Founder of Archer IT Malta - Josh Linton

Josh Linton is a founder of Archer Recruitment and has been a recruitment consultant for nearly 20 years. During that time, he was a founder of Archer Recruitment and the group has grown to over 65 people. He shares with us his and Archer Recruitments’ story.

How and why did you become a Recruitment Consultant?

I previously worked in financial services because I really liked the idea of a career in business. I found that I probably wasn’t going to excel in that area, I wasn’t numerically as strong as many in that sector and it was too removed from talking to people and the cut and thrust of day-to-day business. I guess what I mean here, is that the sales process is the essence of the business and creating a sale and positive relationships is really where business begins. I also wanted an environment where if I worked hard and continued to develop my skills, I could increase my earnings.

I fell into recruitment when I moved to Ireland. One of the most impressive recruiters I have ever worked with suggested that I would be good at it. Fortunately, she was right. I did my research and threw myself into it. I learned from the others around me and fortunately, the economy was very strong and I did well. After several years in recruitment, the economy went into a severe recession and with the support of another Archer founder, Sam Perrin, who had been a successful recruitment consultant for longer than me and had worked through another recession showed me that just because the economy had tanked that there is always demand and shortages of skills. I think that is when I was completely hooked on a career as a Recruitment Consultant. I knew that being a recruitment consultant would allow me to achieve what I wanted in my life, financial security, but when I realised that I could be successful no matter the economy, I knew it was the right career for me.

During this time, I saw client companies fail, human resource teams and onsite recruiters lose their jobs, but we pivoted. We adjusted our skills, trained more, focused on new and emerging niches and skill gaps.

Why did you start Archer Recruitment?

We felt we could build a team of people, who wanted to perform to a high standard and deliver the best service to candidates and clients. We wanted to work with people who wanted to achieve things, like to buy a house or be in control of their career. We wanted people who weren’t afraid of putting in the effort because they didn’t just want a job but they wanted to do their best, they wanted to use their entrepreneurial spirit and have a career path. We still have a burning ambition to continue to grow our recruitment consultancy to create career opportunities and to be able to share the rewards with other like-minded recruiters. On Archer’s journey so far, five people have joined us as partners and as we grow there will be more to share with great recruiters.

What are some of the challenges about being a Recruitment Consultant?

There are many great things about being a Recruitment Consultant. The things I’ve learned about client businesses and industries is really interesting. You see new sectors emerge; you meet really impressive people who understand the value of having strong people in their organisation. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet and speak with thousands of people and understand them and their career ambitions.

However, as I’m sure all experienced recruitment consultants will agree, the position involves long hours if you want to be successful. A great recruiter will do their very best to understand a company’s recruitment needs and a candidate’s needs. However, even with the best understanding and effort of presenting a positive and honest account of both the vacancy and the candidate, it may not be right for one of them. This can be disappointing but the timing isn’t always right and good recruiters understand that you have to play the long game. It is then the recruitment consultants’ job to go and find matches for both the client company and the jobseeker. This is where the time-consuming element and sometimes the unpredictable nature of agency recruitment means that you need to put in the extra time and effort to have a positive impact on a client company and jobseeker.

Having an impact on clients and candidates is challenging. We try to add more value to them and not just being a typical generalist recruitment agency. We build our knowledge in a specialist area and we provide a consultative relationship to candidates and clients. For example, how to improve the recruitment process and how to help candidates present themselves as best as they can.

What are the key skills for becoming a Recruitment Consultant?

I’ve always thought that if someone had ambition, a positive attitude and a good educational background, we could develop trainee recruitment consultants. So, we developed over 15 years a training programme of 200 modules of training spread of 2 years which will develop our people into the best recruitment consultants in the recruitment industry. We also have a programme to develop leaders and managers. We are also very happy for experienced recruitment consultants to join our organisation and benefit from our training and career paths.

Please feel free to make contact with me, if you wish to discuss your suitability for a career in recruitment. Nothing is more important to me than hiring and developing our team of recruitment consultants and future leaders.

josh.linton@archer.ie

+353 649 8501

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