Pros
There is so much I could write here but I will try to be brief: - The people are incredible - genuinely! - Super supportive and positive culture sponsoring a very intimate and personal relationship with the entire business (from the CEO to the support staff and resourcing team). - People really care. They undestand that, as much as they work for a strong brand, the brand of the individual consultant is what mainly decides winning a proposal for a new search. They sponsor you to develop your brand and become a recognizable expert in your field. - An incredibly established brand with instant recognition from Clients and Candidates alike. This allows the average consultant to bill 250k+ per year, and an above average consultant to bring home 400k+ in billings while doing very limited business development. You join the best there is when it comes to HR Recruitment! - Once you become an Associate Director, that's when opportunities start popping up left and right. Before then, you are asked to follow a semi-structured career path which allows you to become an expert in your market/location, but at times can feel a little bit forced. Trust that it is for your own good and I can promise you, you will not regret it. - They behaved excellently during Covid. Limited staff turnover to the absolute minimum while always providing great Comms. on current state and outlook for the future. - I can safely say the business is now more profitable and better positioned than even before. - The move to a 2+3 hybrid scheme worked out great. You have the freedom to be held fully accountable for your decisions, while also knowing your partners/senior managers truly embraced the agile mindset.
Cons
- Compensation/Bonus scheme are not the best in the industry, but also far from being the worst. - Its a medium size, PE backed business. So, in most cases, you get some of the structure and processes of a large multinational along with the lack of complete flexibility you usually get in a founder-led business. - They have always been a Recruitment business with a high quality approach but not a search company. You will hit a roof in terms of the seniority of the searches you will be running (for the UK market, they are leading every HR appointment from 25k p/year grads entering the world of HR, to Senior HR Directors with a base of 180k/200k). They are just now starting to enter the C-level market with senior (VP/C-Level - 200k + base) appointments so if you want to do that in a brand that is already a key player at that level, I would advise either coming in with a healthy network of clients, or go work for a typical SHREK firm. - Same goes with the level of quality and detail provided to both client and candidates alike (definitely much higher than other firms in the space, but not to the same level as that of a SHREK firm). - Post covid, they have lost touch with what makes Recruitment truly fun like company events, retreat etc. They are working hard to bring it back but it is definitely a less "young/collegiale" atmosphere than that of a lot of other firms in the space. - In most cases, they either hire experienced senior consultants who will come in and leverage the brand to achieve new heights, or relatively junior resources with high potential. Catering to both pools (both in terms of culture and office vibe) is extremely tricky as one just wants to work and acts as the professional s/he is, the other wants to party and have a good time with colleagues.
