In college, I was always jealous of my peers that knew exactly what they wanted to do with their careers. I had an idea of what I wanted mine to look like, but I had no idea how to get there. I wanted to work somewhere doing something that made me happy. Where even after a stressful day or week, I was still excited to go to work every day. I thought it would take me years to find this and feared I may never find it at all.

I have an educational background in Business Management and towards the end of my coursework, I knew that I wanted to pursue a people-focused career. I had no formal background in recruitment, and I was a relatively fresh graduate with only a year in the professional world. It was a daunting time for me. I was feeling very unfulfilled in my career and unsettled by the work culture at my previous employer and knew that there was a job out there with a better fit for me, a place where I could thrive, grow and flourish.

In August 2021 I applied for a job at Stanton House. Admittedly, it was the only place I applied to because, after my first interview, I knew this is where I wanted to be. I ended up joining as an Associate Recruiter in the Cybersecurity team. After being unhappy in my previous role, I appreciated how much of an impact being in the right role can have on your overall well-being, and so the appeal of helping others find their “perfect fit” was really what motivated me to try recruitment.

Help carve out the career you want

When I joined, I was placed as one of the first recruiter-specific hires in the US. As this was a completely new role in the US I’ve had the opportunity to shape what this role looks like, what fair compensation for this role should be, and what I want my future with Stanton House to be. What I love about Stanton House is that we all have been given that same opportunity to shape our careers here, no request is too big, and we are encouraged to aim as high as we want.

One of the things which has helped me on this journey is the incredible learning and development opportunities I have been given by Stanton House. We have Andrea, our dedicated L&D colleague create and tailor specific training programs for us to help us excel in our roles. Andrea shadows us as we complete our daily tasks to get a real understanding of the challenges we face and most importantly, observe what makes us great at what we do. This enables her to curate a relevant, customized, and thorough induction program that quickly brings new hires up to speed.

Customer-first, always

I love that Stanton House cares so much about creating and maintaining valuable relationships with their customers, this is so important to me and is one of the reasons why I think working in recruitment is incredibly rewarding.  This job requires a multi-faceted skillset. You must be resilient because, in recruitment, not everything is as straightforward as we would like it to be. You are in a customer-facing role and customers can be difficult. The day-to-day also requires an incredible amount of organization, sociability, and creativity. If you’re new to recruitment and/or cybersecurity, you must be ready to soak up all knowledge and always chase new information in order to have the best opportunity possible.

An Open Mind and a Positive Mindset is the key to success.

One thing which I have had to adapt to is having such an open feedback culture. On one hand, it can hurt to receive feedback when you haven’t nailed something, but realizing that the feedback is there to help you improve and crush it means that overcoming this mindset is paramount to your future success. I’ve accepted that this job is more than just professional development but working in a people-driven industry, you must be prepared for personal development challenges and milestones. It’s all about coming in with an open mind and a positive outlook and trusting that your team and manager want what is best for you.

It's not easy, but the rewards make it worth it

Recruitment isn’t always smiles and handshakes, to get anywhere in this industry you have to be willing to work hard and learn constantly. We are a company of overachievers willing to put in the long hours, overcome the natural ebbs and flows of the economy, and be innovative, always.

Stanton House keeps us motivated through incredible Incentives. We receive quarterly and annual bonuses for outstanding performance, quarterly target-hitting lunches, and a global and domestic incentive trip for hitting and bypassing our financial targets.

In addition to the incentives, Stanton House also cares about our well-being and external social causes. As someone who was unhappy in my previous role for these two reasons, coming into a company where I feel like they truly care about us is SO important for me. Stanton House offers flexible hours, competitive Paid Time Off, and regular volunteer work at multiple philanthropic organizations around Chicago and fundraising multiple times a year.

Culture is king

I think we have made a bit of a name for ourselves for our workplace culture. We are a group of people that care about each other and making this company great. Our culture at a high level is to work hard and play hard. When you dissect that though you will find individuals that believe in working hard to contribute to this company’s success, teams that are strengthened by facing challenges together, and a company that cares about its employees which are reflected in our competitive benefits, performance incentives and rewards, and consistently recognizing each other for successes big and small. We also have an incredibly transparent culture from the top down that makes employees at every level feel included and “in the know”’ about strategic business decisions and the direction this company is taking now and in the future.

To the stars and beyond!

To go from a company and a job that was draining, unfulfilling, and lacked direction to where I am now has been a breath of fresh air. Working for Stanton House has been the dream I had in school. A company and a job that is fulfilling, supportive, and gets me out of bed in the morning.

Since joining just over a year ago, I have been promoted twice to Recruiter and now Senior Recruiter, assisted in over a million dollars worth of fees and I’m starting to explore a potential path into leadership.  I look back at my career so far with Stanton House and smile, because I know I’d be making little college Maddison proud, and can’t wait for what is yet to come!

To start your journey with us and to find out about the current opportunities we have available please contact Meg Appleby, at meg.appleby@stantonhouse.com, or at +44 779 590 9781