From the outside in – A recruiter’s journey from agency to internal recruitment functions.....

Courtney Sertdemir joined us as an Internal Recruiter 10 months ago and here, our little ray of “sunshine” explains her journey.

I think it was about two years into my recruitment career, when I was starting to feel more established and confident in my role that I began considering the move into internal recruitment, or as agency recruiters call it, moving to the “dark side”.

More and more I started to wonder about the people I spoke to on the phone, what exactly were Talent Acquisition specialists or Internal Recruiters accountable for? Was their day just like mine? Did they have as many vacancies to fill? Was there any difference working internally? Did they have strict KPI’s?

So I started to look around. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job but thought why not see what’s out there! So, like every semi passive/ semi active candidate I’ve ever met with, I tried my luck and became one too.

Courtney climbing the corporate ladder! 

To start off, it’s a tough gig trying to get an internal role, why? Because just like me there are plenty of agency recruiters thinking the same thing about their career. So, you’re now competing against every other agency recruiter out there. I mean, you already vie for jobs and candidates in the market but now its recruiter against recruiter on the same catwalk trying to be “internals next top model.”

Now, I know what people think about agency recruiters going internal, we are over it; over the sales targets, KPI’s and cold calls. Yes, for some this is the case but for me, I enjoyed all those things, I just didn’t enjoy sending out non relevant resumes just to meet my quota, I didn’t enjoy doing whatever it takes to get a placement across the line, even if it challenged your own ethics. Unlike some of my peers, I didn’t see candidates as a dollar sign.

What I did want was to be a brand ambassador, a true subject matter expert. Why work 20 roles with multiple clients when I can work 20 jobs with one brand. You start to want to make a difference on a more personal level, you become an integral part of the organisation, believing in what you do and why you do it.

So, eventually your times comes and you land your internal dream job. Its everything you had hoped it would be and nothing like you thought it would be! For me I think the hardest thing to get used to was the silence - no radio, no bell rings and no consultants yelling over each other on the phone. Because that’s all we really did at the agency, we lived on the phone – sales, sales, sales.

You start to learn new things too; you recruit for roles you have never recruited for before – even ones you never knew existed! You have meetings with GM’s, you start truly caring about the commercial elements of running a successful business, like strategy and team member on boarding. You learn more about HR processes and work force planning.

But ultimately I got what I really wanted, a chance to place people in their dream job, a company culture to live and breathe, a chance to learn more about how a business operates from a Support Office point of view, to create long lasting partnerships and to be a trusted advisor.

So far, it’s been an amazing journey and I wouldn’t change a thing, except for maybe putting a radio in the office!

Simone Says....

Over the past year, I found myself finishing a 3-year Bachelor of Business at UTS, working part-time in a medical practice as well as at the concierge desk of my local Westfield, all while frantically looking for a graduate job. I knew the best way to kick start my career was to get ahead of the pack and land my first role within an HR team. A plan, that at times seemed easier than initially thought!

"Hi, I’m Simone… probably should have started with that! I recently completed my Bachelor of Business, majoring in HR and celebrated my 21st birthday last month. Many of my friends would describe me as happy, loud… in fact very loud, sometimes funny, talkative and the mother of the group. I think it’s the loud and talkative qualities that have always drawn me to customer service type roles. So, when deciding where to focus my studies, Human Resources seemed to be a natural choice; a career path where I could build relationships and foster positive cultures.  

My 21st Birthday & beautiful desk decorations

In the first semester of my last year at UTS, I thought it was time to get serious about my job search. I applied to multiple graduate programs that involved centralised numerical testing as the first hurdle of the application. It was weeks of endless cover letters, tests and rejections that pushed me to look beyond.

After all, applying to job ads, isn’t the only way to job search. I asked my friends and families to put the word out that I was looking for a job in HR, and sure enough I got a bite! Through an elaborate array of connections, I found SFG and well, I haven’t really looked back.

I was contacted by, my now close colleague, Courtney, to talk about my experience and then invited for an interview. It was a breath of fresh air to be given a chance to talk and actually connect with a person. Before my interview I prepared by learning about the company inside out; I read about SFG’s history and their SHIRT values.

Despite it being an interview, I experienced the relaxed and friendly culture I have come to know at SFG as soon as I entered the room. We spoke about many different aspects of my experience, both on and off my resume. I may have gotten slightly sidetracked on a horse riding story from 2009, but luckily they didn’t seem to mind! Although, I think my winning line was “I feel like I have only learnt 5% of the HR profession from my degree and the rest I will learn in a job like this”.

Skip ahead to my first day as the new Recruitment Administrator and everyone was lovely; I was introduced to over 30 people in a bustling HR team and managed to remember only one name… my manager says it’s a New Year’s resolution I should work on! The rest of the day consisted of me getting to know my team through 1:1 chats about how recruitment works and what my role would entail. 

It took a little while but soon I started to feel confident in my role; i was willing to be thrown in the deep end and my team had no problem with that. I definitely made some mistakes, but I had not only my team but others in my office to teach and guide me, which if you ask me is the best way to learn.

I remember at about the three-month mark my colleague Lucy realised I didn’t delete or file emails… it was clear I hadn’t worked for a big company before, I had over 2,000 emails sitting in my inbox. Although, I was quickly reassured by some other colleagues that they had over 3,000 i knew being organised was a key requirement for me to stay on top in my bust role. Rest assured, all of you organised, detail oriented types, I am proud to announce I currently have 3 emails in my inbox… progress!

My stint on reception! 

I have enjoyed every new experience and challenge thrown my way at SFG, even the day I was asked by my manager to cover for the receptionist who had called in sick. Naturally, everyone thought being a receptionist at a medical practice would be the same as a 450 employee support office. Despite my state of terror, it was a great test of those transferable skills we talk about on our resume. If not just to help me learn some of the hundreds names at SFG.

Although I won’t lie, I was definitely happy to return to my comfy chair in the HR office. Right now I am immersing myself in everything I can, becoming more confident in what I know and taking in all that is new. I feel so lucky to be a part of a team that invests in my learning and growth. I can’t wait to expand my understanding of HR in 2017."