Pros
If you're just graduating, it's a great company to start with. Especially before you have a spouse or kids or even a dog. Your peers will be mostly recent college grads, typically coming out of majors like Marketing, Communications, or General Business. The training is good, and some of the divisions can pay out well in commissions. Talent isn’t necessarily required, as luck can play a huge role in your success. Choose your path wisely. It varies from office to office, but some have amazing Tech divisions, and some thrive on Admin Recruiting. One of the office’s largest accounts was a mortgage broker contract with a large credit union. The AMs were making a quarter million $ a year on that contract alone, and the recruiters under them were doing good as well since the criteria for the candidates was hinged almost entirely on their credit check. Good Credit = Easy placement. Other offices have major contracts with unionized auto manufacturers, so placements at those companies can be long and profitable. The some of the recruiters barely had to work to make money (even though they had to show some face time). Make sure to learn as much as you can about the nature of the office's business before agreeing to join a particular division. Also, lots of Corporate Recruiting Careers are a great fit for former Staffing Recruiters as they are accustom to a crazy grind, and will have no issue keeping up with the slower pace of corporate recruiting. 2 years at an Aerotek can get you a $20K base increase at government contractor, and potentially more at commercial companies and start-ups that offer a much better work life balance and benefits. Getting experience in Technical Recruiting may prove to be more difficult in Staffing, but can pay off when you're leaving to look for careers in Corporate Recruiting. Your co-workers will typically be Type-A's and be fun to be around most of the time.
Cons
I joined to “Help People”, I was promptly told that the people we’d be finding jobs for are the more desirable job seekers in the first place. The people can all find jobs on their own, which is why companies pay good money for Aerotek’s services. Also, that your candidates are “Cattle” to be sold. I often heard the joke that agency personnel are “flesh peddlers”. Occasionally, you actually can help someone who doesn’t know where to begin their search, so there is a silver lining if you’re a bleeding heart. The compensation is decent for an entry level position, but pay raises are pretty much unheard of unless you receive a promotion to a “Professional Recruiter” position, or become and Account Manager. The base comp is low, but a Cost of Living Adjustment is offered in metropolitan areas. What they don’t tell you is that is isn’t taxed at the same rate as your base, and you lose about the same as you would in commission taxes. Getting $9000 more a year in cost of living adjustments sounds great, but you’ll only ever see around half of that. Same with your Commissions, you’ll be lucky if you get 60% of what you actually earn. Also, you’re ineligible for commission or cost of living during your training, even if you’re making the company money. A lot of reviews state that you can make $200K+ a year, but that’s reserved for primarily Senior Account Managers. In a company of 2000+ recruiters /AMs, only a small percentage are really raking in money like that. Also, most offices start the day at 7:30am, and as other reviews have pointed out, don’t expect to leave as early as even 5:30pm without getting judged for “working bankers hours”. Lastly, be prepared to be micromanaged. Your success may not be directly correlated to your input, but your activity will be judged heavily if you’re not achieving high output. Some recruiters used to pick up the phone once a day and make a placement off that one call, others could spend days calling hundreds of people and getting nothing out of it. It can get pretty frustrating if you’re in the latter group. And be ready to have meetings, and meetings about those meetings, and meetings to prepare for the meetings about the meetings. You may work long hours, but rest assured, those hours will be book ended and stuffed with meetings.