Posted on 18/02/2021 by Dan Grace

Associate Consultant's Perspective

Why Recruitment?

I started at Uniform Education in December 2019 as a 20-year-old budding recruiter, full of life, energy and enthusiasm. Heading into Recruitment, I knew that I thrived in social settings, was a confident communicator and prided myself on building strong relationships and these were the skills that I took with me into my role at Uniform and why I felt Recruitment was the perfect career path for me.

Palpable Energy

Being the youngest member of the company by at least 7 years, I knew that not only did I have a lot to learn, I also needed to earn the respect of my coworkers. Although this may appear to be quite daunting (and at times it was), I feel that I made my youthful enthusiasm work for me. Colleagues and Managers commented that I brought a newfound energy to the team and that I was a breath of fresh air for the office.

My USP

I think that beyond the office, when networking, this type of attitude and vigour definitely set me aside from some of the competition, which is extremely important in such a saturated market. Candidates and clients alike found me genuinely likeable - I firmly believe that this is an integral part of business and recruitment and networking is certainly no exception.

People get so caught up in the job that they forget the bottom line; People do business with people!

A lot to learn

Whilst my youthful energy and charisma did work in my favour, at times, my inexperience hindered my progression. In general, there were many new processes to familiarise myself with:

- Ensuring that there were no breakdowns in the recruitment life cycle

- Keeping up-to-speed with new terminology used in the education system

- Learning new CRM’s and other recruitment software

- The infamous timesheets!

- Stringent compliance and vetting processes

- Lengthy candidate registration processes

- Spinning plates; Sourcing & Registering candidates, pitching & winning business, Meetings, Targets, Recording of data, Bookings and timesheets

High-pressured situations combined with my inexperience left me with a degree of uncertainty and that all too familiar self-doubt began to creep in.

Conquering my inexperience & self-doubt

However, not all was lost! My can-do attitude, accompanied by the support of my team and Mentor Dan, allowed me to retain that ‘bounce-back ability,' giving me the courage to persevere, learn from my mistakes and come back stronger.

My positive attributes also played a vital role in overcoming this steep learning curve:

- Charisma

- Versatility 

- Adaptability 

- Positivity

- Analytical

- Communication skills

- Emotional Intelligence 

- Problem Solving 

- Organisational skills

The Bigger Picture

As time has gone on and I have gained more experience, I began to realise the significance of my role as an Education Recruitment Consultant.

People outside of the industry or those new to the industry may see the job as merely sending over of CVs to clients and putting appropriate candidates into suitable jobs. Over time however, I have come to realise that recruitment, especially within education, is much more.

I am deeply convinced of the important role that education plays in a child’s future and as a whole, the future itself. If the next generations future is bright, so will the future in general. Children spend the majority of their life at school, so their experience there is paramount to their social, emotional and educational development. It may sound a tad dramatic, but our education system plays a vital role in determining the success of our society and with the world getting ever smaller, even the broader world itself.

I feel that recruiters in their tireless efforts to supply quality teaching staff, play an instrumental role in keeping the education system functioning.

Perhaps with a little more consideration, recruiters and the recruitment process could be viewed in a completely new light!