How you broke into your career...

I am a recent college graduate with a BA in Psychology, and am interested in starting a career in recruiting. However, finding an entry-level job has proven to be extremely difficult. Many employers are not hiring, and because I have very little sales experience, my resume appears to be rather unattractive to them.

I am very eager to find some kind of starting point, and I am now trying to find a sales-related position in the meantime to gain some experience.

How did you find your first recruiting jobs? If you went to college, what did you receive your degree in? What advice would you have for someone who is just starting out?

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by pam claughton on September 13, 2008 at 10:19am

When I graduated college, I answered an ad for a recruiting firm, and spoke to the sales manager and he gave me what I think was very good advice. He said, "You need to get some experience first, ideally sales, but at least a few years of professional business experience, then if you're still interested, call me."

I think it is good advice because if you enter recruiting after spending time doing other things, you can relate better to candidates. You've gone through the interviewing process the way they have, and have worked in the real world for a bit.

Sales experience is great because chances are if you don't like sales, you probably won't like recruiting as it is very much a sales job, because you need to be comfortable cold calling. That experience helps tremendously when you enter recruiting.

Once you have a few years of sales experience, you'll be able to get a recruiting job anywhere. Just call up an agency, ask for the sales manager, and tell him/her that you are going to move into recruiting and are going to meet with a few firms to determine which one is the best fit.

Good luck!
Pam

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sean C. on September 15, 2008 at 5:11pm

I am also a member of the BA Psych club. Have you taken any HR or I/O Psych classes? Definitely include anything like that on your resume, so prospective employers know you at least have an IDEA of the inner workings of recruitment/selection. Real world experience is pretty valuable, but that doesn't necessarily mean recruiting experience. I operated machines, moved furniture, worked in restaurants, and did other crappy jobs for 10 years before I went back and got my degree. Now that I am in my REAL career, I know that all that experience helped me in my interview, because it shows that I can adapt. I had never cold-called in my life before I got this job, now I do it every day. As a newbie, it's up to you to make it clear that when given the chance you will shine!