Pros
Colleagues were seemingly pleasant. One other colleague was more proactive and explanatory when I shadowed her.
Cons
David was a complacent boss and not very mentally present. Overall didn’t seem like he could be bothered with me and my onboarding. Training was definitely not prioritised. Was given a training ‘schedule’ that seemingly looked detailed, EG 1 hour 1 to 1 with David, but, in reality, it would be only about 5-10 minutes and consist of him flicking through pointless slides and not really any useful information. Was asked to shadow him as he scrolled through his emails or LinkedIn with usually little context to what/why he had done something. Told me to read this, very below par, 1 page blog about what was a good CV. Never showed me what a ‘client server standard’ CV was. First time he asked me to ring someone so he could listen, he had a conversation with another colleague whilst I was on the phone which meant not only could he probably not pay attention to my first call representing the company, but I also struggled to hear the person I was calling. The bad communication made me feel confused, anxious and uneasy. This was coupled with having no idea of his expectations of me during my first week. He’d run out of things for me to do as he hadn’t structured anything. Never asked me if I was confused about anything or if he needed to go over something with me again. Felt like I would have probably been scolded if I had forgotten how to do something. As someone who clearly communicated prior to being hired that I had no previous recruitment/sales experience, I was mislead during my hiring process that I would be given a lot of guidance to reach their ‘high standards’. Didn’t happen at all, which, in fairness, he did agree with. They prided themselves that their small team meant more attention than a typical consultancy, but it just meant that they were all thinly spread. I got the vibe that they may have a high turnover of staff. I think David neglected to realise that everyone starts somewhere and that I didn’t have the same knowledge or skills as the rest of the team or himself because it was my first job in recruitment. I got the feeling that they just wanted to hire someone with no experience so they were less out of pocket. I wasn’t asking for someone to hold my hand. I just wish there had been more clarity and structure, especially for my first couple days on the job. Set me up for failure. Overall office vibe wasn’t great either. In summary I would stay away for at least a few years until they, hopefully, manage to build up their consultancy. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but apparently being a seasoned recruitment consultant is.