Confessions of a Sales Recruiter

This is my Truth!

I haven’t always been so outspoken and confident.
I very frequently doubted my abilities and feared speaking in public. I would steer away from those who knew more than I did with the fear of feeling inferior. I was a people pleaser, seeking acceptance, needing to be “liked” and always requiring reassurance with the things I set out to do.

My focus was wholly directed at everything I wasn’t good at, rather than what I was “Skilled” at and having that can do/ give it a go attitude. I was (and still am) terrible at sports and any activity requiring coordination, which only made me more insecure in corporate team events that involved sports, even bowling! I would freeze knowing that I might let the team down. Sport was not a part of my childhood foundation, and now I live in a country where Sport is ingrained into the culture!

I spent most of my childhood years in India, migrating to Australia in 1998 at the height of my teenage years. I felt lost and grew new insecurities.
My focus moved from academia to assimilation and feeling accepted; increasingly feeling that my knowledge and understanding on any topic held low value.

These were my own fears, complex and I lived in a bubble that was my own worst enemy as I doubted everything I did.

I started my career with a weighty bubble of self-doubt and went on this way for a few years, however this all began to change when I started my career as a talent acquisition specialist at IQPC and over a period of seven years I would see myself transform into a self-assured, resilient and more confident individual.

In my role I was fortunate to find myself surrounded by sales superstars and was introduced to the world of ‘selling’, rich influences, ambition, attitude, and a ‘sales culture’. I began to understand selling techniques, what it took to succeed, the importance of being self-assured and confident. It was the motivation I needed to begin working on my self-transformation. I started to build that ‘can do attitude’ and to apply my learnings on how to attract, qualify and retain into my role as a recruiter.

I further grew my knowledge and fuelled my energy by burying myself in leadership and sales books, podcast and fitness (physically & mentally); I knew that working on myself as a person and leader was critical to working alongside the leaders I recruited for.
It’s always a tougher sell when the basic salary is at the lower end and your focus is selling the attractiveness of uncapped commissions, great team culture and first-class sales training. I guess it was recruiting in this environment collectively that helped me realise my own strengths and love for working with people. Now suddenly came the realisation that I was an instinctive sales professional!

I’m still challenged sport wise and can withdraw into a shell every now and then, but I have learnt to embrace these challenges and try to give it a go. My love for sports has even started to grow as I watch my daughter excel at it.

I never thought that external recruitment was a career for me, and was comforted by in-house recruitment, I also liked being called “HR”. And whilst I learnt a lot about processes, systems, CRM’s and legalities, over time I realised that this was no longer me; I didn’t get the rush and satisfaction from the “HR” aspect of my role. It took me a while, but I had finally found my niche, my identity, and a craft that I am good at and constantly work on mastering

So here I am today. A SALES RECRUITER. I absolutely love what I do,
I am good at it, and my clients and candidate feedback is testament to this.
I am passionate about partnering with great companies and helping them source and retain quality talent.
I am a compassionate, honest and an equal opportunity recruiter. I aim to always look beneath the layers when sourcing my candidates and am proud to see them excel in any organisation.

If you are keen to work with me and my team and a business that is huge on corporate social responsibility, I would love to hear from you.

A huge shout out to Ben Shipley, Christian Sorensen,, Mike Adams , Ross Ashman, Chris Beales, Craig Stewart, Marcel Baliachel , Carl Price, Sara, Daniel Hale, Claire Barber , Jacqueline Grant , Noel Mcdermott & Esther Smith for inspiring, guiding and helping me get where I am today.

They say you are an average of the five people you spend your time with and over seven years I was lucky enough to be in a company where I had the opportunity to work with these incredible leaders. Eternally grateful

Find out more about Reynah Fernandes here : https://www.linkedin.com/in/salesrecruiter/