Growing up, I never dreamed of being a Recruiter. In fact, I didn’t really understand the role of a Recruiter until I fell into the world of recruitment (yes like most recruiters would say, I just fell into it!🤷♀️). I remember applying for an admin position through an agency and my soon to be manager asked if I had ever considered a role as a Recruitment Consultant… and here I am nearly 6 years later! 😲
After 5 years of working for recruitment agencies, I started to become intrigued by internal recruitment 🤔. I squashed the idea for a little while. Money was my motivator. I also thought that moving into an internal role would be admitting defeat. You won’t be surprised to hear that the industry is exceptionally competitive and your role is extremely target driven so I often heard the phrase “an inhouse recruiter is a failed agency recruiter”. I became worried about what people would think of me and I was motivated by all the wrong things, despite my dad always telling me that money won’t make you happy….
Fast forward to 2020 and whilst I hate to admit it, my dad was right 🤣🤦🏼♀️! I was placed on furlough in April 2020. Being placed on furlough gave me time to reflect on what I wanted to do with my career, my mindset completely shifted! I started to think about all the things that made me happy and for me, money was at the bottom of my list. I have always been motivated by genuinely helping people, the feeling of finding someone an amazing job was so rewarding! I told myself it was time to make a change and look for a new role within internal recruitment, specifically for a company with a mission that I believed in.
In October 2020, I came across a job advert for a Talent Associate for accuRx 🤩. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about accuRx until I started doing my research… I quickly became very excited by a role that I hadn’t even interviewed for and after a 3 stage interview process, I was offered the role in December 2020!😅😍
I was nervous coming into an internal role — the pressure was on! The people I helped accuRx hire I would see every day. If I made the wrong judgement, it could affect the culture at accuRx massively and it would be me that experienced the consequences 😬! Fast forward 6 months and I am learning so much every day. I wanted to share what I have learnt for any agency recruiters looking to move into an in-house recruitment role 🤓
1) Choose a company with a mission that you are genuinely passionate about. 🏥
This is what will get you out of bed everyday and make you want to go that extra mile to help find the best talent to join the team. This passion will also shine through when speaking to candidates and takes away that “selling” element.
2) Building trust with Hiring Managers is key! 🤝
It’s really important that you can collaborate well with Hiring Managers. By building strong relationships, it’ll make your job easier. Many Hiring Managers at accuRx are new managers and hiring for the first time, there is a lot at stake for them. I have found a good relationship is started by understanding how confident Hiring Managers are at hiring! This allowed me to adapt my approach and support much more where needed.
3) Understand your companies values — and align with them yourself! 📜
By understanding your company values, it means you will be able to get a good sense of whether a candidate will add to the culture of your company… there is no better way to understand your company values then by living and breathing them yourself! Go that one step further, don’t just read them and remember them. Speak with values champions in the beginning and try to understand their behaviours and what makes them an amazing employee.
4) Don’t be afraid to use your voice! 🗣️
Be confident in your skillset and the extensive knowledge you are bringing to your new role! You have been hired because of this. Use your voice to improve recruitment processes. Share your advice and knowledge with Hiring Managers, they will listen to you.
If you are thinking of making the move into the world of internal recruitment, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. By no means has my role been any easier than agency recruitment — they are both challenging roles in their own ways! But it’s so motivating to see the direct impact you have within your own company. Seeing your candidates who become colleagues succeed in their roles is the best feeling and I wouldn’t change my role for the world! 😊
