Arguably some of the best kept secrets when it comes to careers are working as a recruiter, manager and/or sales professional in the staffing industry.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve worked with us either as a temporary associate or client so you know what we do: we match candidates with Southern California companies in temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire job opportunities. In other words, our work makes a huge, positive difference in the lives of our neighbors and our colleagues. We can’t think of a better career than that!
What’s more, the work is never dull (no two of our days truly are ever alike) and compensation – especially after working in staffing for a few years – can be quite attractive. In addition, while college degrees will help, they are not required in order to become a great recruiter or sales pro: a willingness to learn, to do things far out of your comfort zone, to deal with rejection and – sometimes – unhappy people while always treating everyone with respect, professionalism and kindness is.
Most People Don’t Think: “Hey, I Want to Work in Staffing!”
Most of us didn’t graduate high school or college with the plan to work in this industry: most staffing pros come from other business sectors. In fact, we’ve found that folks who have worked in retail, food service/hospitality, customer service (particularly car rental services and call centers) do well because they know how to deal with the public.
How we came to work in staffing varies for each of us, but we all stay for pretty much the same three reasons:
- We can have a huge, positive impact on people’s lives.
- It’s fun.
- It can pay pretty darn well.*
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention staffing’s downside: it can be a highly stressful industry. Priorities change constantly as you work to satisfy both clients and your candidates.
Yet every career has its downsides and we feel that the many positive aspects of this career far outweigh the negative.
If we’ve at all piqued your interest, contact us: we have a few internal openings now. But even if that link shows no current internal opportunities, or doesn’t show the type of position you’d like to explore, contact us anyway as we always are looking for great people to join our internal team.
The American Staffing Association (ASA) offers more information about opportunities found in a staffing career on its website. In addition, the ASA has partnered with CareerBuilder and Capella Learning Solutions to create a program that prepares people for internal, entry-level recruiter positions in recruiting and staffing companies. (Note: taking the course in no way guarantees you a position with us, but you also don’t need to take the course in order to be considered for employment with us.)
*What does “pretty darn well” actually mean? While we can’t go into our salary ranges here, but let us direct you to Glassdoor.com, which shows that staffing coordinators in Los Angeles make an average salary of $33,700 (maximum of $55K), while recruiters average $53,428 (maximum of $72K). Staffing account executives (sales) averaged $59,201 (a maximum of $95K), while a staffing branch manager (management of a branch office plus sales) averaged $68,771 (a maximum of $94K).
Take a look here for more information on what we provide you as a member of our internal Helpmates Staffing team,
