Recruitment Consultants - 5 Signs It's Time to Move On

By Tony Restell

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You've been a Recruitment Consultant for several years. You've always been thought of as a high achiever. You exceed targets, clients love working with you and your peers turn to you for ideas and advice.

Yet your career trajectory is also linked to the company you work for - the culture of the business, the strategy of the owners and their standing in the marketplace. There comes a time when you have to recognise that the interests of your career are no longer served by your current employer.

Recruitment Consultant Career Move


For many, it's a change of employer that will reinvigorate your career. For others, it may be time to set up a recruitment business. Whatever the solution, how do you recognise the early warning signs that it's time you considered a career move?

In this guest post, recruitment to recruitment specialists GNB Partnership identify five tell-tale signs that help recruiters determine when it’s time to move on:

  • You're concerned about the quality of your work
  • Your company seems to be falling behind
  • You're constantly negotiating on fees
  • Your colleagues are moving on
  • You've lost your enthusiasm

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You're concerned about the quality of your work

Winning new clients can give you a great buzz. Securing more roles from your clients feels great too. But what if you have that slight sinking feeling accompanying these wins? You're anxious about your ability to deliver and that's compromising your job satisfaction.

There are many reasons you might fear for your ability to deliver great hires that are unrelated to your ability to do your job. Maybe your new researcher isn't up to scratch. Maybe your company increasingly works for businesses that pay below-market salaries. Maybe you're being burdened with more and more tasks that detract from the time you actually have available to work on your assignments.

Whatever the reason, this has to be addressed. Your professional reputation in the market is only as good as the last few hires you've made. If the resources and environment at your employer have started to compromise your ability to deliver on assignments, it may be time to think about moving on.
 

Your company seems to be falling behind

Your company's website is starting to look dated. Investment in a mobile-friendly site hasn't happened. Maybe your company's presence on social media is lame. Perhaps there's a reluctance to pay for the new tools and services that competitors in the market are starting to leverage. Or the offices are starting to look shabby.

Great sports people move to join the best teams. They know that there's only so much that exceptional talent can achieve on its own. Exceptional talent needs the right team around them and the right environment to thrive. Recruiters are no different. Put a fantastic recruiter in a mediocre company and they will outperform their peers. But put that fantastic recruiter into a market leader and they will become one of the highest performers in the industry.

If you're starting to think that your recruitment agency is falling behind, that's a very strong reason to think about a move. Allow your career to flourish rather than be held back by your surroundings.
 

You're constantly negotiating on fees

A recruitment agency doing great work and with a great reputation generally doesn't negotiate on fees. They turn work away. Seriously. A great recruitment business has so many clients wanting to work with them that they pick and choose who they will represent. Asides from during a severe recession, that means they will close off any conversation around fee negotiations. They simply don't need to lower their fees to continuously have a full book of work.

If you seem to be being pushed hard on fee negotiations by all your clients, the chances are you're working in a business that just doesn't command that respect in the market. You'll never fulfil your potential in recruitment as long as you're with a company like that. Your clients will have their openings being worked on by dozens of your competitors, reducing the frequency with which you'll make placements; and even when you do make a placement, it'll be at fee rates that compromise the earnings you in turn can make. Move on to take your recruitment career to a whole new level.
 

Your colleagues are moving on

It’s always unsettling to be in a business where lots of people are leaving. However, some departures are a greater cause for concern than others. Have a think about the colleagues you admire the most in your company. Who amongst your peers do you really respect? Who do you consider a mentor? Whose success would you aspire to replicating? Who do you really learn from?

When you start to see those people leaving – or just hear rumblings of discontent from their quarters – it may well be time to consider your own position. Top performers are quick to move on if there are things about a business that are making them uncomfortable. Maybe they have visibility of the future pipeline of work. Maybe they are hearing feedback in the market that has them feeling unsettled. Maybe they just no longer believe your current company can help them to fulfil their ambitions. Whatever the reason, if those you trust and respect the most in your company are looking to move (or have indeed moved already) then you have to start considering why that is and potentially scout the market for a more attractive agency to join.
 

You've lost your enthusiasm

Last but not least is the small matter of how you feel each day. Do you wake up enthusiastic and eager to tackle another day furthering your recruiting career? Or are you losing the drive to do your best work, dreading aspects of what lies ahead?

There are a whole variety of reasons you may be feeling like this, from office politics to unprofessional colleagues to financial concerns about the business. Whatever the reason, if it is not within your power to rectify what's causing you to feel this way, you need to move on before your results start to suffer.
 

Concluding remarks

Hopefully these insights will help you to spot when it's next time to move on in your recruiting career. For some of you, they'll have prompted the realisation that that time is now. If you'd like to have a confidential chat about your options and your marketability, get in touch with GNB Partnership today on +44 (0)203 463 8653

 

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