Recruitment or Telemarketing/account manager

Like I said, if there is a REAL career path (and from my own and friends' experience what is said and what is real are two different things) then appointment setting leading into a consultative selling role could be a very useful route. Again my bias is based on a company I worked for, and how friends have found things, and you should always take bias into account (if you ever studied history think secondary and tertiary sources).

Getting good on the phone is a very useful skill, but so long as there is decent training (something to look for in a company) you should be able to get that in most sales jobs.

Thinking on that - training should be your main focus here, in my opinion. You need a company that can teach you the nuts and bolts of selling so that you can then start learning the art.

The thing is, there are a lot of telesales jobs out there - and all too often I have seen people good on the phone just end up taking crappy sales jobs without thinking where it is going.
When beginning sales' jobs aren't all the same. You've shown you're aware of this (by asking advice here and seem to have your head screwed on). You need a company that offers good training (which doesn't push either way - there are a lot of crap recruitment firms that don't offer good training, and the same in appointment setting).

The same will go for any account manager role. Once you get good at something and you have relationships, you will have people coming to you - and often that means servicing relationships rather than cold calling. But don't mistake relationships as not selling. In recruitment you are always selling your candidates, or selling a client to a candidate. It just starts to become more sublte as bit by bit you become an expert. My guess is that it is the same with account management positions - but I don't have experience there so can't say definitively.

We have a bad reputation for a couple of reasons

1) there are a lot of cowboys out there
2) it doesn't need a huge amount by qualifications, so many people not likely to be good at it "give it a go"
3) If a person doesn't get the job, or applies but doesn't get an interview, when they think they would be good the easy answer is to blame the recruiter

Some of our issues are self inflicted, some are for easy scapegoat reasons. But I couldn't care less about the market's reputation, I only care about the reputation of me and the company I work for.

On the plus side, there is a LOT of good money to be made in recruitment. And the entry requirements for your own firm are low (I'm saving capital to start my own firm, but it can be done on a shoestring), which means after a period of learning the ropes you can easily become your own boss if you wanted. I know a number of people that have done VERY well by doing so.

As for moving on...some do. Some (many) aren't good at it, others don't like it, others work for awful firms and think that is what recruitment is, others get fed up with it being one of the few jobs where your "product" can say no. But many stick at it and do very well.

Again don't mistake account management, or corporate recruitment, with no selling. They still have to sell the role and the company to candidates. But often people who move into that environment are tired of the selling aspect of consultancy side (I recruit environmental people into consultancies - usually large scale multi-disc companies, and many of them end up getting tired of being consultancy side and weant to get end user side, so this is hardly unique to recruitment). That doesn't mean it has to be done. We have about a dozen non-board directors at my company, and their salaries are good, with a good commission structure. People think there is no career in recruitment, but it couldn't be further from the truth.

As for needing to sell a ton to start your own agency. A decent, average recruiter will be doing around £15k (think thats about $23k) a month. Just being decent in your own firm, with costs of about £3-4k a month, means a profit, not including your own salary, of £11k. That's a good take home!

Again recruitment is not for everyone, and by the sound of it not for you if you are worried about people's perception of what you do. But it is a very interesting industry that gets you learning a LOT about how companies work, etc.

If you are good at what you do and develop good relationships you end up getting a lot out of it. I've sat in on high level meetings in a number of SMEs that are clients because they wanted expert advice on whether their growth plans would fit with the possibility of quality hires that I could provide, I've learnt how different companies work from a sales perspective, a service perspective (I had one day "shadowing" some temps who were doing a great crested newt survey, was fascinating and good fun) and more.

Many people don't like recruiters, but I don't care for that. The quality relationships with clients and candidates is what I care about. I love learning about new companies, new services, etc. It's why my favourite recruitment job was recruiting mechanical design engineers - people who design conveyor systems, products, robotic pickers, etc - because it gave me so much insight into different things.

Look, I'm obviously pasionate about what I do (think you may have picked that up) but I don't want to try push anyone in a direction that they don't want to go. So if youb decide recruitment isn't for you, fair enough, in which case consider these things when looking at a company

1) Are they a proper consultative sales firm or a cowboy "Boiler Room" sort of firm
2) Do they offer good training?
3) Are there examples within the company of people who have progressed from what you will be doing into what you want to be doing, ideal multiple examples
4) Is it in an industry you would enjoy

Money is useful, but right now those 4 things would be the important questions I would have in my mind if I were you.

Quick note, and I know your offer isn't with them, but I'd avoid SThree like the plague. Never heard anything good about them.

At our company (and it is a decent size, about 220 or so) it's

Resourcer, Recruitment Consultant, Senior Consultant, Manager, Senior Manager, Divisional Manager, Divisional Director, Board Director, MD.

Each step has people brought in, but like any good company a big proportion of any role are by people who have come up internally. I'm actually moving companies in a few weeks (to get something a bit closer to home, 5 min drive vs 1hr 10 commute - matters when you have a baby), but they had targets in place that I was hitting to move into management. When you are thinking career wise it's important you know what your trajectory looks like and that you are supported in getting there.

Working at a small rec company would have pros and cons. You get good access to a Director who is presumably good at his job, and you get to make something "your own". It can also accelerate career paths - IF the company grow in your direction. But the downside is that they often don't have set training in place, you are reliant on them investing in your direction, and they don't have much of a name you can use to open doors. I actually love start ups, but many people don't.

Be wary of them saying 9 - 6. As you say recruitment has a tradition of long hours. Ours is 8.30 till 6, but I'm usually in about 7-7.30 and used to (till I had a baby) be in till 7-8ish. This is because you will often need to be getting hold of candidates who don't answer phones, or won't talk to recruiters, whilst at work. And in many companies there is a fair bit of pressure to work hours well outside of contracted hours.

The good news is that once you are established you have to do less cold calling, so you can get more done during the day and don't need those outside hours so much. I like to get in early to set my day up/do admin, but in all honesty I could probably make some productivity gains so I don't have to - it's just how I like to work.

As I say it's a good job, but it's not for everyone.

The big advantage of non-recruitment sales. You don't have to hunt for a product (I hate referring to candidates like that, but for the purpose of this conversation it's what they are), and your product can't say no!

The plus side is that your candidates can also become your clients, which selling an IT system can't. Plus talking with candidates is far more interesting than trying to have a conversation with a printer (the only conversation I have with my printer is swearing at it when it doesn't do what I want).

Recruitment suits me because I'm nosey, I like knowing what people and companies are working on. That's true for a lot of sales but rarely do you get as big a picture of it as you do in recruitment (I should imagine high end sales people do, but I've never done that).

The hours, to be fair in my company I was the exception rather than the norm. Most are out of the door by 6.30, and I'm always the first one in the office, with most getting in around 8.15 (against a start time of 8.30). Still long hours though.

No worries, hope it helped!

As for the variables - yes, there are more, it comes from having people as a product, you have to sell both ends! It's why training is important. I worked with a cowboy recruitment company once, and their attitude was to just steamroller people. Later, when I joined a more reputable firm (after thinking there must be a better way of doing recruitment) I realised that a good firm can teach you how best to manage variables, how to be consultative in a way that is honest and will mostly get you the outcomes you want (and where it doesn't, your honesty will have marked you out and developed a relationship with that candidate who may use you again, or who may become a client).

I should imagine there are other variables in other sales (can the IT team make needed changes to a product, for example, to best get it to fit a client's requirements), but my best guess is that there is more in recruitment.

All sales is a "people" job, it's just in recruitment that is multiplied.

As I say, I hope I helped and good luck in your decision making!

If that's your experience of the sector, I don't blame you for being very sceptical! We're not all like that...

Interestingly my working for a cowboy firm did stand me in good stead. The way they make you hammer the phones meant I had a good work ethic coming in to a more grown up firm, and I had the basic concepts of selling down. I also had some bad habits I needed to unlearn, but for many recruiters I think experience of a cowboy firm helps you understand the importance of a work ethic, and gives you a great example of who you don't want to be.

It isn't that sales is better. Sales is better if you are the type of person that can learn to sell.

Sales is the one indispensable skill. Every company needs it, and it is the only skill that contributes to profit.

But, if you don't enjoy it, or can't learn the skillls needed, it's not a good choice.