My Life as a Recruitment Consultant: David Styles

Welcome to the first installment of our upcoming series "My Life as a Recruitment Consultant", where we give you the chance to meet our team, and also find out more about the day to day life of Recruitment Consultants.

David Styles is one of our senior Consultants, who manages teams recruiting for a variety of engineering and technical disciplines. Dave is degree qualified, and an accredited member of the RCSA (APRCSA status). He has 10 years experience recruiting in the UK, Middle East, and Australia, and when he's not at work he enjoys travel, socialising, and playing guitar.

How did you get into recruitment?

I have worked ever since I was old enough to do so and found that I very much enjoyed dealing with people. Once I completed my degree I joined Hays as a trainee consultant and worked through their fast track program to become a Consultant and then Manager.

How easy or difficult did you find it to pick up the basics of the recruitment role?

I picked the basics up quickly, but I still endeavour to learn from the people around me each and every day. Recruitment is an art - it can be learnt fairly quickly, but takes time to master.

What sort of things do you do on a day to day basis?

I set up the teams working with me in the morning and then review their progress with them throughout the day, offering guidance where requested or required. I still actively recruit and in this capacity I split my day into business development in the morning and candidate generation and interviewing in the afternoon.

What are the best parts of the job?

I love the pace of recruitment: to be successful you need to be able to work in a rapid environment and have the ability to prioritise your workload and then focus on the task in hand. I also enjoy the fact that no two days are ever the same. Put simply, I love this job.

And which are the worst parts?

Working in recruitment is like riding a roller coaster, it has highs and lows. When things do not go your way and you get knocked down you need to pick yourself back up, dust yourself off and push on through to make sure you get back on to a high as soon as possible.

What was the biggest mistake you made as a novice recruiter, and how did you deal with it?

One mistake I made as a novice recruiter was trying to take on too much at once and the end result is that you spread yourself too thin and in turn do not achieve your goals. I learnt to break things into small, manageable chunks before I try and tackle them.

How do you think the recruitment industry is perceived by our clients and candidates?

Clients and candidates who have worked with us before understand and value the service that we provide, which is why a large percentage of our work is repeat business. People who are not familiar with what we do may have other perceptions, which I would welcome them to speak with me about.

How do you differ from your competitors in the same field?

Outside of our exceptional database and significant advertising spend, we also have ongoing day-to-day mentorship for trainees and consultants as well as a formalised training program. In addition to this our single site base ensures the free flow of information between consultants, which offers candidates the best choice of roles and clients the best selection of candidates.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in recruitment?

If you are tenacious, ambitious, resilient and determined come and speak with us: this could be the perfect career for you.