Robert Walters - San Francisco, CA Office
Pros
Great place to start a recruiting career from the beginning or refine your recruiting skills and learn from people who have been in the recruiting industries for many years! Prior to joining RW, I had 3 years of inside sales experience and found RW as a great opportunity to make a career switch into a field driven by relationships & networking in person. It gave me exposure to a wide variety of business industries, helped me learn how startups are typically structured and broadened my business acumen. HIGHLIGHTS: - the types of clients RW partners with in the SF office are venture backed tech startups primarily so there is a wide variety of industries to learn about, you get to meet with founders/CEOs/VPs/VC Firm Partners in an ever growing and hot candidate market in Silicon Valley where generally candidates are very opportunistic and open to speaking with recruiters. - Team oriented environment leads to a really strong internal culture. This is not a boiler room/ cold-calling old school recruitment style environment, rather you are incentivized to work collaboratively as a team, helping your teammates as well as helping your clients & candidates find the perfect match which just feels like a win/win all around. - on the culture note... ONE OF THE BEST! The office is large enough to have a variety of personalities for a diverse mix of thought but small enough that you really get to know your coworkers. Lots of people hang out together outside of work, quarterly offsites are always fun and planned with unique activities around the Bay Area and all around you’re guaranteed to laugh with supportive coworkers who genuinely care about each other. Plus they just moved the SF office into a snazzy new building that is really modern and has some of the classic tech startup perks (standup desks, snacks, coffee, ping pong, comfy chairs etc) - there is more of an emphasis on being strategic with your clients/candidates, if you are a people person who values face to face coffees/lunches/meetings, you will do well here as leadership understands the value of getting out in front of clients/candidates in person. - opportunity for transfers internationally or to other domestic offices is very real, RW is one of the few companies I know that make it easy and encourage any interest to work abroad with other offices (~60 office worldwide to choose from as well) - Incredible philanthropic opportunities within the company like Charity Days & Fundraisers/Donations... I was lucky enough to go on a company sponsored volunteer trip to Kenya, Africa in partnership with a charity RW works closely with which was life-changing. - Leadership will invest time in you, just take the initiative to show that you hustle and want to learn and it will pay off. Lots of upward growth potential and career promotions available as well.
Cons
- Long hours but truly it’s a sales job (and compensated accordingly which is nice) so that’s not anything outside of what you’d expect with other similar jobs - the harder you work, the more it pays off. - It’s a bit of a learn by doing type of job, you will mess up at some point but be open to feedback with management and learn from mistakes. - Tech platforms weren't the latest and greatest as you'd expect being in the Bay Area but recently before I left there was upgrades happening and leadership would ensure tech/tools that were needed (we did get Macbook laptops approved for example).
