Your Desk, Your Company
People have a love hate relationship with recruiters. If they help you get a job, they can be your fairy godmother as you navigate the murky waters of job hunting. If you aren’t in the market, or recruiters have not been successful in finding you anything, they can be a phone number you consistently screen.
I don’t blame people for having a love hate relationship with them. Especially as I enter my third week at ALKU, I’ve realized that not all recruiters are made equal. I’ve had people tell me some of the shady things recruiters have said to them, how they say they will submit them for a job or never do, or how recruiters don’t call them back and tell them if they got the job or not after they’ve interviewed. I’ve also had people tell me how much they love their recruiters, how close they are to them, and how grateful they are for their work.
ALKU has won a plethora of staffing awards, such as best staffing firm in the country, best place to work in Boston, etc. After three weeks at ALKU, I strongly believe they deserved all those awards. The recruiters and account managers work hard for their clients, push for transparency, and have genuine interest in helping people. That being said, I still had trouble seeing myself as a recruiter when I first started. My personality and style did not match any of the full timers to the T, and I had trouble knowing that many clients were not going to get a job through us at the end of the day. I shared my concern that my personality may not be a fit for the role with my mentor. Her advice was to stop overthinking who I was going to be like, and treat my desk as its own company instead. Form a style, attitude, and work habits that are uniquely you, without worrying too much about what other people are doing. At the end of the day that is going to make you stand out from other recruiters, and build you a client base that trusts you more genuinely.
I appreciated the advice, and felt it applied to most roles in most industries. There is no hard road map you need to follow in order to be a recruiter, or any other job for that matter. If you treat your desk like your own company and just focus on how you want to be represented, as well as build your personal style for how to help people, you’ll build authentic habits you can be proud of. I hope to bring this advice with me throughout my internship, as I learn more about what myself, and build my personal desk-company.