I‘ve been a recruitment professional for nearly 25 years. In that time I’ve never met one person whose career aspiration was to be a recruiter. No-one I’ve spoken to was a little boy or girl and said “When I grow up, I want to be a recruiter – just like Mummy or Daddy.” Every recruiter I’ve met wanted to be something else or had no idea what they wanted to be, and then somehow fell into recruitment. So I think you could make a good argument that all recruiters are failed something elses, and all a disappointment to our 6 year old selves.

Why? Why isn’t this industry held in higher esteem by both the people in it and the people who benefit from it? I’m going full-on Churchillian right now. If I ever set up a political party, The Recruitment Party (deliberate double meaning there, and no, Boris isn’t invited), this will form the backbone of my manifesto…

Recruiters change lives. Don’t anyone try to argue that point. It’s a fact, not an opinion.

The first job I had was working in the brewing industry in my early twenties. Seriously, there should be a law against people of that age working that close to beer all day. I got the job myself, and turned down a far better, better paid job in the pharmaceutical industry because I was an idiot and despite having a degree in molecular biology I thought I’d use that to good effect pouring pints.

I then met a recruiter who got me my first job in recruitment. Reed. A fabulous company. Changed my life. Taught me how to sell, how to lead people, how to outsource recruitment. Then, somewhat appropriately, I was headhunted by KornFerry. That recruiter changed my life again. I learnt how to run a business, not just a team. I learnt international as opposed to just the UK. I learnt politics – I’m still not very good at that to be honest. I learnt who you know and how you say is often more powerful than what you know and what you say. I met my wife there. My daughter wouldn’t exist had that recruiter not called me up when I was happily planning my career path at Reed and offered me a vision of an alternative.

Think about that. If I hadn’t taken that call and listened to that recruiter, a human being wouldn’t exist. As I have been quoted saying many times, recruiters don’t just change lives, they literally create them!

Every day recruiters present opportunity to people. Good recruiters use their expertise to make sure the needs of their client and the aspirations of their candidates align. And when they do, magic happens. Business problems get fixed. Business opportunity is created. The recruited probably make more money. They meet new people. They live in a new town, city, country. They learn new skills. They access new and different opportunities for growth. Their experience of life changes as a consequence. And if they’ve made a positive career move, think about all those around that person who also benefit? Partners, children, parents, friends. There’s a positivity ripple effect that starts with the stone thrown by a recruiter.

And until such time as the robots take over, tell me a business that doesn’t need to recruit someone at some point? Growing businesses need to recruit people all the time. Small businesses need that one or two hires that grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. The quality of talent recruited turns a large enterprise from in the pack to out at the front of it. And yet recruiters don’t change lives?? Come on….

The reason 6 year old you didn’t want to be a recruiter was because the generations of recruiting professionals before you never stood up loud and proud enough for the value recruiting brings. If you’re a TA professional you’re anything but a failure. You change lives. Make sure everyone knows it.