A recruiter at Nigel Frank describes becoming a top performer in EMEA by age 27 through long hours, competitive drive, and listening to Think and Grow Rich. He credits strong workplace culture and financial incentives, and notes he was hired without a degree in a role that typically hired 1 out of 10 candidates.
Think and Grow Rich
Around 27–28 years old
They would normally interview 10 and hire 1
Nigel Frank
You became a manager leader and by the time you left, you was a manager. Why did James become a leader in that organization at Nigel Frank?
It was a good culture. I mean they really nailed the culture back then. So it was like occult as it were, but you were literally like, you were just absorbed into what they do there. And I don't know, I think it was just a case. I think I was like top three villa for emea, like and I was just really driven. It was great wearing a suit, feeling special in that city and yeah, I suppose like hard work, like not gonna lie, like you were in seven, I was in seven, eight o' clock and I was leaving at seven, seven, eight o' clock at night. So you put a lot of time and effort into it for sure. And so it's not for the faint hearted back then, but you did get rewarded well. Like they paid well, they looked after the good employees. You got great incentives. So back then, like at any one age, 27, 28, it was probably the best job you could ever get in the northeast of England for sure. There wasn't many others that were earning more what you could earn as a recruiter.
Anything else you think that really contributed or enabled you to be in that top three spot? Do you think that?
I would probably just say mindset. So that's when I started getting into a bit of personal development. Listening to podcasts on the way to work. One of the first audiobooks I listened to was Think and Grow Rich. Why? Because I think it was just a case of like I was, I just wanted to be the best. So. And I think I had a group of like friends within there that were all at a similar level. So we always battling and we used to have little bets on who would be the top biller for the month. Have fun across the office. And I was always like ego driven and obviously competitive for my nature with football. Like I wanted to win. So it's always about being the best who build the most. I love the pressure on my shoulders, just like people do in football. I would always be the one that wanted to step up, take the final minute penalty and all of that type of stuff you can translate into recruitment. And I think that's probably what came out was the fact of my inner competitiveness to win and to always keep improving. Like always being like you say, the best version of myself. Like I wanted to give everything. So there's no like tip, trick or hack. Like it is just, it is mindset. And yeah, being able to, because there was hard workers like, even in that agency, there's harder workers than me, but you've got to be street smart. I think I was lucky that I had the buying and selling of cars experience, my own business, that was different, because I was probably one of the only people back then that they hired without a degree. So we're very, very picky. And they would normally interview 10 and hire one. And literally, if you had no degree, the chances of you getting hired were very, very slim. So back then I knew I had a point to prove. And like, I saw against all of these people that were sort of elite or they've had a degree and everything else, like, I had a point to prove, and I think that's what worked for me.
