From Marketing to Recruitment: a roller coaster ride

We have many ex-industry specialists working as consultants at EMR. Here, Mal Galuszczynska shares with us first year in recruitment, what made her decide to swap marketing for recruitment, and why she loves being a marketing recruiter so far!

Making the move

Even though I have been working as a Recruitment Consultant for over a year, the ‘ride’ began around three years ago when I decided to study a Masters in Occupational Psychology. At the time I was working my way up the marketing ladder while being employed by a Pan-European Data Centre Provider. 

A career in marketing can be very rewarding. I was lucky enough to work for an organisation that believes marketing is an integrated corporate function that is fundamental to the delivery of the business strategy. I met great people, travelled the world and enjoyed being part of a team on many creative projects. It just wasn’t enough. It wasn’t my passion and I felt data centres wouldn’t be my final destination.

Just over a year ago I finally made up my mind and I decided to take up a new challenge and move into the world of recruitment. I must say, it has been a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs along the way! From marketing and selling data centres, which are state-of-the-art buildings, I went into recruitment which is a people business. All you do on daily basis is interact with humans with different motives and aspirations. As we all know humans by nature can be very unpredictable! It can be exciting but at times disappointing as well.

Many people asked me “Why do you want to work in recruitment?” Well, there are a few reasons why I have done it and why I think it can be a great career. I say ‘can be’ as this profession is not for everyone and can be stressful at times. Those who are tenacious and self-motivated are most likely to succeed and make recruitment a long-term career. The common counter-argument to someone saying that recruitment can be a stressful job is the financial rewards. This is true indeed. Depending on the role and the industry, recruitment can be a lucrative business but it’s all down you as a person and the commission that you want to, and can, achieve. 

But financial rewards were not the only reason I decided to take the leap and it shouldn’t be the only reason for anyone to pick recruitment as a long-term career. Below are the four reasons that I chose recruitment and why recruitment can be a highly fulfilling career choice. 

Become a specialist in the market you cover 

As an ex-marketer, I was lucky enough to join EMR as they specialise in marketing recruitment across different sectors. I ended up recruiting Marketing Manager up to CMO level roles within the technology space. It may have seemed like an easy transition. Yes, it had helped knowing the discipline and the industry, but I have learnt way more about the sector itself than I thought I would. Talking to hundreds of candidates and clients on a weekly basis provides you with diverse, first-hand insights into the industry. You become an expert in your field and both clients and candidates start to recognise you as a trusted recruitment advisor in your core market. 

Work with the brands you always wanted to work with 

I perceive recruitment as a chain reaction. The harder you work, the more you network, the better reputation you have in the market, the more referrals you will get.  This results in a greater variety of candidates to introduce to clients and then more clients want to work with you. You get the variety! Here at EMR, I have the pleasure of working with rapidly growing start-ups but also well-respected and well-known brands. 

Help individuals with their own career paths 

As a recruitment consultant you are not only helping businesses achieve their objectives, you also have a chance to help individuals achieve their life goals and reach their potential. It may sound like a cliché, but finding a candidate their perfect job gives you a great deal of satisfaction!

Recognition and a great career path

Your hard work, tenacity and striving to be the best will be recognised by a good recruitment company. Compared to marketing, recruitment is a sales role heavy on KPI’s and targets. These can be painful and demotivating at times, however, achieving these has a direct impact on the company performance so efforts and achievements will not go unnoticed. If you put the work in and generate success you can progress your career quicker than most other industries. Within just 12 months of starting at EMR, and being totally new to recruitment, I have been promoted to Senior Consultant! This has purely been based on my success which I believe was down to my tenacity and self-motivation to succeed. I won’t lie! I probably wouldn’t achieve that without great colleagues and team leaders who supported me all the way here at EMR.

If you’ve been considering a change of career or are a recruitment consultant looking for a new challenge then please contact EMR today as we are always happy to speak to talented individuals interested in perusing a career in recruitment.    

Mal is our Senior Consultant recruiting for permanent marketing jobs in the technical B2B sector.