Work for Us

Arjun Gillard joined the Understanding Recruitment team with eight years’ experience working for a London based recruitment consultancy, heading up their engineering and construction divisions. Arjun now heads up our specialist .NET recruitment division. We caught up with him to see what his experience has been like so far and what advice he would give to consultants looking for a new challenge... What was your career journey before joining Understanding Recruitment? I started as a trainee recruitment consultant fresh out of university in a company where I was one of the first hires starting in a brand new market. I was promoted to consultant within four months and then to senior within 13 months where I started to build a team. I then took on a dual role where I was billing and managing and received multiple promotions. I then became a non-billing manager where my focus was growing the team as quickly as possible and had 20 reports. Throughout my tenure there I won multiple awards including leader of the year two years running. What do you like best about working at Understanding Recruitment? I love the autonomy and focus on personal development. I am encouraged to think outside the box and innovate. There is more of a focus on quality over quantity which is really impressive to me. The people are also fantastic and like-minded. Everyone gets on with each other and goes above and beyond to make people feel welcome. It was always going to be a bit of a nerve-racking experience for me as I had only worked for one company prior to joining. Everyone was so welcoming and I felt part of the business from day one. During COVID the company and directors have been so supportive and appreciative. It has further cemented my belief that I moved to the right organisation. How does working in the tech industry differ from your previous industry? There is more focus on LinkedIn but also sourcing via other mediums not just via job boards. Devs love talking over email, LinkedIn messenger and WhatsApp which was a slight adjustment to me as my previous roles were primarily focused on the phone. What would your advice be to recruiters thinking about moving to a different company/different industry? I wasn’t actively looking but rather wanted to find a company that was the right fit for my career aspirations and personal goals. Do your research and have open/frank conversations throughout the whole process. For me, it had to be the right position so I wanted to know everything about Understanding Recruitment. The directors were happy to share with me what info I needed and it felt a fit from the moment I had a telephone interview. The change in the industry didn’t faze me. I know that tech is an extremely lucrative market and I had confidence in my abilities to hit the ground running in any market. I was keen on joining a company that would invest in me and develop me and I can honestly say I have found this at Understanding Recruitment. How does the earning potential in the tech market differ to the industry you worked in before? I think it's fairly similar but what I love about tech is that the majority of organisations we're working with are looking to hire at least four developers at a time. My last industry hired one individual every couple of years. How would you describe the culture at Understanding Recruitment? Fun but professional, hardworking and very much a team-orientated environment. You're empowered in your role here even at a trainee level. Everyone is working towards a common goal to offer the best service to both candidates and clients as well as help drive the business forward. What would your advice be to your younger self? Constantly strive to be better! Personal development has been at the forefront of my mind this year and I have really kicked on due to listening to Audible and podcasts. I used to be a lot of pressure on myself and used to get disheartened when things didn’t go my way at work. Trust the process and keep working hard and you will succeed in recruitment. Also, save money! I pretty much spent every penny I earnt until my fourth year in recruitment. It’s great to treat yourself when you're doing well but I could have owned a house far sooner if I had saved some money from day one. Curious about #LifeAtUR? We'd love to hear from you! DM Emily Kitamura on LinkedIn, email us your CV, or call 01727 228 255 to have chat about the opportunities we have for you.

When I was initially approached about being placed on the furlough scheme in March it seemed a little daunting but I was happy to help my company in the hopes that business would return to normal as quickly as possible. After all, people around the country, in many different industries, were being made redundant. Anything that would help prevent this outcome seemed like a worthy sacrifice! Very soon after, I learnt that what initially seemed like a sacrifice, turned out to be a unique and never to be had again opportunity! Here are just some of the things I’ve learnt during my furlough experience: 1. Furlough was a great opportunity for career development Having joined the Marketing team as a Marketing Executive literally a month before the pandemic broke out, I was already undergoing on the job training and developing my knowledge and experience when the furlough scheme was put into place. While I couldn’t do any work for the company during this time, I was still able to further my knowledge by doing a number of courses, attending online webinars and zoom calls with experienced professionals (thank you Google Digital Garage and Hootsuite)! This was an opportunity to really go back to the basics of Digital Marketing and Social Media to come back stronger in my role, full to the brim with new ideas! 2. Now’s the time to find a hobby How many banana breads and cupcakes did you see on your Instagram feed during the first few months of lockdown? Suddenly everyone was Mary Berry. Being stuck at home meant most people tried new hobbies and developed new interests to keep themselves occupied. It was a time to say hello to all the home bakers, new nail technicians and home workout gurus! Personally, I’ve never had an affinity for baking and am much more comfortable with pasta (boil water – add pasta – can’t go wrong). But I didn’t want to be left out, so I started to learn the art of modern calligraphy and teach myself the basics of Adobe Photoshop and digital art. And while I’ve certainly got a long way to go to consider myself an expert, it was a great way to take myself away from the stress of the world and stay creative while keeping my mind active. 3. Having a routine in place will help with lockdown fever For the first week (or two!) of my furlough experience, I made sure to lay in, using the time to unwind and relax. But it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t productive and only made me feel worse about the situation I (and the rest of the world) were in. I realised that I needed some structure to my days to keep myself from going stir-crazy. From then on I structured each day mostly the same: get up early and make sure to have breakfast, do some online learning, have a healthy(ish) lunch, go out for the allowed one hour exercise, do some housework, have the daily phone call to friends/family and try our best to cook dinner from scratch. This helped to combat the occasional down days and helped me to feel less helpless. 4. Looking after your mental health has never been so important While I had a structure in place for my days, it was important to see every day as a new day. Some days I’d wake up with a ton of energy and set my lockdown routine into motion but there were also days I felt like I couldn’t move and that the idea of having to get up and relive the same day in this strange time almost felt too much to cope with. It was on these days that I reminded myself that it’s okay to sometimes take a step back and take a day if you need it. To take a day to do whatever will help heal your mind. Whether this was by having that lie in, reading a book, taking a hot bubble bath, or binge watching my favourite show ( ) for a couple of hours. This helped me regain the positivity I needed throughout the months of uncertainty and helped me start the next day with renewed vigour. It was important to me to reach out to those around me to make sure they were okay as well. It’s very easy to feel on your own and not okay, so reaching out to those who weren’t necessarily voicing their concerns was critical. 5. The importance of staying in touch I’m a big family person and am lucky to have a large network of family and friends, all within a 10-minute drive of my house. So, in the beginning, it was very painful to have to avoid everyone I loved, in fear of passing on a virus that could be life threatening. But this strange time only brought us closer together. With weekly Zoom quizzes, online parties and one on one calls with family, I’ve never felt closer to them. And while it hurt to have that temporary absence, it made it even more special when the ‘social bubbles’ came into place and allowed me to see them in person. I realised how important it was to always check in with each other and to pick each other up when someone was feeling particularly low, or to reassure them if their anxiety was higher than usual. Similarly, it was important to stay in touch with my manager and the company. Whether through team meetings, or direct one on one chats with my manger and directors, I was always kept in the loop regarding what was happening with the company, kept updated with any changes or extensions to my furlough and got involved in virtual group activities. At a time where it’s very easy to feel anxious and insecure about your job security, this helped me feel reassured and still an integral part of the company despite being on furlough. 6. Furlough is not a bad word! For a while, it had felt that being on Furlough was a negative and something to be ashamed of – there was a stigma from people online who were still working as usual. This couldn’t be further from the truth – I was lucky to be reassured from everyone around me that this was a positive thing to be able to support the company and would allow me (and others on furlough within the company) to return when business levels picked up . 7. Be ready to return to the ‘new normal’ It was exciting to be told that after five months of being on furlough, I would be returning to work – even if it was only part time to begin with! Finally, after months of online learning and personal development, I’ll be able to put it back into practice again! I was very aware that I’d need to be ready to adjust back to working, both from home and in an office environment, so I kept in touch with my team to find out all the new protocols and what this new way of working would look like. The week leading up to returning to work, I found myself dreaming about returning to school and not knowing where to go or what my uniform was – clearly there was a part of me that was nervous! But after completing my first day back, it was uplifting to slip back into my role comfortably, ready to tackle the rest of the year feeling refreshed and with new purpose!