Recently I interviewed Harriet Tommany-Hall. Harriet has been as extremely successful Recruitment Consultant over a number of years. I recently noticed on her LinkedIn profile that she’d had a short stint in Internal Recruitment before returning to her current employer in Agency.
I often get experienced Agency Recruiters asking if I’ve got opportunities available in Internal. I thought it would be interesting to share Harriet’s experience and why she decided to return to Agency. These are the reasons why she hated Internal Recruitment.
1) No Subject Matter Expertise
Harriet found that she was working on multiple roles at any one time and she felt like she was constantly on the “hamster wheel”. This meant that she couldn’t give the time to the role that she thought it deserved and that the quality of the service she was offering her Candidates was compromised.
In Agency, Harriet thrived on finding the “needle in the haystack” for her clients. In Internal she was being pulled in all directions and it was difficult to stick to processes because it was so busy.
2) Not Close To Decision Makers
There were so many layers of hierarchy and chains of command in a large company that it was difficult to get close to the decision makers. Conversely in agency, Harriet felt that she could deal directly with decision makers and line managers because recruitment was a high priority.
3) Couldn’t Offer Impartial Advice
One of the biggest things Harriet missed was that she could not offer impartial and unbiased advice to her Candidates on what was best for their career. Being a true “Consultant” in every sense of the word was something that Harriet truly missed.
In Internal she became a “brand ambassador”. Whilst initially thinking this would be a good thing, Harriet quickly found that Candidates wouldn’t engage as readily if they felt that she was pushing her employer’s brand rather than considering their best option.
4) No Autonomy Or Flexibility
One of the things Harriet cherished about Agency was that she could pick and choose what she wanted to work on and with whom rather that what was dished out.
In Agency, Harriet could pick and choose which clients and roles she wanted to work on.
5) No Decent Commissions
Harriet made the interesting observation that “You might think that you are not money motivated, but as soon as the regular commissions stop, you’ll think differently”.
Harriet said that working for a base salary only was difficult after becoming used to commissions paying for holidays and other personal luxuries.
Harriet advised that anyone thinking of making the move to Internal should think long and hard about it and speak to people who have made the move about the pros and cons.
She said she was looking at Internal “through rose coloured glasses” and that it wasn’t until she’d made the change that she began to appreciate what she had left behind.
Sometimes we don’t realise how good we’ve got it in Agency Recruitment. I’d be interested in your thoughts and experiences.
