In January 2021, after I completed a university placement at a graduate recruitment organisation, (which was my first glimpse of working in the recruitment industry) I joined the graduate program at Robert Walters. I began my journey as a candidate manager. Two years, a lot of hard work and three promotions later, I’m now a senior consultant in the technology and transformation team.

Looking back, working in a restaurant whilst I completed my degree was the first step in my recruitment career. It was here that I realised I loved interacting with people, and a role in a people orientated environment was the right choice for me. I studied Human Resource Management at Macquarie University, where I completed a placement at a specialist graduate recruitment consultancy. I loved the placement and realised a career in recruitment meant I was able to combine the knowledge I had gained during my course along with my love for people.   
 
It was through my university placement that I heard about the graduate opportunities on offer at Robert Walters – I was contacted by my now manager to ask if I was interested in learning more. From my experience so far, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I knew I enjoyed helping people develop their careers and this would give me the opportunity to do that permanently in an environment where I could progress professionally with excellent earning potential.  

I had created an idea of what I thought my first corporate job interview would be like, and felt nerves to match up to it, but the experience I had couldn’t have been further from it. The process felt relaxed, everyone I met put me at ease and made the interviews feel like we were having a conversation to understand if the career and company was the right fit for me, and vice versa. I completed three interviews over two days, meeting five people in total, and received an offer within a week.

There is a lot to take in during your first few weeks, but everyone is so supportive and friendly that you don’t feel overwhelmed for long. The options for career progression were explained to me at an early stage, I was shown there is certain criteria you need to meet to move on to the next stage of the graduate program. Seeing my potential pathway and hearing the progression stories of the people around me really motivated me. 

When I first joined, my role title was candidate manager – it’s during this time you spend most of your time meeting candidates, talking to them to understand their career experience, goals, and what we can help them with. From this, you learn a lot about the specific market you’re recruiting for and move on to building client relationships, in a full ‘recruitment consultant’ role. One thing that has remained unchanged is the time we invest in our team meetings and training sessions. This ensures we all work together towards our common goal and celebrate the successes we have along the way.  
 
My advice to anyone considering a career in recruitment is to speak to someone who works in the role. There’s a stigma about what recruitment is, that it can be heavily sales-focused and transactional, but this is not the case at all. It’s much more about building your own business within a business and being able to connect with other people. If you enjoy a challenge and have a competitive, entrepreneurial side to you then I personally believe it is great career option for you.