The unpleasant truth is recruitment is perceived by most as a job and not a career. With formal training in the field almost unheard of, people simply embark on it because they couldn’t make it elsewhere. But that perception, for sure, is changing slowly and steadily. With recruitment firms mushrooming, proliferating and then gradually overtaking the biggies in the domain, many are now warming up to the idea of making a career out of it.

Recruitment agents mostly begin as trainee and are usually provided with on-the-job training and mentoring in the first few months. Like sales, the job is target driven. One’s progress depends mostly on attaining and surpassing targets that have been set. The set hierarchy sees one advance to the position of a senior consultant and then to that of a manager. Remember, recruitment is an indispensable part of every business operation.

Another big misconception is regarding the money. Compensation can be rewarding actually, if you are able to deliver. This is one area that has been able to escape the repercussions of recession reasonable well. An adept sourcing agent by following the right process and successfully making placements stands to receive monetary benefits. In fact, start-ups can spring a surprise in this direction, by rewarding you adequately every time you hit the bulls eye, cause their success is directly dependent on your performance.

Again, the domain of recruitment is highly competitive. And competition is not just with your peers in your company, but with others in different companies. Its people oriented and so having a good personality besides a solid grasp of the search process goes a long way in attaining success.

Besides, a big draw is the fact that it’s an interactive process in which one gets to meet and talk to a lot of people. So, one thing for sure, it would never get dull and drab like most other desk jobs after a certain point in time. You can steadily build a network using your social skills.

So, the next time you think of giving the career path a miss, think again. There are examples galore of HR personnel taking the helm by becoming CEOs and Managing Directors of companies.