Recruitment is widely considered as a great place to start your career. It’s all well and good being told the pros and cons of joining the recruitment industry, but what advice do the seasoned professionals have to offer those considering it?

Read: Why Recruitment Could Be The Best First Job

In our new “Where Can Recruitment Take You?” series, we’ll be speaking with a range of superstars who’ve worked their way through the wild and wonderful world of Recruiting to find out their thoughts.

To kick the series off we caught up with Michele Stuart, MD and Owner of Ivory Jacobs, specialists in recruitment to recruitment.

Michele Stuart Ivory Jacobs

Hi Michele. Firstly, please tell me a bit about yourself…

I'm the proud Owner and Managing Director of a boutique Rec to Rec firm called Ivory Jacobs. We’re based near Southampton but have coverage across the South of the UK including counties such as Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Berkshire and London.

And how did you start out in Recruitment?

I spent two years in door to door sales on 100% commission. I knew I loved sales but wanted to progress my career beyond direct sales. I was approached about a Trainee Recruitment Consultant role and it gauged my interest from the get go; the more research I did, the more I realised this was the career for me. Five years later and I’m now managing my own business.

What aspects of your initial experience are still relevant to you today?

Doing deals and putting fees on the board. There’s a bigger urgency than ever to make money as we’re a small start-up business and every bit counts. My job right now is pretty varied but I’m still very hands on and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Day to day I’m massively focused on billing (which is what I’ve done from day one) as well as managing the team. On top of this I’m always looking at new ways to market/grow our business and I’ve of course had to learn to do all the day to day running of a business including finance, payroll and HR.

What has been the most valuable thing you’ve learnt during your time in recruitment?

Persistence is key - It won’t happen overnight and it won’t be easy. Look after your clients/candidates and they will look after you too.

What advice would you give to someone considering recruitment as a career?

Consider recruitment if you consider yourself to be entrepreneurial, self-motivated, intelligent and have a natural flair for sales. Go in with your eyes wide open as recruitment isn't for the faint hearted and you absolutely must prepare yourself for a hard slog for the first 6 to 12 months. Prepare for a lot of ups and downs and a fair few learning curves. However, the rewards are absolutely endless and there’s no other industry which can offer so much in such a short space of time. In 5 years you can experience serious career progression into management (even directorship), you can genuinely earn in the six figures region and the environment is second to none – you will make friends for life!

Thanks Michele!

So there you have it – wise words from Michele for our first instalment of “Where Can Recruitment Take You?” If this post has sparked an interest in working for Ivory Jacobs, why not get in touch with Michele and her lovely team to get the ball rolling. If you'd like to work in technology recruitment, visit our Work for Us page or send an email to careers@burnssheehan.co.uk.

Keep an eye out for our next interview and feel free to let us know how you’ve developed your career. 

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Thinking about your next move? Visit www.burnssheehan.co.uk to browse our current vacancies and check out our blog for career advice and the latest tech industry insights.