As our quest to hire a new Talent Acquisition Specialist begins, I thought I’d jot my humble opinions on what it’s like to work on both sides of the recruitment fence. And I’ll start by saying that there are pitfalls and positives of both roles, but I’m in a fortunate position because I’ve experienced both, so here it is, Agency V Internal. What’s the deal?
The Client
As an agency recruiter you get to speak to lots of different people. From lots of different companies. Whether that be start ups, global enterprises, public or private organisations. It’s exciting. Every day is different. Every phone call is different.
As an internal recruiter, my client is my CEO. Whom I see every day. There’s no hiding (and yes, as an agency recruiter you can ‘be in a meeting’ to dodge a call!) My other ‘clients’ are my peers. Whom I’ve known for a long time. This in itself can be hard because feedback can (and quite rightly so!) be brutally honest. And it’s to my face. There’s no hiding behind emails or fake meetings for that.
However, it’s great being internal because you’re embedded in the business. You know what’s happening and get use this to your advantage. You will help to strategically shape the business. You can talk honestly about the day to day team dynamics, the company culture and individual characters. It’s exactly this that can make agency recruitment trickier, it’s harder to know *exactly* what’s going on with the client, because you are removed.
The Candidate
As an internal recruiter, you have to be passionate about the company and know it inside and out. You are the first person that a potential employee will hear from. You’ll deliver good news and the not so good news. You can’t be sloppy. You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression. And yes, a great agency recruiter needs to be know about the client, but it’s not to the same degree. An agency recruiter can ‘get away with’ not knowing everything.
With both roles, you get that ‘buzz’. You know the one… when you find someone and place them, either with your client or with your business. The benefit of being internal is that you get to see individuals grow professionally and personally with the business; there’s a real sense of job satisfaction. You get to see people go onto achieve what they told you they wanted to achieve in their very first interview. I’ve been fortunate enough to help people with zero experience move into the top biller spot, and I’ve moved people with experience who have gone on to achieve great things.
The role of the internal role is, in my opinion, much more strategic. You need to be able to understand people within the business and what they are looking for. You can tackle issues head on.
Targets, targets, targets.
As an agency recruiter you have targets, both KPIs and monetary. A common misconception about internal recruitment is that you don’t have targets. Let me tell you here, you do. Meetings, interviews, placements, retention the list goes on.
Feedback?
I always prided myself on giving honest, reliable and constructive feedback to my candidates who I’d secured interviews for. I would always relay feedback from my client to my candidate with somewhat ease because it actually wasn’t my choice, it wasn’t my decision to not hire them. As the internal recruiter, I’m the client, it is my decision on who gets hired. It is more personal and in my opinion, harder.
What role have I actually preferred doing? It’s a really tough one. I have loved my role as internal recruiter but I’m fortunate because I get to recruit for a company I’m truly passionate about, and want the very best for. We have some big milestones that I want to see us reach. But do I miss the thrill of agency recruitment? Chasing down deals and working with a huge portfolio of clients, absolutely.
I was recently asked what my top tips for people wanting to move into internal from agency, and here they are:
- Know what you’re getting into… talent acquisition is not an easy job.
- Think about why you want to leave agency recruitment. If it’s because you don’t like the targets or struggle to build rapport, I’d hazard a guess and say internal may not be suitable either.
- You have to be invested in the business, I can’t see how you can be a great internal recruiter if you aren’t passionate about the business.
We’re hiring for a Talent Acquisition Specialist so if you think you’ve got what it takes, and like what I’ve said, call me for an informal chat or email your details to me at hc@oysterpartnership.com and we can arrange a suitable time to talk.