From Beauty Consultant to Recruitment Consultant
From Beauty Consultant to Recruitment Consultant
My employment background has always surrounded sales. It wasn?t a career I chose to do after leaving education, it was a career I fell into after having my little boy.
I began my sales journey working within the cosmetics industry, self-employed, doing parties around my friends and families homes selling a well-known brand of beauty products. It was here when I realised I was a people person and I was confident and comfortable using my personality to promote and sell products; I enjoyed the buzz form every successful sale and the fast paced target driven environment. As my son grew older I was able to commit to a more solid career; it was then I progressed onto working within a very successful department store on a premium cosmetics counter where I stayed for 5 years.
It was fair to say that after 10 years working within the beauty industry I became very make-up ?savvy? and knew every tip and trick within the world of beauty - every girls dream right? Not for me. The issue I found is I had more passion for meeting new people as opposed to the products I was selling, and it wasn?t until I had a lovely chat with a customer I was making-over who suggested to me that I should consider a career in recruitment.
My decision to aim for the world of education recruitment laid based on my son; what better sector of the industry to go for than one where I could potentially have the say in the decision of who could teach my child!
Class People attracted me over any other recruitment agency because of their morals and ethos surrounding the world of education for our children. They are a small family-run company, where I knew I would feel looked after and wouldn?t end up feeling like a number amongst thousands in a company.
Class People have given me the opportunity to use my ?counter skills? and use them within the recruitment industry, this has allowed me to gain new skills and further develop the ones I had, such as organisation; recruitment requires a phenomenal memory - a ?to do? list never seems to ?get done? no matter how much you strive to complete it! There is always something to be busy working on, which is one of the things I enjoy most. The other skill I have found improving is the importance of relationship skills and keeping that constant contact to successfully build rapport with clients. As long as I endeavour to keep this skill improving, I feel my business will follow.
I have found there are many similarities between selling cosmetics and recruitment, after all I am effectively selling teachers, the only difference is that I?m now selling a professional instead of a sparkling new lipstick! The best way I found myself able to make a smooth transition between the two careers was to think of each situation and scenario as if I was on the counter promoting a beauty product.
There are also many differences, like being in a quiet office instead of in a busy shop. That being said, I haven?t found this too difficult to adapt. I see my desk like I saw my counter, there is actually not much difference; I?m still meeting and speaking with new people every day, just in a different environment.
My advice to anyone currently working within sales and wishing to find a new direction in their career is to go for it, find your transferable skills and adapt them. If you?ve been successful in sales in the past, targets excite you and you enjoy meeting new people, then you have the main skills for a successful recruitment consultant. If you?re a new recruitment consultant then what I would advise is to focus on making friends with your clients; don?t be scared of them, they are just people. Every phone call is just a chat, each conversation you have with your client is building that relationship which is the most important to being a recruitment consultant.
A personal approach can make your business stand out, no matter what your career may be; and in turn, can become extremely rewarding when those clients and candidates thank you for your help.