Our Glasgow office is located slap bang in the middle of recruitment road - I estimate there are about 15 recruitment agencies within a few tightly packed blocks. So every morning I walk to work I’m confident I can pick out the recruitment consultants a mile off. Generally speaking, suited and booted in a three piece special from Next (I’m sure most will declare it’s a tailor made quality Italian one off, but we know the truth), slicked back hair, some kind of oversized handbag or briefcase and an unmistakable air of confidence.
Is this what all recruitment consultants should look like?
Take Nine Twenty’s Ainsley Millar. She recruits exclusively within Marketing, focusing mostly on the digital world. She works with creative candidates and clients every single day, so does her appearance reflect this? With her multi coloured lilac and pink hair, I like to think of her as our office mermaid...without all that fishy-tail stuff obviously. Not to mention Ainsley’s ever growing body artwork. I think she quite literally wears her identity on her sleeve. What does this say about her personality? Well while some people might find Ainsley’s tattoos and hair to be flamboyant, in the office she is pretty conscientious and really focused on the job at hand. In Ainsley’s own words, if she went to a client meeting at a digital marketing agency dressed in a three piece suit she would stand out like a sore thumb.
At the other end of the spectrum we have our resident Technology recruiter Ridha Lachhab who some might say is your classic tall, dark and handsome character. Suave and sophisticated; every day Ridha comes to work suited and booted without a hair out of place and no ‘inappropriate’ tattoos in sight (although let’s be honest you never really know what people are hiding). His consistent success in his industry proves that this ‘look’, is well suited to a business environment that is traditionally serious. So if he turned up to a client meeting in jeans he probably wouldn’t be taken seriously. And yet while Ridha might look like the ultimate corporate character, if you meet him you will know that he has some personality traits more akin to the office clown…
Neither of these consultant’s appearance has any bearing on their ability to do their job and here at Nine Twenty we like to think we can look beyond the book cover and let talent speak for itself. A friend of mine worked with a high street retailer who insisted that tattoos were forbidden and if a tattoo was visible through a shirt, employees were required to wear a thermal vest underneath to cover it - Seems extreme? Just last week, one woman was allegedly sacked 30 minutes into her dream job because of her tattoos. After the story went viral, the company in question have backtracked and claim the job offer still stands. Too little too late though? With estimated figures suggesting that 1 in 5 people have a tattoo, and closer to 1 in 3 people under the age of 25 having committed to it, surely we need to reassess our ideas around image?
So while we aren’t in the business of encouraging people to get offensive facial tattoos you will likely regret, we are in the business of moving with the times - Leading from the front and matching our recruitment consultants to an area that they have expertise, passion and genuine interest for. To find out more about recruiting or finding a new role through Nine Twenty, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Emma Hart, Marketing Executive (Branding & Advertising), Nine Twenty