November is National Career Development Month, encouraging professionals to celebrate their own career development and focus on their future career choices. To celebrate, we have produced a ‘Creating Careers’ series, in which we interview members of the team about their career development, personal successes, and highlights of their career so far at CrimsonXT. In this interview, we talk with Connor Farley – Business Development Manager of the Automation team. Connor joined CrimsonXT as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant in May 2021, and since then, has been promoted 5 times! He is now a Business Development Manager and is known widely across his industry for his recruitment expertise.

 

Connor, what was it that initially made you want to work in the recruitment industry?

Like a lot of people, I just fell into recruitment. I had absolutely no idea of the career path it could take me down, and I wasn’t aware of how much you could progress in such a short amount of time. I just knew it had good earning potential, so I followed that!

 

Why do you think you’ve been so successful in your time at CrimsonXT?

I can proudly say I work really hard for my success. Where I can, I use my flexible time to go the extra mile. I put in extra effort to be available for my clients and candidates, and ultimately, I’m truly passionate about what I do.

I thoroughly understand my market because my team and I have taken the time to delve into the ins and outs of the automation industry. This means that I’m now seeing clients come to me because they trust my expertise, and that’s because I’m so passionate about my job! I genuinely care about the work I do, and with a passion, work ethic and a company that gives you the platform to work hard and get that success – I think there’s no doubt you can do well.

 

You’ve recently been promoted to Business Development Manager, congratulations! What are your plans in this new role?

I plan to keep on growing the division by bringing in new and exciting business. Going forward, my focus will be to bring on new accounts and expand our client base. I’m also wanting to spend some of my time coaching and training my peers, and ultimately growing my own team.

 

Do you find your environment supportive of your career, and how important do you think that is for career growth?

I think it’s massively important! To be successful yourself, you need to be in an environment where people want to succeed themselves, but also want you to succeed. Recruitment can be an emotional rollercoaster, so you need to have that great training environment around you – managers, directors and coaches that push you to further your potential and work with you to understand your goals and targets to achieve them, which is something we are really passionate about here.

 

What are your future goals and ambitions?

My own goals are to continue achieving my targets and working my way up to director level eventually! I’m keen to focus more on the strategy of the business and bring in my own ideas and be involved with the overall growth of CrimsonXT. I like to focus on a year at a time, and I’ve successfully hit all my targets this year, so now it’s onto the next challenge!

 

What are your personal highlights from your time here?

Earlier this year, I hit the company skiing incentive targets, so flew to Chamonix, France with a few of my colleagues – which was incredible! In October, my director and I flew to New York, as I was invited to deliver a presentation on EVPs and why they’re important for businesses – this was an amazing experience.

My first promotion was also a huge highlight of mine – it was a great milestone to hit so early on in my time here, and since then it’s been such fantastic growth for both me and the team.

 

You are known widely across your industry – do you think relationship building helps you to develop personally?  

Definitely. I like to see myself as a trusted recruitment partner. I’m able to build relationships throughout my network and be seen as an expert in my industry, which is something I’m keen to promote. The recruitment industry and the automation industry are both really crowded, so having a recognised brand is fundamental to me and my work.

 

What have you found the most difficult during your time of growth?

My first 6 months in this role were probably my most difficult. I wasn’t well known within my industry, and I started CrimsonXT as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant in a really busy industry. Since then, I’ve progressed massively in terms of my industry knowledge, and I’m known widely across the industry. We’ve also grown from a team of 2 to a team of 7 this year, so things have really developed.

 

What are you most proud of?

At one of our end of quarter presentations, I was awarded the ‘Impact Award’ because of my quick success – I had billed every month for 12 months since I started at CrimsonXT – this was something no one else in CrimsonXT had done before, so I was proud of the hard work that went into that. I’m also the only individual within the company to be promoted 5 times in one year – that’s a fantastic achievement for me!

 

And finally, what advice would you give to anyone looking to develop in their career? 

I would say work very hard in your first 6 months, and then everything else will fall into place. In your first 6 months, don’t focus just on billing – obviously, if you can smash these out as well then that’s great, but make sure to enjoy the little wins! Once you bill, it’s just straight onto the next billing target – so make sure you enjoy the small successes as well.

I’d also say do not check your emails at home! This is so easy to do in recruitment and I am probably one of the worst for it… but make sure you have that work-life balance.

 

Are you looking for an exciting new career opportunity within recruitment? We have a variety of opportunities across our automation, energy, and built environment sectors. Email your CV over to info@crimsonxt.com to find out more!