PageGroup Reviews

Pros

I loved working for Page! I learned so much, tripled my salary in 4 years, worked with some amazing people and got some amazing opportunities. Negative reviews you might read are outdated; 8-6 working is a thing of the past, and flexible working has meant that employees come and go much more freely, and the office is a more relaxed and far less corporate place than the one I joined. Some departments are now completely dress down but even the more corporate ones (finance) are no longer wearing ties to work.

Nowadays the company culture is very different all together. I never worked on the weekend or in the evenings, but it’s easy to get invested and as a manager I spent a lot of time telling my teams to switch off while on days off. This is a company that is very exclusive about its hires - if you have any concerns at all about a potential hire, they’re probably a no. Therefore everyone around you is pushing to move forwards and it’s extremely rare to overhear anyone moaning about the business.

Despite being a global business, the SLT are extremely visible in local offices and take time to understand staff, even joining teams on celebratory nights out etc.

Progression can be extremely fast, training is excellent, and support is always there should you ask for it, although once you know what you’re doing you are given a great deal of trust and freedom to do your job. Bonuses take a while to start as you build your market, but once they do they can be significant. In the meantime, and throughout, there are loads of smaller rewards along the way, ranging from public awarded bottles of champagne to trips abroad for top performers.

They put you through your paces to get to management, and as such all the managers are truly inspiring. There are also loss of opportunities to move abroad, if that’s your thing, after a few years good service, or to move into different areas.

The company, for a recruitment company, is extremely moralistic. Compliance checks ensure that revenue is properly signed off by clients and focus goes on maintaining clients long term relationships. That said, many clients see recruitment as an entirely free service, and will cancel roles after several weeks work etc. The company finds a great balance between customer service and commerciality, and the benefit of such a well known brand is they are I afraid to walk away from non commercial business.

Over the last couple of years the business has transformed completely, investing more in technology and development than ever before, and reviewing and changing their corporate structure to better serve clients.

If you’re looking for a great company that will progress you up your career and let you do some amazing things along the way, this is the one for you.

Advice to Management

I’ve seen some good people leave because they weren’t allowed to transfer departments (because they were billing well), and I’ve seen others offered promotions to buy them back after leaving. If they are worth those promotions, and if the company doesn’t want to lose them, give them opportunities and reward their work before they get to the point of quitting.

Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing - love the business.

Pros

A lot of investment in training and innovating ways in which we generate people and leads.

A clear strategy in a challenging market which isn't often followed through in other recruitment agencies.

Prescriptive progression through to Directorship.

A much more defined bonus structure in comparison to when I joined five years ago.

Pros

Working for a well established business that has a structure for career progression and bonus that it will stick to and genuinely want you to reach asap

Pros

I worked at Page for 2 years and really bought into the culture. I never thought I would leave Page, I really loved the business, people, training and challenges. Only now being in my 3rd recruitment business do I realise just how good the training was. I am excelling compared to other recruiters who didn't have the same grounding and training I had at Page Group.

So.. pros -

Excellent training
High performance culture
The KPI culture really helps you to be hard on yourself later in your career when you are left to use your own initiative
Surrounded by talented young driven people
Great team building incentives for high performers
Very transparent promotion structure, based on Billings so no confusion
Top of the market CRM system (Profile), other firms really have bad CRM's
Great managers who have been there and done it and on the whole still bill
Strong benefits package

Advice to Management

As consultants reach that 2 year mark, give them much more freedom
Pay experienced consultants who are trained up after a couple of years much higher bonuses
Recognise that different markets require different KPI's

Pros

Great focus on development and progression - career not a job

Advice to Management

Training needs to be more practical. More needs to be done to retain talent.

Pros

Excellent training for new starters - sets them well for a career in rect in a 360 recruitment role. Training team are great

Pros

The business is constantly changing and yet the people we have here are always brilliant to work alongside.

Pros

The most supportive, inclusive and diverse employer that I've found within the recruitment sector - Having worked for an SME and another plc previously I've had very "mixed" experiences of being valued as a high performing employee. Page offer a much more supportive working environment where the gender balance is the best I've seen in the industry, it really doesn't matter about things like sexuality or race and from a personal perspective they have seen me through challenging times within my personal life with support and empathy. We have a mental health champion programme which is great to create a culture where it's ok to tell people if you are struggling rather than slowly implode under the strains of a sales job.
Recruitment as a career is a roller coaster and so to be happy in work it's vital to find a supportive employer and colleagues who can lift you when you hit the inevitable lows - Page does this far better than anywhere else that I've worked previously.
The overall benefits package is much better than the market average with private health, buying and selling holiday, discounts on gym memberships and other products.
Plenty of incentives above and beyond salary and bonus/commission - if you are competitive and willing to put in the effort you can take home a great amount of cash.
The training team are great - the vast majority have operational experience and deliver interesting courses and the new online training is great for new starters. I wish in many ways I had joined Page as a graduate as the training here is the best I've seen.
There are great opportunities for good performers to relocate nationally and internationally and build a career beyond the UK.
There is a great mentoring programme throughout the business.
Our commitment to charity and CSR is also great - I love the annual Yorkshire 3 peaks event - fun, challenging and importantly raises lots of cash for charity!
It's a much more meritocratic and fair culture than anywhere I've worked. We promoted managers and directors from within. Other recruiters have in the past have had a culture of handing in your notice to facilitate a payrise - not the case at Page.
The leadership team are accessible and on hand to help you with problems and so are aware of your day to day challenges and wins.
There is more of an opportunity to shape your career down a people management or business development route, you can flex your progression as to what suits your lifestyle and ambition. Career plans are clearly mapped and competency based appraisals take place on a 6 monthly basis to ensure you are working towards and achieving your goals. The new regional structure means that future progression at director level won't see a life spread across the country and time can be spent doing what you are good at within the region you operate in.

Advice to Management

Competitors will always point to the fact that the Michael Page brand offers bonus rather than commission, but the reality is that if you are a high performer you will get remunerated well at bonus time and the business is run with strong financial sustainability plans. The only downside is that annual payrises when you hit a certain level aren't always automatically offered within that level so you might need to be prepared to negotiate for yourself or push hard for that next promotion. Naturally this is to encourage growth, but retaining long serving high billers is important to all aspects of our business so strategies around this are worth considering for future staff retention for this population within the business.

Pros

Good commission and Salary

Pros

Great people and training
New regional structure allows for career progression across multiple disciplines rather than having to travel great distances.

Advice to Management

The group needs to keep driving diversity at Board level so there are more balanced role models