Thinking about a career change this summer? Do you have recruitment experience, but want a role with a better cultural fit? Do you have sales or admin experience and want to develop your career?
A few years ago, I would have answered yes to all the above. I graduated in 2012, I spent 4 years in Sydney working in recruitment. I came back to Dublin in Summer 2016 and joined Cpl as a recruiter.
After a year I began recruiting internally and have been recruiting recruiters for Cpl across Ireland ever since. To date, I’ve placed over 100 people in the Cpl group at all levels.
I’m often asked what it’s really like to work at Cpl, or what to expect when working as a recruiter. To give an insight into working at Cpl I asked 5 recruiters who I recently placed within the Cpl group about their experience so far.
Working at Cpl as a new recruiter
There were a few main things that stood out, all of which I also felt after I’d joined Cpl, and still think today over 3 years later.
1. The people are great
Although I’m based in Dublin, I place people in all of Cpl’s offices across Ireland. When I was speaking to recruiters I’ve placed recently, it didn’t matter if they were based in Cork, Dublin or Galway the first thing they said was that their colleagues were great to work with.
Denise, who works for the Construction recruitment team in Cork said… “It has been great, I am really enjoying it so far and the team in Cork are very supportive.”
While Sheena, who works for our Kate Cowhig team in Galway said… “The last 6 months have flown by! The team in KCR have all been friendly and open to answering any questions that I have. There have been good days and bad days but all in all, I would say it has been an excellent experience and given me a great insight into the world of recruitment.”
Although we’re a big company, with over 1000 employees, each team is relatively small and tend to be quite close – which gives a real family atmosphere within the teams and is one my favourite things about Cpl.
2. The work is fast paced
Recruitment is a fast paced business. High levels of communication and organisation skills are needed as no two days are the same.
Maebh who like me moved home from Australia just before joining Cpl Insurance, summed it up well when I was talking to her about her first few months working at Cpl.
“The last 6 months have been very fast-paced. I thought this would burn me out, but you learn to get used to it and now I actually enjoy it. Multi-tasking was never my best strength, but I’ve improved a lot since I joined Cpl. I have a lot more confidence day to day too. You are meeting and talking with all sorts of people every day and it becomes more and more natural.”
Sean, who was a bar manager before joining the Cpl Sales recruitment team in Dublin said something quite similar: “Recruitment has been challenging but very enjoyable. Having not come from a recruitment background it was a lot to take on and a lot to learn. The management team have been excellent, and my team support each other and help when needed which makes all the difference.”
3. Genuine relationships are key
The main challenges and opportunities within recruitment are building relationships, with your candidates, your clients, and your colleagues. It’s a role suited to people who genuinely enjoy meeting and helping other people and I can see that in our most successful employees.
Again, Meabh put’s it nicely “if you are friendly, personable and professional it will pay off.” Shauna who has a background in childcare and retail, returned from a summer in Canada to start her career in Cpl Healthcare explained “Everyone has been more than happy to help and guide me and answer all my questions. It has been a great experience so far”
From my own perspective, I’ve found recruitment a great way to develop sales, HR, administration and customer service skills.
Being in control of your own earnings is a top perk of working in recruitment, equally meeting lots of new people on a weekly basis is really enjoyable.
Interested in becoming a recruiter at Cpl?
If you enjoy working in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment where you are motivated and encouraged to achieve targets and results on a weekly basis then recruitment could be the next step in your career?
At the moment we have recruiter roles available across Ireland for senior experienced recruiters and first-time recruiters. If you are interested in learning more please get in touch with me, or you can view all the live roles on our internal jobs page.