Pros
This is a great company to work for. They value hard work and dedication. You have to put your best foot forward to excel in this company otherwise you will be miserable. If you're wiling to put in the hours (10+ per day), then this might be the company for you. For instance, my work days typically ranged from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. In order to fulfill my requisition goals for the week, I sometimes had to work during my days off to add new candidates to my search, conduct interviews, and revise my candidates' resumes. But, the payoff was greater than the work I had to put in to finding candidates. When you first start working at the company, you will have to do a training program for the first several months. You'll be taken out to breakfast and lunch (all paid for) and you'll learn about each division/team and your colleagues. After the training program, you'll start recruiting on your own (with occasional help from your account managers and team members). Everything that you do throughout the work day is recorded in a software, and you're able to set metrics to evaluate your goals for the week. It's a highly structured method and it may or may not work for some individuals. The training program at Aerotek is pretty good. Not only do your managers and colleagues teach you the basics of recruiting and sales, they also teach you business practices that you can use to your advantage in other industries. I had to immediately learn how to become assertive and push aside any fears of cold-calling or striking up a conversation with strangers.
Cons
Cold-Calling. You will be calling strangers all over the nation. Be prepared for anything in the conversation, but you have to be willing to make 40+ calls a day on top of hour-long meetings twice a day. Metrics. Every interaction that you have with a candidate or client will be recorded. You're expected to hit 40+ calls a day and have candidates ready to be presented by the end of the week. You should have hundreds of calls made by the end of the week (if you're a new recruiter). High Turn-Over Rate. Recruiting is a tough industry and burn-out happens. It's tough emotionally as well if you're not meeting your weekly goals and sometime else is. If you're not completely invested in a recruiting and sales career, this might not be the best company to work for. The company is based on a pyramid structure that includes recruiters, account managers, and division leaders. There's a linear career path after working as a recruiter even though the company is striving to change it, but momentarily, there's a distinct career move after recruiting...account management (sales) or recruiter lead. If you want to immediately go into Human Resources, Sales, Marketing or Finance without any prior experience or any recruiting experience, you might want to expand your job search because this company only hires from the bottom (recruiters) up. Also, there's a lot of competition in the office and if you're not reaching your weekly goals, it can be emotionally tolling. Be prepared to push aside your ego when other recruiters and account managers are making thousands of dollars in commission every month and reaching over $100k in paychecks annually. You can learn from these all-star employees after a couple of months to a year of working at Aerotek.