Pros
I joined more or less out of uni and feel I landed on my feet when I picked Barclay Simpson. The team has more seasoned recruiters than most of its competitors and what you get with that is good training, direction and opportunity to work with well networked recruiters in the corporate governance space. You are also given room to develop an area of expertise within your space which I think is essential for job satisfaction. Everyone wants to "own" a slice of the market and you get pretty solid support for your ideas.
After two years, I had the opportunity to move to the company's US office in New York. It has been a great experience and while recruitment feels more like the wild west out here when compared with the UK, the opportunity is huge. The firm also established itself as a major name in the governance recruitment space in the US.
BS is not a KPI shop but if you are putting in the effort, you will hit these numbers anyway. You have a lot of time to arrange your own desk how you see fit. The PTO and WFH arrangements are very flexible, some of the best I've heard about in recruitment.
Barclay Simpson is the kind of company that requires a high degree of independence. You will have all of the support you need from managers but you do have to go out, win business, establish yourself in the market. It isn't the kind of firm where you will be given things to do 24/7 and so if you are able to work independently and leverage the experience of the team, you will do well here.
Cons
Barclay Simpson is known for its focus on corporate governance - audit, risk, compliance and cyber - this steads the firm well in good and bad times as clients need a good governance framework - but sometimes we may be missing out on hot recruitment areas.
