Seven years into recruitment, and it’s clear that recruiters motivators have changed considerably since when I started. I worked within rec2rec a few years ago, and even then it was the market-leading commission structures and warm desks that enticed recruiters to pursue an opportunity with a new consultancy. A couple years on, and the world has changed…from my perspective anyway.
Due to exciting client growth, my current role is to increase our headcount at RedCat Digital, bringing in experienced recruiters to assist in fulfilling our clients’ needs. My initial thoughts were…hot desks, the fabulous earning potential from day 1, laughing! Then I started with my headhunting, and it became apparent that hot desks weren’t at the top of the list, consultants wanted cold desks to enjoy the thrills of business development, “the chase”, and the ability to close 360 deals…
Julie Edmondson, Owner of Perfect Fit People, Rochdale:
“What motivates me about recruitment is being able to change the perception that some people have of recruitment by being trusted with the career of a candidate or a critical role a client is looking to fill and that they also have confidence that they will get the service that they deserve. Also, I feel rewarded making a difference, placing the perfect candidate into the perfect job – it really doesn’t get much better than that.”
Yes, the monetary rewards are substantial within our industry, but consultants need to be cautious of how they portray their motivators to new consultancies. Employers are wary of the potential issues that can arise when a sole motivator is earning potential, without any mention of the candidate journey or building relationships with clients. Forcing start dates or candidates to take jobs jeopardises both candidate and client relationships and the reputation of the consultancy which can all stem from purely wanting to make that dollar!
Richard Branson:
“Money should never be a solitary driver in business. If you don’t care about your product, and its purpose, you will fall short of your expectations”
A study from Dougles Chan shows that a sense of responsibility tops the list of motivators for recruitment consultants, which brings me back to my first point of the recruitment world evolving. I’ve recently been recruiting for trainee consultants, and asking why they want to pursue a career within the industry is 99{a990e605127f06bac58d8f530ec8d3ddc1721ced564bd12be3752b381e1e9f7f} of the time answered with “I want to help people find their dream job”. I remember being prepped by an internal recruiter for my first recruitment role, and being told to answer the same question with “I want to make money, I want to buy a house”, yes this is still an important factor and no half of us wouldn’t do this job without the commission, but finding a balance of motivators especially when interviewing is what employers want to hear.
As an employer, we want to know that when you make a promise to a candidate/ client, you honour your word and go above and beyond expectations in order to have role satisfaction and to also, of course, reap the rewards…which is handy as our commission structure goes up to 40{a990e605127f06bac58d8f530ec8d3ddc1721ced564bd12be3752b381e1e9f7f}.
Written by Simren Dhaliwal, Head of Internal Recruitment
LinkedIn: Simren Dhaliwal / RedCat Digital
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