I’ve worked in recruitment more or less my whole working life. As with many in the recruitment sector it’s a career I hadn’t considered whilst at university but one that was attractive to me once I had left. My first job in recruitment was for Manpower, a high-street recruitment agency where I was promoted quickly to become a Branch Manager and was given a great deal of autonomy to pursue sectors and clients I was interested in. I first worked in the legal field after leaving Manpower, most importantly for the company TMP (which became Hudson). There I worked on non-client facing but senior roles for many of the UK’s major law firms. I had a career break to travel and also work overseas then returned to the UK, made a couple of less-than-optimal career choices before joining a legal recruiter to set up their Intellectual Property recruitment practice. This went very well and I realised that I enjoyed the IP sector tremendously and ultimately could do it under my own brand working for myself and growing a business. At first the business focused only on recruitment but more recently we have moved into the social media space providing advice and content to law firms.

Recruitment can be a strange job. Sometimes it can be very proactive, trying to actively find a job that fits a candidate we are working with or searching for candidates to fill a vacancy. Then sometimes it can be quite reactive, organising interviews, attending requested meetings, giving advice to clients and candidates. Managing that can sometimes be tough – staying motivated when nothing happens unless you make it happen or trying to organise an interview at the last minute (I once organised an interview whilst on a chairlift in Milan for example). It’s a job of massive highs and lows – finally placing a candidate you have been working with for months or sharing the disappointment with a candidate who you both thought would be successful in an interview then wasn’t. It can be difficult sometimes to stay objective when we have the responsibility of dealing with people making the life changing decisions which moving jobs can be. We can share in their joy but also be the target of their frustration and that can be difficult to manage personally and it’s important to know how to switch off. Recruitment for high street recruiters tend to be much more proactive, responding to fast moving client and candidate requirements. In IP it’s typically a much slower pace, and much of what we do is months in the planning and realisation.

I ended up in the IP sector rather by accident. I had a little bit of knowledge from working in the broader legal sector in both the UK and Australia but had not fully understood what the sector would be like and what it would take to be successful in it. I wouldn’t want to work in any other sector now. It’s small and can feel like a community at times, it’s very polite and broadly firms value the service that recruiters provide. It is competitive but not too much and there is, I feel, a respect between the recruitment firms in this area. Fellows and Associates has always had an international strategy and I really value our INTA membership and attendance at the Annual Meeting as well as AIPPI Congress. Being able to work across borders is arguably easier within IP and I’ve placed people in Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the United States and a wide variety of EU countries.

Part of our future is in social media. We have a very capable Head of Social Media and we feel there is real need for many firms to improve their output in this area by producing content for YouTube, building a profile on LinkedIn or thinking of creative ways to engage with potential clients. On the recruitment side, even in a small market there’s always scope for us to do more. Our ethos is an advice-led approach to recruitment, ideally working in partnership to find solutions instead of just providing CVs. For the clients that work with us the most the relationship is symbiotic. We are an outsourced service that helps to achieve strategic long-term goals not just fill a seat when someone leaves. In addition to the UK, we continue to grow our international business and we see tremendous opportunity there in coming years.

Well, there are only a handful of IP specialist recruiters across Europe so finding a job with one of us at the right time may be difficult but I would encourage an interest in the recruitment sector more generally. It has changed a great deal since the early days of my career but essentially it’s a job that values creative writing; problem solving; marketing and engaging with people. Knowing when to listen and when to speak and determining the right question to ask are all important factors. For those reading this who have perhaps struggled to find a career in IP but who are really interested in the client relationship side of the job, recruitment could be an interesting alternative career.

For more on Fellows and Associates visit www.fellowsandassociates.com. Pete is on LinkedIn and has also published a novel which is his side hustle but he would love you to give it a read.

Managing Director / Fellows & Associates 

Last Updated: October 30, 2024