my last jobs where bonuses were given based on company performance, I am completely in control of my own destiny. It actually pays off (literally) to put in an extra hour here, half an hour there. Extra work means extra placements, which inevitably means extra bonus! Result!
Obviously, there has been a lot of challenges since starting here. One of the main challenges is going from having a really strong week in placing candidates, to a slow week the next. It's all about keeping your head on and not letting it get you down. Luckily, all of us recruitment consultants work as a very closely knit team and if one of us is having a tough week, we'll all chip in to bring it round! Due to the fast paced environment, you have to be flexible to roll with changing circumstances and situations. The competitive nature within our working environment often means that you are unintentionally roped into making ridiculous bets. A word of advice, never take a bet from Brian Matthews with results in consuming five tequilas!
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