Ever wondered what it’s like to be an Account Executive? Then, you’ve come to the right place!
This week’s interviewee is Seth Wexler, an Account Executive who works with our brand Anderson Frank. While he’s only been with us for three months, his previous background in IT recruitment makes him a fountain of knowledge for all things recruitment.
What does someone need to succeed in a career in recruitment?
Seth spoke about how being able to talk to people is a valuable skill and how “being a people person can help you excel in a career where communication is vital.” On this subject, he expanded: “It’s also important to respect people’s schedule and their time. You need to find a way to nurture and foster relationships but also be consistent. It’s about finding the fine line between being aggressive and being consistent with how much you contact people.”
He also gave a word of advice about the importance of patience: “You might not get business from some managers for a while, so you need to understand that it is a slow play. If you take the time to build those relationships up and get to the point where they know what you do, you can be confident that you’ll be the first one they call when they have a need.”
How can Frank Recruitment Group support you in your role?
One thing that has stood out most for Seth while working for us is the standard of leadership, specifically the trust the company has in its employees. He said: “In other companies I’ve been in before, they’re always watching you, ensuring you’re doing the right thing, whereas here, there’s a shared trust that it can take time to get results.”
Seth also praised the flexible working arrangements available for staff, allowing you to choose where you work, whether working from home or in the office.
What can recruitment offer you?
For Seth, being able to help people is his favorite part of the role. “We’re helping candidates better their lives,” he explained. “But we’re also helping companies to scale their businesses.” He discussed the growth of the companies he and his team help with daily, explaining: “A lot of these businesses are experiencing a lot of growth, using platforms like NetSuite helps them scale that growth. But, sometimes they don’t have the right tools to maintain their platform, and with our help, we guide organizations toward really scaling their business.”
“Some of these companies aren’t startups or mid-level companies. One day they’ll be Fortune 500 companies; it’s great to watch them grow.”
As mentioned earlier, Seth has experience working in recruitment before joining our team. He told us: “My background is mainly broader software and hardware contract staffing, whereas now I’m focused on NetSuite contract solutions – I like being a bit more niche. You can learn more about your market and build more long-term relationships.
“Some of these clients might not have any needs until later in the year, but you can kind of build that relationship. Some of these companies that I’ve been working with, I’ve actually used myself. So, it’s very cool to connect with some of these organizations as well.”
What does a typical working day look like?
Since starting with us, Seth’s workday has focused on building businesses and relationships. His day-to-day duties concentrate on making connections.
On this topic, he said: “Other than any meetings I have, I’ll spend time prospecting on LinkedIn, maybe adding new contacts I find, and researching new companies or new contacts or people that I’ve spoken to in the past that have slowly opened up to me.”
What can be the best parts of the role – and what can be the toughest?
Communication isn’t just essential to any role in recruitment, but for some employees, it can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
Seth shared: “The best part for me is when you are having face-to-face conversations with your managers, or managers that you’re trying to get into business with, and then getting to know a little about you, about Anderson Frank. It’s that shared understanding that we’re not looking for immediate business; we want to build relationships. Taking time to nurture that relationship means they’ll reach out to you if you stay in touch and maintain that connection, even in a competitive market.”
While communication can be a fulfilling part of the role, it can also feed into what makes the role challenging- the lack of immediate success. For Seth, this is something he has dealt with first-hand while working at Anderson Frank. “In a day, the seeds you are planting for your business might not come to fruition until later. So, you have to focus on those small wins. It’s not always going to feel like you are making tons of progress every day, but that’s just part of it—you’re building your business.”
“There’s going to be growing pains. You have to have that understanding of what your long-term goal is and how you will get there” he explains.
Seth discussed how important it is not to be disheartened when you don’t reach the personal goals you set yourself. Having a growth mindset and understanding that it does take time to build a business is crucial for anyone in the sector. “There’s a lot of potential,” he admitted. “But there’s also a lot of building up relationships, picking up the phone and reiterating what you do, how you can help and establishing if you are the right fit for them.”
What makes Frank Recruitment Group a good employer?
We pride ourselves on building a company culture at Frank Recruitment Group, which Seth himself appreciates. “Frank Recruitment Group brings a lot of European values to the United States [where he is based]. I was abroad in Barcelona for a few months, so I see many correlations in how we all work. It’s much more focused on every aspect of your life, like culture, music, food, and building relationships with your colleagues.
“Business is an important part, but it doesn’t feel like it’s everything, at least in Scottsdale, it feels like a lot of building relationships and finding a team dynamic. It’s very team-heavy here, and everybody is so nice and wants to know who you are outside of Frank Recruitment Group as well.”
What does someone looking to work in recruitment need to know?
If we have learnt anything throughout this series, patience is a virtue in the recruitment sector.
Seth noted that slow and steady is the order of the day for recruiters: “It’s not going to happen fast, especially within this kind of software. You need to consider the larger factors; there’s a lot of money to be made in these bigger markets with a lot of this software that hasn’t reached its peak yet. Take NetSuite; it’s only about 25 years old, so they’re still relatively new compared to other software. It hasn’t fully reached its peak of clients and the capabilities it can achieve.”
He continued, “If you just focus on the first sixth months to a year, you think everything must be perfect. But, in reality, a lot of things will go wrong as you’re learning how to scale your business and understanding the technologies behind it, it’s only natural.”
“I didn’t know much about NetSuite before I started here, so I’m learning a lot about the specific skill sets within the software, how it moves and how every business has a different lifecycle based on its software. No matter if you are in contract or permanent recruitment, just be patient; to give yourself the best chance of moving forward, listen to your managers and work as hard as possible.”
If you can take anything from Seth’s interview, it’s that determination and perseverance make all the difference in the recruitment sector, and that if you have the patience, you can achieve the best results.
