Pros
Drinks trolley on Fridays Company wide events Great client lists
Cons
Hudson likes to think that it is a well oiled machine. Just like any other large corporate it chugs along no matter what turning a blind eye to the constant haemorrhaging of employees due to mismanagement and power struggles of middle management, toxic office culture, and general lack of transparency, support and direction; just to name a few. Hudson believes that high staff turn over is just the nature of the recruitment industry- however within this space they have one of the worst attrition rates within the Sydney market- with average staff tenure being less than 18 months. Their poetic response to this is that they harbour emerging talent to later funnel onto other recruitment agencies or internal recruitment pathways. Although I am focusing primarily on the view as a former recruitment consultant, all the aforementioned is applicable to other sections of the organisation- finance, back office support, IT and payroll. As a recruitment consultant, I joined the organisation without previous knowledge or experience within the world of recruitment. Just like many of my colleagues before me this was the first move into a role that was more corporate and a step up from either retail, customer service or sales. When you join as a recruitment consultant your work pace will be determined whether or not you have a cold or warm/hot desk- with the beginning months seeing you building out a network of talent (warm/hot desk- job heavy; candidate short) or cold calling new and exisiting clients (cold desk- candidate heavy; job short). Of course as time progresses there will be instances where all action points are required: business development (cold/warm calling clients) and talent pooling (building candidate lists). However the first few months will see you building out one or the other within your assigned industry or market. At Hudson, there is an expectation for you to deliver and place jobs as soon as you start by enticing you with 2.5% commission of whatever you bill in your first 6 months. At Hudson there is a general statement that is thrown around a lot- building a successful desk takes 1-2 years and the first few months will be tough regardless whether if you have a cold or warm desk. Now, taking into consideration all the internal struggles that Hudson has your life as a recruitment consultant will either be smooth sailing or set up for failure. My personal experience at Hudson saw the departure of so many talented individuals that felt Hudson was the modern day slave driver with expectations being set so high and unachievable (all the while being paid below market rate), and being managed by leaders that make you question- what exactly do they do aside from shouting: have you placed this week? Which clients have you met? BD BD BD! Although being surrounded by many other recruitment consultants doing the same thing as you, the office environment is highly toxic and highly competitive- often scrambling and fighting over similar roles or over the same client. There is hardly any collaboration within the recruitment team. Hudson are aware that this is an issue and have tried to mitigate this by organising more team building exercises and events- but this, honestly, is just another excuse for all the consultants to binge drink and let out their frustration about their job / team leaders / managers / directors. Another issue that I came across at Hudson is the lack of transparency whether it be what plans they have for your team and desk, and salary rates. At Hudson you are told not to discuss your salary under no circumstance-however they provide no reason why. This, as I came to learn, was due to the fact recruitment consultants are all paid at different rates. Understandably there will be a difference in salary rates from people having previous recruitment experience than from someone without. However, the shocking bit about this was that salary rates for an entry level recruitment consultant starts at 55k+Super and differed according to which leader you got and what they are willing to shed as part of their P&L. I saw others that were paid higher than me with similar experience and others lower than me. This to me was highly unfair and a huge disparity perhaps begging a conversation in relation to gender pay gaps? I have noticed since my leave that Hudson have recently taken on a new regional director who comes from a heavily KPI and numbers driven agency environment. Having spoken to some current consultants there is general consensus that he has not been taken well due to his abrasive nature and general shake up of the already struggling company. Recently there has a huge drive to employ more recruitment consultants with their Seek advertising beginning with ‘due to huge growth’ which we all know is a complete lie as they are losing more consultants than they can on-board. I’d stay clear from this company. Unless the new regional director changes the work environment, provides additional and relevant support to new and emerging recruitment consultants and be more transparent in salary and requirements, then yes, it is a great place to learn as much as you can about recruitment- and then leave onto better pastures that respect you and nurture you; and most importantly value you as an employee.
