Outside to Inside: Making the Switch

A newfound acquaintance asked me for my thoughts on making the switch from agency recruiting to corporate recruiting. I refer to this as inside recruiting vs. outside recruiting. While responding to her I thought, this ought to be a post!

I would first like to state my pseudo-biased opinion that recruiters who have worked on the outside first, make better inside recruiters. This statement is slightly biased, because that was my own career path. However, over the years I have recognized that I share some very common characteristics of the people who also started in agency. I call these foundational skills: Working with a sense of urgency and consultative style.

The world of agency is customer focused, fast paced and often feast or famine. Some work on straight commission, others earn 75% of their income through commissions. The outside recruiter also has fierce competition. Not only are recruitment firms a dime a dozen, but they compete with the employer's recruiter in an already saturated war on talent. I give big props to the outside recruiter. It's a tough gig, a lot of hours, super competitive and sometimes..... endless spinning in mud.

When a professional completes a degree in HR and ends up in corporate recruiting, they never had a chance to develop some of these foundational skills. They never had to work so hard to make sure bills were going to get paid or that they can eat. Therefore, the sense of urgency and the focus on the customer tend to be less developed.

I want to clarify that I am NOT saying that all insiders are without these foundational skills and all outsiders have them. I think we all know the world is not so cut and dry that we can stereotype like that. I am simply saying there are different competences that are developed specifically from environmental factors in agency and it's typical to see these in a person who has come from agency. It is the commission and competition that make it a hustle for the outside recruiter. That hustle though, is highly transferable if you chose to take your career to the inside. In fact, if you ask me, it's transferable to several different corporate positions. If I were an outside recruiter looking to make the move to the inside, I would be focused on these differentiators.

As far as tips for transitioning from the outside to the inside, I personally made the jump through a customer relationship. Maybe it was a stroke of luck that I was hired by a man who is married to a recruiter. He saw my hustle, knew there was a ton of hiring forecasted and had limited resources to make it happen. I had to prove myself. It wasn't easy, and it was a ton of work. I was able to save them money and in turn learned the motivations of the internal staffing function and how goals are vastly different. Eventually it helps to have some education around the HR function as a whole (like a PHR), but you also learn that over time on the job. Although, I have no regrets about my agency beginnings, I prefer my current corporate recruiting career. This is mainly due to the improved benefit plans and the stability of knowing exactly what my paycheck will look like on payday.

So... you want to make the switch?

1.)   Try before you by! How many times has an outside recruiter said that exact phrase?!!! There is merit in that phrase. I personally think that if you can take the risk; find a true temp-to-hire recruiter position. It's your foot in the door!

2.)   If you can't take the risk then... Start getting networked! Yeah-yeah I know you are a recruiter, who is already networked. I am not talking about candidates; I am talking about prospects. Make this about sales. Sell yourself as a safe bet to make the switch. This means:

• Go to local networking events and target the HR colored tags. Introduce yourself, tell them you're not looking to sell services, but rather get networked due to your desire to make the switch. www.networkafterwork.com is in most major cities and frequented by recruiters.
• Leverage LinkedIn. Connect and join recruiting and HR groups! Use the group membership to connect with high level corporate talent acquisition professionals who are also in the group. Let them know you are interested in making the switch. 
• Attend a conference and network there. ERE holds two a year, but you can also attend LinkedIn's or HCI's The key is in networking the right people and focusing your communications around your desire to make the switch. You are on the hunt for yourself and you will need to remember that first and foremost. Anything else is just an added bonus from the process!

3.)   Apply and provide well-written cover letters and follow up emails. Connect your expertise on the outside as an advantage, if given an opportunity to join their team.

Now I ask my recruiter friends, on both the inside and the outside, what did I miss? Any other suggested ways (examples or stories) on making the switch? Please help me and share!!!