Submitted on Thu 09 Dec 2021
I worked for years in agency recruitment and I loved it. I had the opportunity to work for some amazing companies and with some brilliant people, but towards the end it stopped suiting my lifestyle.
As my kids got older I wanted to spend more time with them. As I got more affluent I wanted to spend more time on holiday. And the thing with agency recruitment is that it can be intense, its long hours and it uses up a lot of energy.
So, like many recruiters do, I moved into internal recruitment. And I loved it. I worked on a big RPO with a global corporation, I worked as part of small Talent Acquisition teams in a really exciting, fast growing financial services company and it was really interesting. I got to sit on the other side of the table and really feel part of the company I was recruiting for.
But the thing is, I missed the buzz of recruitment; the variety of clients, the highs (and lows), the agency vibe and (dare I say it for fear of sounding shallow) the commission.
The higher base salary of internal recruitment was reassuring each month, but I missed the ability to really crank up my earnings with commission, even if it did mean a slightly lower base salary.
But I wasn’t ready to step back into the hard core, 9-5, hard hitting 90’s style recruitment agency environment. Nor was I willing to move into an agency that was completely remote, after all It was the agency vibe that I was missing.
Then I re-found The Recruitment Company (I’ve worked here 3 times now – over a 20 year period) and they told me about ‘untethered’ and I’ve been hooked ever since.
For me, working for The untethered Recruitment Company (as they like to call themselves) has made the switch back from internal recruitment a no brainer.
I have limitless flexibility. I can work from home, I can work from a café, I can work from overseas if I want and (which I love) I can work from a buzzing office with a fun, lively agency vibe. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed the buzz of a thriving sales floor until I was there, on the phones, bouncing off others.
For me, the things that make ‘Untethered’ more than just the token flexibility that many organisations throw out there are:
- Multiple clients – I loved being a part of the company I recruited for but I am loving the ability to recruit for a wide range of companies; different sizes, different industries, different styles.
- It works around my life – these days I have hobbies I want to keep doing, like yoga, and flexibility to keep doing them, whenever I like, is brilliant
- Options to work overseas – I’m originally from the UK so like to travel back there to see friends and family. But Im always limited by time and resent using all my annual leave to go back there. But with unterhtered I can have an extended stay in the UK (for as long as I like) and, so long as I can work Sydney hours, I can keep doing my job, keep my clients and engage with my colleagues – as if I was here
- The metrics – I have colleagues working next to me, from home, interstate, and even in the US but the systems mean we have complete transparency. I know what everyone else is doing all the time, they know what I am doing; complete transparency, complete accountability to each other.
- Well thought out systems – everything is meticulously designed to work as well in the office or at home. Meetings don’t fall over school drop off times, training is built to be run with a combination of zoom and face to face, incentives and events work seamlessly no matter where everyone is (pumpkin carving class with people on 3 continents was a highlight)
- Amazing office – the company’s philosophy is to give everyone the choice of where they work and then to make the office so amazing that everyone wants to be there. I’ve worked in some awesome offices in my time but this is one of the best. I haven’t hit the karaoke machine yet but Im sure its just a matter of time
- The database – Joining a company that has been successful for over 20 years has its benefits. I get to access one of the best candidate databases in Australia and they use Recruit Wizard, which I;ve found to be by far the best system I;ve ever worked with (and I’d never heard of it before coming here)
- The purpose – I love what we are creating. Becoming The Untethered Recruitment Company is a journey they’ve been on for 8 years and to be here and help shape something our industry hasn’t seen before is an amazing experience. And underpinning everything is the company’s core purpose of making people enjoy the recruitment experience again. This is something that really resonates with me as I love recruitment but felt that it had lost sight of servicing the communities it operates within. Its great to get back to focussing on that.
So far the switch back to agency from internal has been brilliant. I’ve loved the buzz, the market is booming and working for a company that is ‘untethered’ means that I can have all the things I loved about agency recruitment in my former days AND I get to work it around my life.
And, (judge me if you will) the commission is AWESOME!
Check out the rest of this series here
If you’re an amazing recruiter looking for a recruitment agency to call your new home, then let’s start with a chat. Call us today on (02) 8346 6705 or email to [email protected] for a no obligation chat with Holly. Find out why we were named Australia’s best small business to work for and how you could join our family.
The Recruitment Company – Making people enjoy the recruitment experience again
Specialist Recruitment Agency within Information Technology, Project Services, IT Infrastructure, Software Development, SAP, Data and Analytics, Devops, Cloud and the Public Sector.
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