Leaving a successful desk does not mean walking away from money.
If you’re a successful recruiter, then finding a new job is easy. Finding the right new job is a little bit harder. The hardest part is walking away from the commission you’re due to be paid.
I speak to recruiters who know that they have gone as far as they can in their role. Their pathway to management is blocked, the opportunities to earn more money are not there or the culture of the business they once loved has changed and they don’t enjoy walking through the door every day.
What keeps them going back through that door though is their successful desk: strong client relationships, their own name associated with their employer’s brand and an excellent candidate database they have built up all of which lead to consistent billing and bonus.
The fear for these recruiters is that if they walk away from bonus that they’ll never reach those heights again or at least not for months of a bedding in period in a new job. Often their dissatisfaction will lead to lower work performance and billings drop anyway which leads to them starting a job search in a weaker position. Negative interviews are common; centred around why things aren’t going as well as they were before, explaining how they used to be resilient going through the tough times and how bad things are now.
Not every recruiter takes the decision to stay until things get to this point. The best recognise that their satisfaction at a business is going to be limited and start working out what they need to continue on a successful career path. Looking for a new job when you are billing well, being able to talk about recent, relevant success stories and what you want to achieve with a new employer will ensure your interview is a positive conversation – not a negative one. The interviewer will be left with the impression they have met someone that can achieve great things, has the drive to do so and will envisage a successful, positive recruiter in their business.
However, does this mean walking away from all that money you’re owed from the deals you’ve done? Not always. For Interims recruiters, future employers are likely to pay a guarantee to ensure your income does not drop. They recognise that it takes time to build an Interims desk up to the levels where you will be earning well again.
For Permanent recruiters, clients often reduce thresholds so you can earn commission from month/quarter one as you re-connect with those clients you have relationships with, build candidate networks and that pipeline again.
Coupled with a salary increase, these reasons ensure the impact on your earnings will not be as significant as you expect. In fact, far from seeing a drop in earnings over the first year of employment – our placements see an increase for the reasons above as well as being energised in their new role.
So, when it comes to finding a new role, interviewing whilst things are going well in your current position will give you a higher chance of success in securing the right job to further your career without impacting your earnings.
If you’d like the opportunity to talk through this article or any other topics in recruitment or executive search – please feel free to get in touch.
