What is the hiring process like at Robert Walters?

Pros

They offer slightly better supports in terms of searching tools, administrative works and training. Not bad for fresh grads or someone with no experience working in other agency.

Cons

They are obviously going through a rebuilding phase now as they sacked a lot of ppl during covid. Bonus is devastating for especially experienced guys who bill well, they won’t even be bothered to justify it with an attitude of “it is what it is”. Lack of incentives, only one lunch club per quarter for those who billed over 1-mil hkd. The rest are bunch of coupons or tiny cash out. So ppl are not really cross-selling or sharing stuff at all due to the zero incentive system here. Culture very corporate, maybe better on the commerce team side but definitely quite uptight and boring on the financial team side. Not gonna badmouth anyone, but managers are mostly not giving too much damn of a lot of things as they are not supposed to be caring much apart from hiring new people for the firm.

Advice to Management

Be fair to people, beware of karma.

Pros

Good for someone trying to break into the recruitment orTA industries

Cons

Low salaries and don’t tell you the reality of being able to earn commission

Pros

The interview was very straightforward, i did not have to wait long for feedback and responses. The onboarding process was fantastic, the internal recruiter was welcoming and very helpful; constantly checking i had everything i needed and understood everything that was going on. I joined the Technology team which i would say is filled with fantastic individuals, they are cool, down to earth and easy to get along with. They made it very easy for m to integrate into the team, could not ask for better colleagues if i am being very honest. The culture is great, corporate yet very relaxed and fun. There is a lot of diversity within the work place. Everyone respect each others different cultures, values and beliefs and are willing to learn and understand those they are not familiar with

Cons

Does being such a great place to work count as one?

Pros

- Responded to the pandemic in phenomenal way all things considered - Able to keep everyone employed during an unprecedented time, whilst most other recruitment companies were making lay offs - In the center of a booming market, consistent flow of business coming in from clients, new and existing - Supportive leadership with a flexible approach to the way we now work in response to the changes in demands since the pandemic - Opportunities are there if you want them, work hard and ask for what you want next, even if it can't happen right away you'll be given guidance on how you can get there - Diversity initiatives are there and you can tell there's meaningful work been put into this strategy in the past 18 months - Huge push on work life balance more so in the last 18 months than ever before - Unbeatable culture, collaborative and fun !

Cons

- For a while there was uncertainty about what the new normal would look like and took us a while to figure that out - The market is challenging at the moment with a candidate short market, so we have to work a bit harder to close people but we're empowered to do what we need to in order to make it happen

Advice to Management

- Keep doing what you're doing and listening to your employees and you'll create an market leading team!

Pros

Of course there are a few employees who do overtime, but past 18:00 90% of the company has left the office: little overtime

Cons

Depending on your manager your experience may be great or plain awful. There is quite a toxic bro-culture so be sure to be careful in the interview process as they have you meet virtually every manager that works in the company.

Pros

Great training. good stepping stone to recruitment and talent

Cons

Quite young environment, and it is not for everyone.

Pros

* Good first corporate job to learn the environment and culture * Training is good

Cons

The management is so shady. In the interview process, they sell you on the role and talk about "bonuses" - although they say it is not commission based; what they don't mention is that it takes literal years of working there to make anything if you start from a junior level. Candidate managers do so much but never really get any recognition, your placements go straight onto your managers books and they make money from it. When you get promoted you don't even get to take those placed candidates - despite doing everything to place them. In the interview stage you are told your salary but not told that this is super inclusive, so you're actually getting paid much less than what you anticipated and significantly less than competitors who offer commission for everyone - including entry level. They also drop people who are in their final weeks/month of their probation period, despite going above all of their (sometimes unnecessary) KPI targets. You think you are doing well then you're randomly dropped, all while they are still hiring new candidate managers that I guess will likely meet the same fate (not until they have worked them for a few months though) Serious favoritism and boys club No flexibility to WFH, one day a week if you're lucky * Some of the managers give no guidance and i question what they actually do all day. not leaders at all.

Advice to Management

More transparency on every level. Don't promise a bonus to a junior in their interview when they obviously won't be seeing any until at least their first promotion (If they make it that far). Address the obvious favoritism, or maybe be a little less obvious with it

Pros

-Training -Great starting point for juniors -Access to big PSA accounts

Cons

-Junior environment -Transactional recruitment style

Pros

-Team-based recruitment consulting -Discretionary bonus

Cons

-Recruitment consulting is not really for everyone

Pros

Not as cut throat as smaller firms Pretty good culture Overall nurturing environment

Cons

As with most recruitment firms, quite 1 dimensional in that it’s only focussed on your revenue generating ability. Can’t blame them though it’s the nature of the industry. Also, they’re bonus structures isn’t very clear cut as with some other agencies.