When I first started in Q3, I didn’t fully appreciate the Recruitment process as it was a new Industry for me. Having completed my first quarter, I can say it is a demanding and fast paced job with many ups and downs but overall, it’s been a rewarding & fun start to the journey as a recruiter.
Why did I switch from Corporate Finance to Recruitment?
After over 3 years in core transaction advisory with a Consulting firm, I realized that working in finance was not my passion. I wanted to explore an opportunity where I could leverage my CFA qualification as well as help professionals in the accounting & finance sector, hence I approached Conor (Founder of Alchemy Search) who had also switched to the other side from an Accounting & Finance background.
What did I learn from my first quarter?
Patience and Hard work are the key : I learned from my experience that recruitment is a process and there are various uncontrollable variables, hence it may take a while before you close a job. For example, I had a candidate for a role in KSA at the offer stage, who accepted another job offer even though she was eager to progress throughout the process as the other offer had lesser working hours. It was great learning experience and I truly believe “You Win Some and You Lose Some”, something that Conor always tells us. However, all the hard work of speaking & meeting with candidates will help as all the candidates you are meeting and building into your database will reduce time to source and find candidates when the next opportunity arises. As someone who has always been quite patient & hardworking in her approach, I believe these are qualities which are quite important as a Headhunter.
- Learn from your team members & shadow them: It’s very key to understand how consultants and managers are optimizing their efficiency for success. Listening to their screening calls with candidates, time management, prioritizing key things a client is looking for in the candidates and understanding their routines are the things I have tried picking up from Pooja, Conor and Weam over this quarter.
- Build Genuine relationships and network : Alchemy Search is a relationship driven business and we are always hosting events for our clients to network at the same time creating awareness about us and our services. We also believe in providing a good candidate experience and keeping them updated on the process irrespective of them getting shortlisted or not, as this will help in building long term relationships which is key to success in recruitment.
What were the achievements from my first quarter?
The quarter had 10-12 days remaining and I really wanted to experience making an offer to a candidate that I had found. At this stage, I wasn’t hopeful however in the last week , a role I had been working on for a couple of months (Manager -Business Valuations) role for a professional services firm, which had been quite a difficult search from the start as they wanted a candidate with dual qualification and the relevant valuations experience, we received an email saying both of my candidates had performed extremely well and if the preferred candidate, didn’t accept, they would offer the other candidate. I was so happy and as they say, making that offer call, is a great feeling.
While I still have a lot to learn, I am excited and already enjoying Q4, as the market is picking up. Please reach out to me if you are open to new opportunities or would like some insight on the market as I am always looking to expand my network with Finance Professionals: sthakwani@alchemysearch.ae
