i know this may sound wierd, but i want to leave a successful career in IT/Mgt consulting and join a recruitment company as a recruiter.I am good at sales and think that being a recruiter will be fun and interesting.Am i crazy or is it worth looking into very seriously?

wise choice. being a recruiter is an excellent choice for a profession. It is well respected and a noble profession worldwide.

It is tough though - you need lots of qualifications to get in and the exams can be really tricky.The intellectual stimulation you get from day to day activities make it well worth all the effort

If you want to make good money (i.e. 100k+) before you're 30 then go into it, otherwise, keep grinding away as a consultant and you might make that amount when you hit 40 if you're any good, if not you'll be stuck in the doldrums of 'management'.

What nonsense.100k by 30 is definately do-able. Assuming you start at 23 after Uni you'll have 8 years experience and should be a manager somewhere hitting around 90k all in, maybe even 100k

Is 100k a realistic salary to aim for, though?Obviously some people earn that much... but is it relatively 'normal'?? Am I the only one here who is paid not much more than a third of that amount? How much do you have to bust your balls to earn that much? Have I just stayed in one place for too long and am just totally out of touch with what the 'going rate' for a consultant's salary is these days?

Earning £100k as a recruiter is rare, management in the industry may say different but believe me it doesn't happen alot. As with anything there are a number of variables which will affect your take home pay but as a general rule, for an established consultant, you will be taking home between £35k and £50k. London based recruiters working all hours and with a higher than average base salary will be looking at £50k - £60k. But remember, those hours drag. The 'big billers' do exist but on the whole if someone has the contacts to place the necessary number of people to earn £100k it wont be long before they set up their own agency.

S. Kint of course 100k is a realistic aim, in fact if you've been in consulting 10 years or more and not earning that you must have been doing something wrong.

Is £100K realistic in consulting if you opt to work for an employer that offers a good work-life balance? i.e. normal industry hours and minimal travel instead of the 60 hour life-out-of-a-suitcase horror stories you read about?

£100k is do-able in consulting, but most consultants are not on it. The average salary for a 30 year old consultant is probably around 60k, (and this is skewed by the likes of Accenture who are on much more, as well the likes of Logica who are on a lot less). As a recruiter if you want money it is out there and a lot easier to make than in consulting. yes, you may do long hours, but you are home every night (unlike consultants) and the average, certainly in London, is a lot more than £35-50k. In most decent recruitment firms if you're making £35k you'll be struggling and on the verge of being kicked out.

If you think by 30 and you're on 90k that's average you're so wrong - let me guess are you at Accenture?!! Agree with the post above, not many consultants earn 100k at 30, if you do you're doing well but it's not the industry norm. As I'm a 32 year old recruiter and I earned a little more than £140k last year, I'm going to stick where I am and not move into consulting, I like going home at night!

rubbish

Hmm, so you must be on a hefty rate of commission and placing nearly 20 people earning £100,000 or over for a 30% fee rate at least.Yes, that happens alot.

35k basic, plus an average of 8 contractors out, and placed 15 people last year (none on higher than 94k) at rates varying from 22-28%. Hit team and individual targets and bonuses. Our structure allows me to unlock a higher commision the more I make the company, easy.

rec,Yes i'm at accenture. But I also know that most other half decent firms pay similar salaries so that by the time you have 8 or so years experience (i.e around 30) you'd be approaching senior manager level or equivalent and therefore £90k+ total package. I didn't think Accenture were some kind of exception paying premium salaries.

They are.

rec - I hope you're London based or I am being stitched on my basic...

Recruitment is the best and worse job in the world depending on the market!This is the worse time to become a recruiter You would be walking into a very tough market (which is likely to get worse before better)with no experience, no network and no safety net - recruiters are not renowned for their caring sharing attitude towards employees. If the likes of heidricks & Struggles are already making at least 15% of their workforce redundant (you should take this as a sign) -Yes the money is very good during the buoyant times - considerable more than mentioned on this site; if you are very good (a natural) and hugely motiviated - A love of money does you no any harm. However wages go down as well as up (a long way down). My advise - don't leave a consulting role for a sales job in a tough market. At this time of the market recruiters start talking about become teachers!! At least you get to use your brain, get a good pension, etc, etc. If you are good at sales - move into pre-sales, bid development, client soultion development with a view to moving into mega-deal environments in the future etc - huge potential earning.Best of luck.

1) re salary/earnings the rule of thumb is that your package all in is c 1/3 of your revenue in fees. That applies across most of the industry from high street to Heidricks. The rest is easy to work out and it is fair to say that with a following wind £100k is achievable in a buoyant market or market sector but lots of pretty good people make nothing like that2) I agree it is not a good time as even the most supportive and enlightened employer can’t keep unproductive trainees on the payroll for long3) Some areas of recruitment CAN be exciting, intellectually stretching and glamorous, are well respected and demand top qualifications. The “leading head hunters” regularly attract and retain consulting firm partners and Industry leaders. Much of recruitment is not unfortunately.

I think recruitment consultants are great. They give us good career advice when we need it and they help us find our jobs. They are generally friendly and approachable people who work hard and usually don't get the respect they deserve. I love talking to the recruitment consultants, they brighten up my day.

Thank you Management Consultant. Finally some honesty instead of the snide remarks we have come to expect on this board.In turn I'd like to let you know that your honesty, good manners, impeccable CV writing skills and humility really make things easier for the both of us.God bless you and your superior intellect Management Consultant.

Hey! That sounded sarcastic.I honestly actually meant what I said!

Finally we have made a breakthrough and I have to say it's about time. After all, we both use the title of 'consultant' so our jobs can't be that different. If anybody, and I literally mean anybody, fancies a drink tonight please do let me know. Chums. We are now officially chums.

Group hug people. Wash your hands first please.

I still earn more than most consultants so I'm going to stick with my job, despite the sarcastic remarks on this board. It's a shame some people can be so arrogant about their job and work when most of them aren't making 1) decent money 2) any substantial effect on the growth of their business.

ive got a better idea: why dont you look into being a used car salesman or a start up a business in loan sharking.

I agree - it completely depends on the scrotum position. If you have the opportunity to enter on say a scrotum level 2 - then I would take it, especially in this market. If it's a 5 or above it would be hard to transfer from scrotum to scrotum - even if I have several friends in a big 4 recruitment firm that have done it. Good luck!