Pros
Where do I begin!? When I came to Davis, I was only about 1 year out of college. I came from another recruiting agency that had a toxic work environment and I feared every agency would be the same. Fortunately Davis was very different. If you are willing to put in the work here and grind, you will make great money (due to a solid commission structure) and quickly rise up in the company.. it won't take you forever to make good money like in some agencies, nor will you have a fluctuating base salary once your commission kicks in. Despite being a small, family-owned company, Davis invests in the best tools/technology for recruiters and sales people to be successful (LinkedIn Recruiter, Bullhorn, Indeed, CareerBuilder, Monster, etc.). They also support their employees furthering their education and encourage you to take career-development courses such as Dale Carnegie, which I took and absolutely loved. While there are always a few bad apples in every company, the majority of the recruiters and sales people work well together and are respectful of each other, so I did not experience vicious competition for candidates as you may expect. As in every agency, there is a bit of micro-managing because they want to stay on top of your activity (if this is something that bothers you, you shouldn't work in a sales environment because it is what it is! Numbers MATTER). That being said, they weren't overly micro-managing when it came to activity, especially compared to the first agency I came from; we didn't have ridiculous dial numbers we needed to hit and for the most part they trusted the submittals we put through without scrutinizing them. This was a breath of fresh air because I didn't feel held back or limited at work. While at Davis, I felt that my success was a direct reflection of my work ethic and that was rewarding. Davis truly cares about their clients and contractors/candidates, and goes above and beyond to give them the best experience rather than just churning out the money as so many other agencies do- I truly believed (and still do) that clients who trust Davis have a better experience than they would if they worked with a massive contingency firm. The company also has fun activities to celebrate wins, such as happy hours, pool parties, hibachi dinners, internal competitions to win gift cards around the holidays, etc. Davis is a family-owned company, and when you work there you definitely feel like part of the family. I developed and grew so much as a person and professional during my time at Davis thanks to the support and mentoring I received there- I became more confident, driven and knowledgeable. I am so grateful for the many wonderful people I had the chance to meet and work with, including my colleagues and clients. I only left because personal circumstances required me to move out of state, otherwise I could have seen myself at Davis for a long time. However, Davis gave me the tools I needed to continue my recruiting career in another great company. Thank you Davis!
Cons
There are cons with ANY company. A perfect company does not exist. These cons didn't outweigh the pros, but at times they lowered morale and productivity.
-Hours are not flexible and neither are work from home opportunities, even for recruiters who are producing and have high GP. The two times I worked from home were because of a snow storm and we had to have 2 team check-in calls to make sure we were all still doing our work. This makes employees (especially the good ones) feel that they aren't trusted, and can take a toll on work/life balance making. I have since been able to work from home and have flexible hours at my new company, which I love and actually helps me be even more efficient and happy at work because I know I'm trusted.
-Similar to the first point, if you have to take a sick/personal health day, your manager may pressure you to not take one even if your activity has been good that week. You may also be accused of interviewing other places and confronted about it in front of your team members even if you were really sick. This is not on ALL teams but on some.
-More respect between managers and recruiters, recruiters and sales people, etc. is needed. I personally had an amazing manager who I was comfortable speaking with, but certain other managers were unpleasant and at times condescending. Certain tenured recruiters/sales people (only a few) get away with inappropriate behavior because they make a lot of money for the company. I know Davis is working on this and they are not the only company to have this problem, but it is definitely something that needs to be worked on.
-Needs to be more careful when hiring internal employees. A more thorough screening process would help to avoid recruiters/sales people/admins being hired and then quickly laid off after 2 months for poor performance/poor culture fit
