My recruitment journey and why I moved to Leeds

I have recently, if you haven’t seen, relocated to Leeds from the South Coast. I am from Leeds originally and made the move down South with my boyfriend just over 4 years ago, I started in the world of Rec to Rec when I relocated, and I absolutely LOVE it!

Weirdly, I do see Southampton as my hometown, I had made lots of friends through the industry and spent the key years of my early 20’s there. Just to give you a bit of background on me, I was brought up by my Mum in Northamptonshire and my Dad had always lived in Leeds. My older sister had children at 17 which made our household a little crazy growing up. I lived with my Mum up until I was 17/18 and then made the move to Leeds to live with my Dad. I wanted to work in the City, and I saw it as a big opportunity to get my foot in the door and start my career. As everyone does, I fell into recruitment and started off recruiting into the NHS industry. A lot of my friends at the time were going off to University and in all honesty, education just wasn’t for me. I wanted to build a life for myself that was comfortable and essentially look after my family back home.

I relocated to the South Coast when I was 19 and continued my recruitment career at Ivory Jacobs, it was the best move I ever made! I had this preconceived idea that Rec 2 Rec was an odd industry, I couldn’t understand how it worked or what the need to use one would be, but believe it or not, it’s a very very buoyant sector. Recruiters are very difficult to manage, we are all salespeople working in the same game, we all know the tricks of the trade and we are all trying to be different and make an impression in the market.

Fast forward to September this year, after most of my recruitment career spent at Ivory Jacobs, I found myself in a position I never thought I would be in. My partner was offered an opportunity that he/we couldn’t turn down which meant we needed to relocate back up north for the foreseeable – very daunting and not going to lie, took me a while to process it.

I spend all day everyday headhunting and trying to attract consultants in the recruitment industry with attractive opportunities, I was now on the other end of the stick and I genuinely didn’t know where to start. My next move was extremely important to me. I’m a very proud person and the next company didn’t just have to offer the right money/commission, I was moving to a new town with no friends, I was moving from an agency that offered me a lot of flexibility and trust, I had always worked for small/independent agencies, do I want to stay in Rec 2 Rec or do I change industry entirely?

I have put together some bullet points of the most important factors for me when I was in the market looking for a new role, I thought it would help!

Important points to consider when looking for a new role

•  Environment? can they offer me the team fit/culture that suits my personality?
• Can they be flexible? In all honesty, I wasn’t too fussed on whether I was allowed to work from home or could work flexible hours, mainly because I don’t need to be at home and I actually prefer being in the office. But for some people this is very important
• Autonomy and trust? Will I be restricted?
• Was I going to have to change my style of recruiting to suit? I was so used to working with clients and candidates I had built really strong relationships with over the years. I have my own way of working which works for me, I was worried I was going to be expected to change my style of working to fit in line with another company’s structure
• Can I see myself staying with this company for the next 5 years?
• What can they offer me in terms of progression? I’m not the finished article, I don’t believe anyone ever is but what can my next company teach me that I don’t know already? Can I progress in job role, salary and responsibilities?
• What would be my targets? Expectations in the 1st year?
• Are they a credible brand in the market? 

This is what I was looking for in my next role and fortunately for me, I found it. It’s been a massive change for me moving up North in all aspects, my social life, work-life, home life, not to mention the climate change!!

If you want help from a Rec 2 Rec that understands everyone’s needs and wants are different and it isn’t always as straight forward as sticking your CV on a Job Board and applying online, I can talk you through different companies in the areas local to you, talk you through commission schemes, understand what your drivers are and match them to my clients – please do call me on 07788363857