Kirsty A.

Partner
Happy to mentor
Happy to be contacted

About me

Kirsty A.
Language and Linguistic Science
English Language and Linguistics
Undergraduate
2011
United Kingdom

My employment

Partner
PartnerWise Recruitment Ltd
United Kingdom
2013

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A day in the life of a Partner in the United Kingdom

How I found out about the job

Set up the business with colleagues

My career history

My role is senior level executive search within fashion retail. I am based in Harrogate with extensive travel.

Where I hope to be in 5 years

I hope to own more of the business as I grow, ultimately to become a Managing Partner. I also want to continue to grow my reputation within our niche market.

My advice to students considering work

Get a part time job! To me nothing shows work ethic more than working and studying at the same time - I have worked since the age of 14. This is a great sector if you want to work hard and succeed and earn quickly. You must be tenacious as there are ups and downs and money isn't earned overnight. Read up on your sector - e.g. in my case, retail.

My advice about working in my industry

Great for you if you want to work hard and succeed and earn quickly. You must be tenacious as there are ups and downs and money isn't earned overnight. Read up on your sector - eg in my case, retail.

What I do

My role involves:
Business development - approaching and pitching to new clients;
Negotiating fees and terms of business;
Search work - once you have a role to work on proactively 'headhunting' potential candidates and approaching them for a role with our clients;
Interviewing and shortlisting candidates for the role;
Offer negotiation.

Skills I use and how I developed them

Transferable written and communication skills and academic ability was important, although actual field of study and grades not so much.

Extracurricular skills:
Part time and voluntary jobs helped me gain relevant sales and comms experience, plus commerciality.

What I like most

I particularly enjoy the seniority of the candidates and clients that I work with and the level of insight I gain into their business. The European travel is great and the negotiation part of the role is always interesting and challenging. The money is great as I have a good basic salary plus excellent commission and dividends (I am a shareholder). Recruitment is very much a meritocracy where your earnings can grow very quickly if you are good.

What I like least

Sometimes there are 'peaks and troughs' in terms of sales and waiting for new work to start. Sometimes the hours can be long - although generally I work a normal working week.

Next steps...

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