Name of weekly column: Purple Patch

Name of this week's contributor: Jessica Cain, business development manager, learnpurple

While there are many successful and fulfilled recruiters around working in well run and professional companies, I found this was one career that wasn¹t for me and that things aren¹t always as you would expect them to be. As I sat at my desk 12 months ago and made yet another phone call to someone who didn¹t really have time to speak to me, my heart sank. Looking across at my manager making the same dreary calls, plodding on day in, day out and introducing people she¹d never met from a seemingly endless database, I thought to myself: "Is that really what five years worth of hard work has to offer? She does what I do now. Surely there must be more to it than this?"¹
 
Why is recruitment now the job of choice for many young, talented and ambitious people with degrees?
 
I joined because the grass was greener. When I left university with a 2.1 in hospitality management and training at one of the best hospitality schools in the UK, I went into a graduate position. My starting salary was £12,000. I worked 70-90 hours a week and worked for a manager who thought motivation and emotional intelligence were reserved for pathetic non achievers.

With over 50 staff to keep happy on a daily basis, something didn¹t add up. When this manager was finally found out by the organisation to be totally incompetent ­ not because of lack of leadership but because they noticed money was missing. I was then left in charge of the whole site for four months. Head office came up with excuse after excuse as to why day after day no replacement general manager was found, until finally my area manager was fired too. The situation was at rock bottom and I knew something had to change.
 
Burn out at the age of 24

I left and along came seemingly exciting, safe, recruitment and money a plenty. What more could a young woman want? Although I worked for a top end hospitality recruitment company, the reality was that and spent my days in a stuffy office, sat at a desk along with 20 other hard working, money frenzied people, fuelling their ambition with yet another lukewarm coffee. OK the money was great but I wasn¹t really meeting people as I thought I would, I wasn¹t really able to give the service I¹d expected to. I was well on the way to burn out at the tender age of 24.

Graduates need to be supported

At the point of thinking how terrible my working existence had become, I was offered an exciting new position in learning and development with a company who really knows about customer service and also how to engage, develop and retain its own people. And now I love what I do.
 
Isn¹t it scandalous though how often graduate roles lead to burn out? For new managers the pressure of responsibility can be the hardest thing about employment and this needs to be recognised. They also need to be in an environment where they have respect, support and can be unstintingly proud of what they do.
 
Career development

It¹s really important that these potential stars in the making, and not just the more experienced, senior managers have access to coaching, mentoring, someone to look up to and a clear development path. By supporting new managers fully they will become the stars of the future. Inspire them, nurture them and they will grow as will your organisation.
 
Being able to make a difference

Within my new role I am an ambassador for all those keen youngsters looking for that first rung on the ladder. Because of my first experiences I no longer work in the career I originally chose but I love my job and it puts me in a position to make a difference and that is what I intend to do!
 
Liberate the graduate talent

Join me in liberating those talented though disillusioned zombies from their mundane existence; those who spend their working hours longing for the weekend and wishing things could have been different!
 
Bright stars

Let¹s get our bright young grads back where they belong, leading us forward towards the future. Let¹s show them just how fulfilling work can be by being great places to work where they can flourish and grow. All they need is support, development and a dream to dream and the sky¹s the limit!

JOIN US IN THE FORUM

Join this discussion about graduate development in the career management forum.