What My First Placement Taught Me About Recruitment

Making my first placement was one of the big moments I’d been working towards since joining PiC.

It was a permanent role with one of our largest clients, so of course everyone involved wanted to make a great first impression. Because it was more than just a vacancy to be filled, we were paving the way for what we hoped would become a long-term relationship

I remember how excited I was when everything finally came together. It gave me such a huge confidence boost and reassured me that I’d chosen the right career.

What stayed with me though was more than just the process of making a placement, but everything else that it taught me about recruitment.

When I first started, I thought my role was all about matching the right skills to the right job description. If someone had the technical skills and experience a client was looking for, I assumed everything else would sort of fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle.

It didn’t take long for me to realise that that’s not the case, and that it was actually just a small part of the job.

Having been a Psychology student before starting my career, I’ve always been fascinated by what drives people. Making my first placement showed me just how important that is. Great recruitment relies so much on understanding people and what they’re really looking for in the next step of their career. And now I’ve seen it first-hand.

The CV is a map, not a compass

A CV is a fantastic starting point. It tells you where someone’s worked, the tech they’re familiar with and the projects they’ve delivered. But… it doesn’t quite give you the full picture.

It doesn’t tell you what they enjoy about the place they’re currently at, what they don’t enjoy as much, what kind of manager gets the best out of them or how they want to shape their career in the near future – and beyond.

One of the biggest things I took from studying Psychology is that people don’t usually make important decisions for just one reason. The same applies when someone starts thinking about changing jobs.

Someone might say ‘oh, I’m just after a higher salary’. But I’ve learnt it’s best not to just take it at face value, as there’s usually more to it than that. They might actually want more autonomy, or the chance to work on exciting projects that remind them why they got into their career in the first place.

Those motivations aren’t usually there on the CV, but they’re often the difference between someone just accepting a role, and someone building a long-term career at a company.

It’s why I see a CV as a map. It shows where someone’s been, but not where they truly want to go. Once you really get what’s motivating them, you’ve found your compass. And then it’s (hopefully) smooth sailing from there.

Recruitment happens between the updates

One lesson from my first placement has stayed with me more than anything else.

Although things turned out great in the end, there were some weeks where my candidate wasn’t receiving any substantial updates. From his point of view, it probably felt as though nothing was really happening.

Behind the scenes though, there was tons going on. Constant interview coordination, discussions around terms and conditions, paperwork and talks between the client and PiC. There were loads of progress being made, but it wasn’t the kind the candidate could actually see.

That taught me one of the most valuable lessons so far: never disappear just because there’s no news to share.

Giving my candidate a quick call or message on a regular basis helped them so much. It didn’t just keep them informed, but also reassured them that they’re still being looked after and that things were still being moved forwards.

That same placement also involved relocating from Montreal to Quebec City, so our conversations quickly became about much more than the role itself.

We spoke about what the move would mean for his family, whether relocating immediately was realistic, and we looked at ways to make the transition as smooth as possible.

We ended up agreeing on a one-step-at-a-time approach. He’d start at the client’s Montreal office before relocating to Quebec City later in the year. All the while he’d gradually spend more time with the Quebec City team to build those relationships and familiarise himself with the office.

That solution came from listening and understanding their personal circumstance, and finding an approach that worked for everyone involved.

And that was probably the moment that made me realise recruitment really is about more than just filling vacancies, because here I was, helping someone make life-changing decisions with confidence!

It’s not just about the technical skills

I think working in technology recruitment has only reinforced that lesson even more.

In the Guidewire market, so many candidates have similar technical experience on paper. Many of them may have worked on similar implementations or have experience with the same products… but that doesn’t mean the same role is right for all of them.

One person might do really well in a fast-paced transformation programme where every week brings some new challenge, while someone else might prefer somewhere that’s focused on stability and building on existing systems.

That’s why understanding someone’s motivations is just as important as understanding their technical skills. The best placements happen when both sides are a good fit, not just on paper, but in the way they work and communicate. And how they envision their future.

Better conversations create better outcomes

The more time I spend in recruitment, the more I truly get how good conversations lead to better outcomes.

When candidates feel comfortable enough to be completely honest about what they want, it’s so much easier to find roles that genuinely suit them. And the same applies to clients. Understanding the team, the culture, what success really looks like helps paint a much clearer picture of who will love it there, and who wouldn’t.

Since making that first placement, I’ve now also placed a second candidate with the same client in a similar role. Once they’ve fully settled in, I’m planning to introduce them to one another.

It’s just a small thing, but I really hope it helps them build a professional network and gives them a familiar face as they settle in a new office and a new city.

To me, good recruitment doesn’t fizzle out as soon as someone signs a contract or starts their first day. Building relationships beyond the placement is just as important as making it in the first place.