Well, hello recruiting world. I have been reading the blogs on here with interest and decided to dive in myself.

Tiny bit of background on me and then I'll get on to my topic of choice. I'm working for an RPO organisation in Manchester UK on their business development/recruitment improvement/training/marketing side of things (yes, this means I am ALWAYS busy!) I'm relatively new to recruitment, having joined the industry in December 2009, but am very taken with it. What could be better than finding someone their dream job? Since May of last year I have been working with an RPO, first as a resourcer and now working on improving the quality of our clients' recruitment, whether they use us for RPO or not.

So my question is, what do you love and what don't you love about recruitment. Side question too if I may, how do you think people see recruitment where you are? I'll explain a bit about British recruitment further down....

I think the thing I love most about recruitment is how it ties so many things together. Getting that perfect person on board at just the right time could mean your company increases profits. Recruitment done properly is incredibly important and it really annoys me when, after asking what I do, people roll their eyes or make jokes when I say I work in recruitment. (My boyfriend used to call me a recruitment parasite until I asked him to stop!)  Is this something that happens in the USA too?

I think the reason people dislike recruiters over here so much is the reputation. British people have a natural and well documented tendency to be more reserved than our cousins across the pond. Recruiters cannot really be reserved. They need to be bold, very talkative and at times a little pushy. I think it irritates a lot of people over here as we are not used to the "wide boy" way of selling.

Recruitment is an industry that has been through some volatile times lately, with the recession and the economy as it is, and there are a great deal of consultants out there doing us no favours. By the same token I have met dozens and dozens of fantastic recruiters who enjoy recruitment for the same reasons I do. They are helping candidates, helping companies and getting paid to do it. What's not to love! I must admit that I have met more good recruiters than bad, but it does seem to be the bad consultants who stick in your mind.

This is a bit of a rambling post, I apologise. I'm pretty new to blogging so stay with me, I should hopefully get better!