I have been a som3er for just over 3 months now and what a journey it has been!

Rob Jolly, an existing som3er has been in my life for longer than I would like to admit and has continued to pester me over the past few years about completely changing my career and stepping into recruitment. Perhaps this was because he would receive a juicy referral fee… I am still waiting for my choice of takeaway Rob. All my previous experience has been in hospitality, organising and running weddings and events and working in the charity world within the community and philanthropy sector. I had no experience in recruitment… but after the 500^th time of Rob asking, I gave in and sent som3 my CV. The rest is history!

So here we are now, 3 months down the line and I’m still here! I have had three offers, 2 counteroffers and 1 acceptance. The recruitment world can be tough and I’ve learnt that very quickly, but I am enjoying every moment. Learning new skills in the ever-growing technology space is especially exciting. I’d never even heard of ‘Java’, ‘.Net’ and ‘Angular’ before, just to name a few as there’s loads of them!  I’ve learnt what ‘ghosting’, ‘job hoppers’ and ‘counteroffer’ really means in recruitment jargon, all you recruiters out there will understand and almost certainly wince at the very mention of these terms.

Everyone at som3 has been super helpful and has made me feel very welcome especially, my mentor, Tom. He has had a massive impact on my recruitment journey, teaching me the ropes, answering all my questions and having the patience of a saint, even if he has given me some of the hardest roles !

I thought changing careers was going to be much harder than it has been and I feel that is because I have been able to use my transferrable skills. For example, I am a super organised and methodical person that talks a lot, which is a match made in heaven for recruitment, right? That aside, there is a lot to learn and my new favorite phase is ‘everyday is a school day’ because it really is. I am constantly absorbing so much information about the recruitment life and the technology space, it’s a real whirlwind. But one thing I’ve reassured myself with is that as a recruiter, I don’t have to know everything and be the expert in whichever technology, after all, if I were a complete expert in that area, I would be applying for the role myself! Instead, I must be an expert in people. We need to know what people want from their next role, the skill set they have and how it matches what the client is looking for.

som3 isn’t your typical hardcore, internally competitive company. Everyone has been amazingly supportive and we all help each other out with roles. Everyone goes about their business and does a brilliant job, there is no banging a gong when you secure a deal (Thank God!). Just a ‘job well done’ and on to the next!

To sum it up, I am pleased to call myself a som3er and I am looking forward to see what the next three months has in store for me.