Ireland Tech Contracting – 2024 Insights
28 Oct, 2024
With over twenty years of history behind them, Senitor Associates have grown to become one of the UK’s leading IT recruitment agencies. Starting as a two-person operation specialising in sourcing candidates within tech support, the company now covers the entire IT spectrum with an additional seven recruitment brands within the group. Headquartered in the stylish Cheshire town of Wilmslow, Senitor is now on the hunt for their next rising stars, and the good news is a background in recruitment is not required! They have openings to join in 2020 as a Trainee Recruiter – so we caught up with Kelvin Cheng and Harry Griffith to learn about their experiences of joining the company, and why they love working at Senitor. Here are just 7 reasons why you should consider applying.
Why a Trainee Recruiter role could be the right career move for you?
Market leading training and team support
Taking the leap into a brand-new industry is daunting whether you are a graduate or someone with lots of experience in a previous career, so it’s important that all new hires are exposed to regular training and have support from their manager and the wider team.
“I’ve been in sales for around 10 years and was actually a Director of a company previously when I lived in Hong Kong, but when I joined in January 2019 I was essentially starting from the bottom as I knew nothing about recruitment! When I joined there were weekly training sessions, and obviously your line manager is also there to offer guidance and support.”
Kelvin Cheng
“I didn’t know anything about technology before I started, but my line manager encouraged me to get straight onto the phone asking questions with candidates which gave me a really good insight into the market, the technologies candidates work with and what they do with them.”
Harry Griffith
You don’t need to join with a background in recruitment or a huge knowledge of IT, all you need is the willingness to work hard and immerse yourself into the training and you will be in a strong position to succeed.
Twenty years history and a solid client base
The reason Senitor has enjoyed success for over two decades is that they have always had a strong focus on business development, and constantly looked at how to grow their client base within different IT markets across perm and contract. Anyone who joins will be expected to come with this same ambition and drive, but you will benefit enormously from the Senitor brand presence and existing hot desks too.
“I inherited two accounts in my patch which I have opened up further as well as building out my own client base too. Senitor have been around for twenty years so we have a nice reputation, and this definitely helps when it comes to business development.”
Kelvin Cheng
Fast track to success
A lot of sales focused jobs will share unrealistic figures of “on target earnings” for trainees, but when you join Senitor as a Trainee Recruiter you genuinely will have the opportunity to progress quickly to become a billing consultant earning fantastic commission. Realistically your OTE for year one is around £30,000, moving to £50,000 in year two. The current record holder for year three OTE is £115,000 so there are opportunities to earn great money, as well as progress through the ranks from a trainee to a consultant / manager.
“I went on the board on my fourth month. I started out by building my patch which was exciting but admittedly a little bit tense to start with! The first month (on the board) was quite hard, it’s very different to just assisting your manager, but after the first month this just took off and on my third month on the board I had billed £40,000! Once you do reasonably well it’s about keeping up that consistency and hard work to maintain it.”
Kelvin Cheng
“I trained for 5 months when I joined and went onto the board, built my patch, and now I’ve been managing people for the last year and a half. I’ve enjoyed the change to manager, I feel I can focus more on what I am good at such as the business development side of things, turning candidates round from dropping out of interviews, dealing with offers etc. I deal more with that side now I’m a manager, but I’m still very much hands on with recruitment.”
Harry Griffith
If you are looking to earn great commission to save for a house, pay for a wedding, get a nice new car or go on a mega holiday then this could all be in reach as long as you are willing to put in the hard work and effort to learn the ropes of recruitment!
Fun and social culture
Company culture is important when you are choosing which organisation you want to work for, and at Senitor Associates there is a very apparent fun and social culture. The atmosphere is welcoming, and everyone gets along well and is happy to help one another. The company also offers various social incentives including trips to Chester races, company holidays to places like Monte Carlo and Ibiza, graduation celebrations and more which allows for lots of team bonding too.
“We’re fun to work with and everyone is very welcoming. The environment here is one of the main things I like about Senitor! The money of course is great, but the people are really sound. We do a lot of social activities – last night for example we went out for food for one of the lads’ birthday’s and there are lots of other incentives throughout the year, home and abroad. I’m really looking forward to the ski trip in March; that should be a really good one!”
Harry Griffith
“I didn’t know anyone before I started but everyone is really nice and really welcoming! You are made to feel a part of the team from the moment you start. My favourite thing about working for Senitor is definitely the team, as well as the holidays abroad, the sales incentives and achievers club. If you work hard you play hard, it’s a good environment!”
Kelvin Cheng
It’s in a great location
Located 11 miles south of Manchester, the Senitor HQ is situated in the stylish Cheshire town of Wilmslow, just a stone’s throw from the town’s trendy bars and designer boutiques. It’s the perfect balance between rural Cheshire and a bustling City Centre, meaning you can enjoy an easier commute in the morning but still enjoy shopping and great dining over your lunchtime. It’s easily accessible from surrounding towns like Knutsford, Holmes Chapel, Macclesfield, Cheadle Hulme, Handforth, Stockport, Poynton, Sandbach and more! Search SK9 5AP to check it out!
Recruitment is a thriving industry
The UK recruitment industry is worth a whopping £35.7 Billion, more than the UK legal industry and more than the UK marketing industry too! Despite the ongoing uncertainty in the UK surrounding Brexit, reports show that the UK industry has continued to grow, so if you choose to take the dive into recruitment you can be assured that there will be plenty of opportunities for success. Senitor specialise in the IT recruitment market, an industry where candidates with strong technical skills and experience are in demand and highly sought after, so as long as you are willing to learn how to effectively source tech talent then you will be able to contribute to the future of thousands of organisations who are looking to grow their tech teams.
Unparalleled opportunities
Pretty much everyone who starts life as a Trainee Recruiter is looking for progression in their role, whether that’s simply building their knowledge and expertise to become a successful billing consultant or even moving up the ranks to become a manager with greater responsibilities in their role. Senitor take this one step further and have helped seven past employees (who started their journey into recruitment as a trainee at Senitor) launch successful brands within the IT recruitment space. We spoke to one of the founders of Senitor, Anna Leach to find out more about this:
“I suppose the best word of calling us is the “incubator”. For any talent that comes through our doors we look to provide a platform on which they can really showcase their talents, and take ownership of their own operation because they are ready for it and capable of it. We are lucky to have seven examples of that in the group – people who started life as a trainee here at Senitor who are now our business partner and MD in their own right. They are doing brilliantly well which is the good news! There is no given time frame of how that happens, but the opportunity is available from the get-go.”
Anna Leach, Owner
If you are ambitious, driven and dedicated then you could be the next rising star from the Senitor incubator!
If you are interested in learning more about recruitment, or are interested in putting yourself forward for a new opportunity in 2020 then visit our website and get in touch!
