Designing your work life; Life as an internal recruiter and an agent.

Can you be an agent and work as an internal recruiter at the same time?

For me, the answer is yes! But it’s not true for all recruiters. Internal recruiters and agents pioneer very different roles and there seems to be a bit of rivalry that divides the unity of the two. This year, I’ve struck a balance and explored the abundance of both worlds.

I needed trust, honesty and integrity in my bank account to get started, and now, continued hard work has helped it flow.

Here’s a little about my osmotic journey…

I’ve been working in recruitment for seven years, it’s an industry I GENUINELY love (phew). Although the industry receives a lot of scrutinies, I like a challenge, the fast-paced and the people-centred nature of the role.

Three of these years, I sailed along comfortably as a solo recruiter with a solid network and great clients. The only thing I lacked was a team, a crew that I could bond with; to talk about the everyday perils of our role. I decided to explore my options and see if I could strike a balance between agency life, internal recruitment and being a business owner.

1. Agency life: The perk of agency life is being in the market. I can’t ignore my passion for working with multiple budding startups and tech giants but was a little fed up with the agency game.
2. Hans solo: Being my own boss is awesome, but it can be a lonely life for a solo recruiter “on the road”. Shooting my own hoops isn’t as fun when I don’t have a team to celebrate a common goal. I crave teammates with whom I can share successes.
3. Internal recruitment: A short term gig at REA Group saw me step into a role that provided a wonderful way to be inside a tech business, to learn and contribute. Here I was connected with a crew (1000pl in fact!), a sense of ownership, a voice, an opportunity to deliver value, at speed. To be a part of such a nurturing and unique culture, is an experience I am always grateful for.

What I learnt from my tripod experience was that not only did I like the combination of various roles but I felt these roles naturally complimented each other through their respective advantages.

After REA, I began contracting internally at Versent – a business on an amazing journey. This was an opportunity to be involved with a business experiencing immense growth and success.

In the end, I decided that I didn’t have to choose, I could benefit from them all and give great advantage to my clients.

Where am I now?

At present, I am working for REA Group as well as serving multiple clients, while working remotely from Paris. (Thanks to REA for your trust in me and for your forward thinking mindset!)

I’m an agent, internal recruiter and business owner. It’s frantic but bucket loads of fun and I’m always open to work with new people. The versatility allows me to know the market well from an agents perspective as well as understanding the intimate needs of a company.

If you value trust, honesty and integrity as much as I do, it’s easy to make this type of arrangement work. As a member of the gig economy I have the freedom to choose my work/life balance and versatility to explore new opportunities when they come my way. Turns out you can be an internal recruiter, solo recruiter and agent, all at the same time.

I’d love to hear the stories of other digital nomads, and fellow recruiters learning how to make competing roles work. Hit me up with your tactics!

Or, if you’re a founder or startup looking to expand but you’re not sure about your path for recruitment, I’d love to hear about your company, you’re growth – Melbourne based or beyond – to see if I can help you strike a balance.