At first I thought it was just me.  Now I am convinced it’s more than my friendly, reassuring demeanor that is leading recruiters to think about ‘going internal’.  

 The amount of individuals ‘expressing an interest’ in making a move like this has been so significant that we thought we would do a little study. Out of the last 50 recruiters from ‘agency background’ my team and I have met over the last few months, 31 said they would consider an internal recruitment role…on some level. Sure, some wanted to actively pursue that now, others simply being passive observers of those roles. Granted, that number could be higher than the norm because we have just launched Hemisphere HR, which recruits across the spectrum of Human Resource roles, so perhaps that news has been filtering out to the market….but 31….I mean, that is a lot of interest. 

So what is it that is driving so many recruiters towards internal recruitment?  Is it that the agency market is just too tough?  Is it just that the grass is always greener? 

Quite possibly. There’s no doubt that we are in a difficult market.  But that can’t be it.  We’ve all been through tough markets and know that after every down turn there’s an up-swing - which thankfully was evident last time.  

Could it be that some people are veering away from working for businesses which are very ‘stat driven’ or perceived to provide an inflexible working environment? Many recruiters find the pressure of having to hit specific numbers of sales calls, meetings and ‘floats’ of CVs regardless of whether or not they are achieving or exceeding their revenue targets isn’t a model that works for them. 

Is it for more money? I’d generally have to rule out this one.  An average recruiter of 5 years+ experience might make a little more on their base component but with no commission structure their overall income would most likely be less than if they stayed in the agency world…even if they were an average performer. 

Realistically, all of the above reasons can and do exist for people considering the move to internal recruitment, and there are plenty of challenging career roles in corporate organizations to satisfy these needs, but perhaps the simple fact remains that some people are just employed by the wrong recruitment firm.  

We encourage anyone who comes to talk to us to remember that not all recruitment consultancies are created equal.  Roles and responsibilities, cultures and structures, targets and commission/bonus levels differ across each and every recruitment firm.  Perhaps a move to a different recruitment business is the tonic you need, rather than defaulting to “I want a role in internal recruitment’. 

Sometimes you just need to look around until you find the right fit.…and we are always happy to help you work that out.