What we think

By Lucas Shaw.

If you are a Graduate, the chances are you know someone who has taken on a role in recruitment straight from University. Every major city is littered with recruitment businesses specialising in all sorts of roles and industries. However, very few people really intend to work in recruitment. It is not a ‘destination industry’ in the way that finance or law is, and the chances are your parents aren’t going to be steering you in that direction from high school.

So why would a recent Graduate consider a role in this industry?

On the face of it recruitment is simple; we find jobs for people and people for jobs. But good recruiters know there’s a lot more that goes into it.

Nowadays, most recruitment firms have become sector or role specialists and this is hugely important. A great recruiter must be completely immersed in their markets and should know their sector as well as their clients and candidates. When asked what I do for a living, my response is often ‘I work in the Consumer Goods sector’. The reason? I have to know it inside and out!!

As Recruiters, everyone asks ‘How’s the market?’ and you have to really know; who is hiring, why are they hiring, and who are they looking for? It’s about understanding your sector, keeping your finger on the pulse and having a holistic view of emerging trends and what this is going to mean for the talent market. You’re the oracle that everyone looks to for answers.

You find the answers from listening to the market. Listening to clients and candidates about the challenges they’re facing in their day-to-day roles and working backwards to identify talent solutions that can either help them with their challenge, or role solutions that can offer them growth elsewhere.

Our sector is Consumer Goods and Retail. We provide recruitment solutions for every stage of the life cycle of a product. From the initial research and development before a product is even conceived or changed, on to NPD and Technical, Distribution and Logistics, Branding and Marketing, then Sales and National Accounts. At every point of the life cycle there are humans behind the process and it’s our job to find those people who have the passion and drive to get products to market and help exciting brands reach new customers.

Unlike a product, clients and candidates have different motivations and these can change constantly. Understanding our clients’ recruitment challenges, their business goals and their working culture helps us to align these with the right candidates that have the skills that are needed. It’s hugely important that people feel authentic and accepted in their place of work. A good profile fit means higher likelihood of longevity, meaning our clients get a strong return on investment from their recruitment process and will likely work with us again. Ideally and with time, that candidate can become a client hiring for their own team.

It’s not uncommon for the goalposts to move during a process. Hiring managers might identify a new skill they require, so you must start again. Candidates might identify a new requirement or motivator for them that wasn’t there to start with. Putting the time in at the front end of the process, getting under the skin of a role, client or candidate, and understand what makes them tick helps us to manage these with authenticity, honesty and compassion. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when it doesn’t go your way!!

If you are looking at roles in recruitment, the word ‘resilience’ is a real buzzword but the truth is, if you don’t have it, can’t build it, or can’t recover from setbacks easily, recruitment might not be for you. When you do though, the rewards can be amazing!

Daily rewards, for me, are speaking to all sorts of amazingly talented individuals – who often take their roles for granted – and connecting what they’ve done professionally with what I see as a consumer in the marketplace. Learning about these intricacies is thoroughly rewarding and those snippets of information I often pass on to bored family and friends who just want to pick up their juice – not caring the journey that carton has been on!

It’s that inquisitiveness that we want all our Consultants to have. We want them to throw themselves into every conversation and really learn something, then to use that information to identify solutions for our clients and match great talent with great companies and roles.

So why work for us? Well, we love our market and we live and breathe our brand values and want people that do too. You could become the next MD (our leadership team have all been promoted internally), or you could learn all the skills needed for your next role in Consumer Goods. We’d love everyone to be a ‘lifer’ but we know that’s not always the case and over the last few years we’ve waved people off to roles in HR client-side, to set up their own business, to join prestigious Graduate schemes, and of course to other recruiters too.

We’re set up to give Graduates the most varied experience because we work multi-functionally, across lots of sectors and we offer different ways of working with a wide range of clients. Our focus is to provide a positive environment where everyone learns and benefits, no matter how long they stay with us. The career opportunities in Consumer Goods & Retail are endless and no matter what you want to do, recruitment is a great first step. You learn how to manage stakeholders, learn processes, develop commercial acumen and work in an industry that is dynamic, fast paced and rewarding both personally and financially.