I woke up at 6.45am Monday to Friday excited to get ready for work. I would be planning what I would be doing once I get into the office about 7.50am before everyone else. Official working hours was 8.30am till 6pm.
I would unlock the office doors and turn on the lights and then switch on my PC while I eat my breakfast in front of my work station while replying to emails or following up on a phone call with a potential candidate. That being said, I would typically leave the office at around 6pm but I’d still be making phone calls to my candidates via my car bluetooth while I drove and I would also get interrupted during my diners following up with clients about a candidate’s interview or having a discussion with them.
I remember it came to a point where my client had to tell me, “It’s Friday evening Valerie, you should be out enjoying the weekend, we can continue on Monday…” That being said, I worked through festivities and my off days. I had 21 Annual Leave days but, because I was very passionate about my role in the company, I work almost every single day and sometimes only stopping to rest at 12.30 – 1am to start the process again the following day.
I single handily brought in 11 news clients to the business within my first 5 months of working there, hence from being hired as a Senior Recruitment Consultant working under a Manager with another Consultant backing him up, my Country Manager (CM) decided to have a meeting with me and then removed me from reporting to the Manager but, instead I reported directly to the CM and managed my own portfolios.
A few months later, our CM had to leave the country as his mother was very ill in the UK. A new Regional Country Director then took over, she was very strict and was a no nonsense leader. I liked her style to be honest but, I know that many in the office were intimidated and feared her. She heard alot about me and I guess from her observation of my work, she decided to have a 1 to 1 meeting with me. When she found out that I was managing 49 roles all by myself, she asked me whether I needed an assistant, I told her I’m okay and that I was capable of handing the fulfilment of the roles by myself while my ex Manager had 2 roles 2 fill and he was still using the assistant that he hired the same time I joined his team.
Because the business plan was to expand the team sizes and headcount in the KL office, she decided to hire a Regional Trainer. She had countless interviews with different Trainers throughout 2 months plus but, she wasn’t happy with a single one. One fine day, she decided to speak to me and she shared the Job Description (JD) with me and told me to study it as she noticed that I’ve been helping my colleagues. I went home and I consulted my then BF and I decided to give it a shot. We then set up an interview date and time. After the interview with her, I had to interview with the Head of Training in the UK which I did. She then gave me a final interview and the role was mine. She then wrote an official email announcement to inform the whole company about my new promotion. I then was task to inform my clients that I won’t be able to handle their portfolios anymore moving forward. Boy were they disappointed as the Directors and Hiring Managers in the companies were very happy working with me.
I then was sent to the UK for 2 weeks to be trained to become a Trainer. After my trip to the UK offices- London, South Hampton & Bromley I came back and started training on the fly. As the company was expanding, we hired many freshies/newbies to the field. I gave them Induction Training, SOP Tech Training, 101 Recruitment Trainings and so much more. I enjoyed being a Trainer as I love sharing my knowledge and I was the go to person in the office whenever a Team Manager or Colleague needed help with something related to Recruitment. I also developed customize training materials to help individuals understand subject matters better. I worked closely with our Regional Country Manager and also Team Managers to determine who should stay and who gets the boot based on their performance in the company.
I conducted training for the KL, Singapore & China offices. I got the best treatment when I went to the Beijing, China office. The Chinese really have respect for their teachers hence they gave me a very warm welcome and it was a really good experience training the colleagues there. I even became really good friends with them.
My role was made redundant in early 2017 when Brexit was announced a few months prior. I was expecting it as my other training colleague’s role was affected a few months before mine. So, I started preparing my exit plan a few months prior. I started reaching out to my old Clients to engage them for roles that I could help with. Boy, were they glad and happy to hear from me. The Training role was made redundant when top management decided to freeze hiring rapidly when Brexit was announced and therefore, they didn’t need Trainers to conduct training for the new intake. That being said, my Regional Country Manager offered me my previous Recruitment role but because of the company dynamics and all, I decided to not accept the offer. That’s when my new chapter started, I set up my own company as I was capable enough to do A-Z of Recruitment by myself.
XoXo, VAS
La Bella Vita 