This is an excellent blog post written for me by a recruiter who I have known for nearly 20 years but who’d like to remain anonymous. With the vicious backlash previous commentators on the Vicki Brassington situation have received I don’t blame her!
The recruitment industry is in the direst of dire peril. Not a peril presented by a need to change business models, address economic variances, be supported by banks, chase cash flow, but by a self-imposed, self-perpetuating peril, the peril of being just, well, bad at what we do AND PROUD OF IT. But even then, people have always been bad at recruitment, in it for all the wrong reasons, treating people like commodities, but these days it is acceptable to promote quite how bad you are, to highlight it to anyone that will listen, to revel in the awfulness of your approach. It may even be verging into the territory of common business practice and this terrifies me more than anything else.
I know the best of recruitment; I know the worst of it. Or I thought I did. And then my attention was drawn to Wen Recruitment and their employee Vicki Brassington. I, like many of you, had caught the ‘viral’ storm in a teacup that she had created, and it intrigued me that she would go through such a set of events and emerge not only unscathed but jubilant, claiming an increase in business along with ‘celebrity’ status, as she did in her recent piece for UKRecruiter. Now I must be honest, I do not formally ‘follow’ her on Twitter (in truth, I am too scared) but I will admit to watching her feed closely. Some would say I am a little obsessed. I would say I am a little obsessed. I have pointed the young consultants I coach to her feed, to show them what it can be like ‘out there’ and to urge caution before leaving for pastures new. I have also been introduced to others in our field (it hurts to say ‘our’), through their interactions with @vickiwen. Notably, we have two charming fellows who roll under the names @internalbanter and @reccon_fuckyeah. Have a look at their feeds – they have minimal followers so their impact is diddly, but I want to use them as examples of the utter horror that is lurking within our recruitment firms. As I type, I have seen that my friend @internalbanter has contributed the view ‘to be a successful male recruiter you need blind ambition. To be a successful female one you need to be stunning or a slut’ along with ‘my resourcer asked to leave early yesterday cause he was having trouble at home. I sacked him on the spot’. I can cope with his misogyny, because he is just wrong, but what I DO take issue with is the fact that he is clearly deployed in some kind of management position and he tweets as a recruiter, not as an individual. That someone who spouts the bile that @internalbanter propagates is hiding away, possibly at the next desk to you, makes me feel a bit sick. As for @reccon_fuckyeah I simply want to beg the industry not to hire children like that…it is not fair on them or anyone else. That said, I would not have learnt that Vicki Brassington was paying for sex had it not been for his desire to ‘bash her back door in’ (I think I know what he really means there). To my surprise, she seemed keen.
Is this really who we want to be? Our industry has a shocking reputation, improved only by the downfall of the bankers making us look, maybe, not quite so bad. I can only assume that the management team at Wen Recruitment are happy to have their brand associated with a recruiter who seems steadfast in highlighting a questionable approach to her craft and displays occasional signs of psychological meltdown. The issue is twofold – firstly, the nature of the business has to be at question if they continue to support and employ someone who openly and repeatedly abuses her position as a rec to rec to release confidential, privy information. I certainly would not allow them to represent any of the businesses I work with, nor would I allow them to represent me. But that is their commercial risk and not of my concern. But what I DO worry about is the lack of corporate social responsibility – there have been occasions when watching Vicki’s twitter feed that I have been genuinely concerned about her. Yes, she is inflammatory, yes she is oh so wrong, but were she an employee of mine I would be working with her to help her, rather than allowing her to run amok ruining her own reputation and that of the business simultaneously. Her future is bleak.
So the conclusion I can draw is a) that they know all of this and do not care or b) they know it all, care but are ill equipped to deal with it or c) they have not quite managed to work it out yet. Are they shysters just chasing a buck or are they simply inept? In my darkest moments, I have a scenario where @vickiwen actually works for @internalbanter, and maybe their union produced @reccon_fuckyeah…..
For what it is worth, my recruiting world is one where 80% of business of repeat, and the additional 20% is word of mouth. We place people time and time again, as we understand what they need and want and they trust us to treat them with both respect as individuals and total confidentiality. We are respected by the biggest blue chip corporates to deliver compelling talent management strategies. It is an industry that has enabled me to live a life where my family and career can happily coexist. I love it and I always have. Of all the careers out there for women, this has to be one of the best, and we happen to be pretty good at it too. I have always known that I swim with sharks (and some piranhas), but now I know there was a joy in not knowing the reality of their dark minds. How can an industry that is so reliant on people, and which has such a huge impact on their life choices, have sunk to this new low?
Can we do anything about it? OF COURSE WE CAN. Do not allow them to represent you. It will not stop you finding the role you want. Ask to see your employees’ twitter feeds. Sack them for breaking the law/bragging about how much coke they have taken/prostitutes they have slept with. Imagine a team you trust and are proud of and work to that. There are so many classy recruiters that there is no need to plumb these depths.
And if it is you, if you are @internalbanter – please stop it. That is NOT recruitment.
I get it. Is this a UK thing?
That is a very interesting question and I’m attempting to find the answer to it. Will update when I’ve researched it further!
Sadly, recruitment is fast overtaking estate agency as the industry for slimeballs and chancers.
I was watching a tv show the other day and said to my partner, “I bet
that guy works in recruitment”. Sure enough, he did. The signs were all
too obvious. Brash, self-centred, hard-nosed and a bit of a dick who probably thinks empathy is a band from Manchester that had a hit with “One Night in Heaven” back in the 90s. That’s not to say that this sort of character is prevalent, but there are certainly a lot more of them around than there were 15-20 years ago.
This makes me very sad. I am a recruiter, I have led a good banking career and I recruit into the banks now. I am nothing like what is described there, I am not brash, over confident, self-centered or self assured. I am quite a likeable person that is not pushy with people or clients.
That being said – I do live and work in the Middle East
Those Twitter feeds are disgraceful!
I get a real sense of dread and actually feel quite upset when I read stories like this. I’ve been in the recruitment industry for nearly 25 years now and HRSort, I do remember some shocking tactics of some of our competitors back then. What gets me is the brazen arrogance of the fact that they are not bothered in the slightest who sees this; as well as the way that they act, that totally confounds me. I’m glad that the companies that work with me are 100% dedicated in developing their staff and I don’t come across these recruiters in the work that I do, thank goodness. Angela Cripps
I think you ought to ignore it. Giving the oxygen of publicity to anonymous people on Twitter just makes it worse.
I’m also a bit disappointed that you didn’t have the balls to post this under your own name.
An anonymous person complaining about other anonymous people just wasting everyone’s time really.
Whilst I certainly can see the irony you are talking about I don’t agree that it’s a waste of time. Considering the backlash and abuse some previous critics have received I don’t blame her for wanting to stay anonymous It’s not going to be the “new thing” on my blog but I thought it was still a very worthwhile post. Not everyone is as confident as you and it’s nice to give someone with a valid point a voice.
It is a sad state of affairs that for so many genuine recruiters, we are being let down by a minority of _______ (insert appropriate word). I agree that we are seeing more quick win chancers, possibly because of the recession(s) and loads of estate agents entering the market. I don’t think we can blame estate agents to be fair. They just want to earn a living like the rest of us. The market has created the need for bullish characters who push harder than ever, don’t listen and tell you what they think you want (starting to sound like an episode of The Apprentice). Ultimately recruitment is sales and currently it seems the norm to push, don’t listen, push again, annoy clients and then push a bit more.
When cash is king, it seems that a lot of recruitment companies either turn a blind eye or encourage more `direct` sales. I believe in long term relationships, quality of service etc, but in my market, the reality is that the `cut corners` and `dubious practice` brigade are winning. In the short term anyway. I have seen more seriously underhand tactics in the last 6 months that disgust me. Is there no room for the nice guys anymore? It seems that recruitment is still seen as a licence to print money, bullish is best and the candidates are just a (low value) commodity. My candidates are also my clients and should be treated as such. There are no real barriers to entry and the ability to make an instant impression (good or not) seems to be in demand.
The cowboys will move on but probably not before they have tarnished the reputation of so many decent and well established recruiters. `Recruitment` is a very general term, just like Estate Agent, Used Car Salesmen and Double Glazing Salesman; they all have their stigma’s but I actually know some very good people from all of the above.
It’s a candidate (and cost?) driven market which sadly in some areas has removed the need for good service. Clients can be just as unscrupulous as the consultants (if you can call them that). So where does the blame lie?
Client demand, company cultures, the `market`, social networking?
I love what I do and strive to give good service but currently I feel that the good guys aren’t winning. I have to bill £££’s and work in the same market as everyone else. So is it fight or flight? I don’t want to lower my standards but the market is only so big at the moment and it’s hard always being the nice guy.
I don’t know what the answer is but I will stick to my guns and focus on reputation and not repetition.
Nice post shame about it being anon! Naturally I now follow all 3 never heard of them before. It’s like The Office uncut v entertaining and truely dreadful. Unless you form an industry that presents barriers to entry and has expulsion criteria it will always be a circus.
Is it me, or am I the only who can see that both the @reccon_fuckyeah and the banter account are just parodies, not for real. They may draw upon some of the less desirable traits of some of the operators in the recruitment industry, but it is clear (to me at least) that they are taking the wee wee.
I am a seasoned recruiter and owner of my own business. I started in 1970 and have seen it all – or so I thought. I am horrified at what I’ve read – the sad thing is, I am putting a report together for a client regarding the ‘good, bad and ugly’ of recruitment – bet you can’t guess who will be at the top of my list – I have to produce this report because his substantial HR Department are trying to block all Agencies and ‘start up their own, internal department’ – spurred on by unethical, uncaring and unprofessional’Recruiters’ such as Ms B – I would love to have five minutes Ms Brassington and give her some sound career counselling! She clearly cannot spell, her mouth is vulgar and whilst believe she has adopted ‘celebrity’ status, well, you have to feel sorry for her. If anyone wants to know who I am – just ask!
that is sad to hear, because I am making loads of deals, it’s a good excuse for you to use for the fact you are not good at your job. If you have quality candidates clients will hire, the fact you are getting some bull about internal from them means they do not deem your candidates as quality or you are simply a crap sales person. I the person who apparently is so infamous am making tonnes of deals, you know why? because I have quality, and people will always want quality candidates. You don’t, for whatever reason you are lazy, or you have low standards. My standards are high of what I put in front of both clients and candidates, thats why I can behave like a fucking rockstar and still bill like a recruitment machine. You are wasteing time putting some silly report together for your client, you should be sharpening your ax, honeing your sales skills thats what the problem is, it’s you.
making loads of deals and not paying anyone such a scam beware
I’ve been in recruitment for a long time and been running my own company since 96. A few years ago I sacked my top producer for unethical and positively illegal behaviour. His response was to take me to an ET which we won and the judge called his behaviour ‘disgraceful’, yet he genuinely thought that what he did was OK, ‘because he was only thinking about the fee’. Astonishingly he’s still in recruitment and only yesterday I spoke to a joint candidate whom he had told active lies about the job he was considering going for. On the basis that such charlatans are about, we have to continue to work properly as a candidate’s career is not like selling a tin of beans, with no consequences if it doesn’t work out.
Vicki craves attention and the more blogs like this the more she will crave it IMO. You only have to read her tweets to realise she is quite lonely and is DESPERATE for a man. Maybe her brash, cut throat, hatred of some recruiters and ‘skin as thick as a rhino’ approach to recruitment is her way to vent her frustrations of not be able to bag a male companion. Whilst Vicki continues to act this way she gets the attention she craves. What she doesnt realise she is getting the notoriety of someone who will come crashing down with a bang. Doesnt she own Wen ? I cannot find them on companies house ??
Interesting blog. If we do not talk about this it could be seen as not giving it strength, but I believe that if we keep quiet about it – it could be assumed that we have given the silent nod of acceptance.
I have just stumbled upon this, I want to say I cannot believe how many people have nothing better to do with their time than sit around talking about me on the internet, people I have never met, it’s like a fucking horror movie, an endless supply of old lady busy bodies! I am not craving attention when I am not even aware of half the stuff that’s written because I like most normal people see it for what it is, nothing but a bunch of jealous haters. I have over 10 years experience placing recruiters worldwide, I’m an expert in rec2rec. I would wipe the floor with any one of you in terms of recruitment prowess. and would not be seen dead sitting on the internet talking about someone I do not know and discussing with my other jealous friends. Spreading lies and rumours about someone to try to manipulate the public’s opinion of a person you have never met. You are all a bunch of liars and malicious jealous saddo’s.
this guest blogger, it doesn’t say who it is, it will be one of the following 1. a crap biller who is resentful of rec2rec’s because they cannot bill and no one wants them. 2. someone’s hiring manager who is pissed off that I am as good as I am at headhunting and have removed several big billers from their team 3. someone with a highly unstable work history. 4. another rec2rec threatened by my fame and jealous that I have all the best candidates as a result again of talent. What kind of yellow chicken shit do you need to be to not reveal yourself, to express yourself and hide. it’s someone with an agenda put it that way, my twitter account is riddled with trolls like this, how a troll has been allowed to post on a blog stuns me. this muppet making a comment about my future is bleak, shows just how misinformed they are, that they’ll stoop to any level and just make things up, you sit next to me do you? you’ve checked my wageslip out have you? my future and billings have gone through the fucking roof with all the PR, you haters have turned me in to a global celebrity!, you’ve more than doubled my earnings, I’m loving every minute of it, keep it going and this time next year rodney I’ll be a millionaire! 🙂 lol “haters gon hate!”
I will say one more thing, anyone who looks at my picture and can see that big smile on my face! and has more than one active brain cell functioning, who can actually think, doesn’t just blindly read stuff written by trolls and believe it and not look at the entire picture. can see I personally am a positive person, I exercise daily, I take care of my health, I’m hugely successful within rec2rec, I have my own recruitment fan club TeamVicki, I get messages regularly from recruiters telling me I’m a hero, a legend, teamvicki’s I am loved by normal recruiters. I really cannot stand people like this coward that has taken time out of their day to simply moan, because thats all it is, that entire piece is just a negative person, who wants to complain. it’s not entertaining in the least. It’s just some dumbass moaning.
I am pretty certain this guest blogger is a friend of Louise’s,
Sean Odonoghue, in a recent interview with him he kept going on about the
frenzied hate campaign against me, yeah! Orchestrated by you, you fucking wack job, frenzied hate campaign I don’t know what this guys reading or smoking but he’s living in his own fantasy world.
It was hardly a frenzied hate campaign, it was more some
pimp getting together with his troll friends doing a bit of name calling of a
highly successful rec2rec all in the socially acceptable context of media.
This third rate conspiracist appears to be laying claim in the article that I have 3 twitter accounts that I am part of the other 2 accounts, yeah that sounds reasonable I have time to run a desk of my size and magnitude, alongside my regular rants which are exhausting in themselves, plus coming up with new material to keep my fans happy, plus working these other 2
accounts, I think he missed out child birth and mutant frog juggling!
There is literally no ceiling to what crap these trolls will
write, it’s boundless they’ll think something up in their head and
then put it on the internet.
It reeks of Sean once again as in his original blog cutting
whole parts of the full story out, and only showing my reaction with some
sensational over reaction on his part commenting about it, if you can call it
comments or simply the mad ramblings of a fanatic with mental health issues, the entire story is written to distort
readers perception of the real reality of the incident.
It’s propaganda of the lowest form
pipe down zzzzz
Vicki – pipe down and get back to work, you self-obsessed cretin.
80% of your business is repeat and 20% is Word of Mouth?….. someone’s not hitting their KPI’s!!!
If Vicki Brassington and the other parody accounts are so destructive and bring shame on our industry why do we keep on highlighting them? it seems to me that someone has too much time on their hands to write this rubbish. For once im on Vicki’s side, the author of this should get a sense of humour, put down their pen and pick up the phone
The parody twitter accounts are quite obviously a bit of a laugh and are no doubt exaggerated so I can’t see them being taken seriously, I think more harm is done to the industry by the idiots on The Apprentice
In response to Vicki, if you want to keep entertaining your “fans” please learn about blogging, twitter has 140 characters for a reason, continuing your outpourings over 15 tweets is just pain odd
If I learned these people worked for me they would be sacked without a second thought. I don’t care what law they think might back them. “See you in court sunshine!”
It is clearly the responsibility of hiring managers and directors to ensure these sorts of people remain outside of our industry. However, this is unlikely to happen as most people do not have the courage of their convictions. Until business leaders take up the gauntlet and stamp out bullying and other forms of poor recruitment conduct, it just won’t happen.
This is effectively bullying. And any manager who knowingly allows for an employee to behave like this should be held accountable if they fail to take action. I don’t care if you were my top earner. Your feet would touch the door mat on the way out.
Although this is an excellent and amusing article, I’m just disappointed that this person is too scared to follow Vicki on Twitter. Have courage. All you do is click the box that says follow and you provide someone with support. I don’t know Vicki and I don’t know whether we’ll do business, but I don’t like bullies of any description.
Small minded people who hide behind an internet connection and snipe are never going to amount to anything. The best way to combat them is to simply ignore them. They have nothing valuable to contribute anyway.
There is no management team at Wen. Vicki is self employed. Check their profile on companies house. This is how she gets away with it, she is a self-employed recruiter with nobody to report to. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that, good on her but that is why the ‘Wen management team’ don’t mind.
what is her self employed ID on companies house ?
Just to put things in perspectivel. You may have noticed that Vicki appears to allude in her twitter feed to the fact that she suffers from autism.
I do not beleive It is something that you would generally publically promote, but if true would go a long way to understanding her frenzied and almost pathalogical twittering, and compulsive and incoherent comments.
If it is the case that Vicki is autistic she has my sympathy as she is clearly struggling with what can be a very debilitating and misunderstood illness.
Vicki rocks!
Has anyone ever mentioned to Vicki the line ‘Self praise is no recommendation’? Typically the best people in life don’t need to tell everyone about it… This woman (said loosely) cannot spell and yet professes to be a great recruiter. I’m sorry Vicki but I don’t buy it at all, I doubt you’ve billed much more than 200-250k a year in your whole career – come back and see us when you’re knocking on 350-400+ then you might (just might) have some half decent credentials.
[…] Something is Rotten… a brilliant follow up post to the one above by one of the good guys (I got offered £2000 from […]
“Vicki is an extremely good Recruiter who really listens to
her client’s needs. She seemed to completely understand the type of
individual’s that our company was looking for. She is a hardworking and
dedicated professional. Our two new starters have not yet started working with
us, however we are sure they will do well. We would definitely recommend Vicki
and would use her again for any of our recruitment needs.”
Anton Teper – Client
Managing Director
PSL Recruitment Services
Candidate Testimonial
In the short time I have required Vicki’s recruitment
services, to find me a new position, I have been pleased with all the help and
guidance I was given before my interview.
Once the interview was over, she calmed down my nerves with
her knowledge of the client.
She closed the client and got me the best offer without any
pressure on me which was just what I needed.
Thank you for all your help.
Richard Fox
Recruitment Consultant
PSL Recruitment Services
Vicki is a Rec2Rec that I have actually enjoyed hearing from
& working with. I am Australian & required a company to sponsor me in
order for me to continue my career in the UK. This challenge did not deter
Vicki in the slightest & I was genuinely surprised & very impressed
with how quickly she had arranged a number of interviews for me. She was so supportive, gave excellent
interview preparation & always made sure her support of me was known.
Vicki is professional as well as personable & genuinely
a fun person to talk to.
Vicki has a real knack of knowing her clients &
candidates inside out & as far as my situation went, she found companies
that couldn’t have suited me better.
I would recommend Vicki to recruiters looking for work as
well as any businesses who haven’t been able to find the right candidate for
them, Vicki will be able to get that person for you.
Michelle Harris
Recruitment Consultant
PSL Recruitment Services
And here I am thinking I am an island in a ocean of moronic sales decisions… I feel so much better after reading this.
remain anonomous, even though the picture says Michael Barnard lolol
she is a scam beware of Vicki