Having spent a large chunk of her childhood in the US, Hitomi always wanted a career where she would be able to put her English skills to use.

“After graduating from university, I started to work as a sales rep at an English school. I sold courses and helped students through their trial lessons. It was a great but also tough experience. From sales and customer service to administrative tasks I had to manage everything by myself. That’s why I decided to look for a new challenge after 4 years in the job.”

Instead of moving to another language school, Hitomi wanted to do something completely different. But what?

“I had no clear image of where I wanted to go next. I just knew that English would be a big part of it. Of course, in my previous job I could use my language skills but not in a real business context.

So, I talked with a recruiter and he suggested a career in recruiting.

Back then I didn’t know anything about the industry. The recruiter just said I would be able to work with many different people, speak English and earn more money than in my previous job. I thought that sounded like a great deal (laughs).

Unfortunately, my first experience in the industry was rather ambiguous. I joined the Finance & Accounting division of an international recruiting agency. My manager was a fantastic recruiter – experienced and smart, but unfortunately a workaholic, too. She worked every day until past 10pm. I couldn’t keep up with her. I also thought that a little bit of free time to go out with friends would be a nice to have (laughs). So, I started to look for another opportunity.”

That’s when a friend introduced Boyd & Moore Executive Search (BMES) to Hitomi. At that time BMES happened to look for a Japanese speaking individual for their growing Onsite Hiring Management division.

“I had never heard of Onsite Hiring Consulting but I was curious to learn more.

I talked with friends who were working at BMES about the company and met with the hiring manager to get a better understanding of the job. I learned that the role would not focus on headhunting but building long-term client relationships and improving internal processes. It sounded very different from what I had done so far.

When going through the application process, I got a very positive impression of the company. Everybody I talked to seemed genuinely happy to be at BMES which is always a good sign. So, I was excited to give it a try.”

In December 2016, Hitomi joined the BMES Onsite Hiring Management team. At the beginning, she supported consultants who were already working at the clients’ site source candidates.

“It was a great opportunity to talk to many different people and get insights into the hiring processes of various industries. I worked with manufacturing, luxury cards and sport streaming accounts. I also got the chance to visit client offices to see if I would be comfortable to go on-site eventually.

Then in February, I made my first placement. It felt pretty good and came much quicker than I expected.”

The same month, Hitomi moved onsite. For a while, she focused on sourcing candidates but soon her area of responsibility expanded. The Consultant who managed the account had become sick and it was on Hitomi to jump in. The client was one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Japan which meant managing many open positions and internal processes at once.

“At first I felt intimidated. I was – and still am – the youngest consultant in the client office. And, I had never worked in tech before. But then I remembered my previous recruitment experience where I had learned to handle Finance & Accounting roles although I hadn’t had previous experience in F&A either. I just needed to learn more about the industry and client and I’d be fine (laughs).

In addition, things were a bit all over the place. Processes and stakeholders weren’t aligned. So, we started to sort things out. We built a brand-new team and implemented proper procedures. For a while I felt that I didn’t know what I was doing but then all of a sudden everything fell into place nicely: Everybody was on the same page, we were all working towards the same goal and we could see results coming in. It was a great feeling.”

Besides helping clients improve their processes and learning about hiring on the ground, Hitomi sees other advantages of the job as well.

“Working each week in two different offices – at the client’s side and BMES – is very refreshing. And, I can enjoy the benefits of both environments like free food (laughs).

But, the most rewarding part of my job is seeing the happy faces of the candidates we place. The client I am working with right now is hiring engineers from all over the world. Many of them come from far away. It’s a huge step for them to leave their home country and take on a new job in Japan. I always take them for lunch during their first days at work. It’s great to see them being excited about the new job, the company and Japan.

As a Consultant you normally don’t get to see your candidates in the job after you’ve placed them. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get real-time feedback and build even stronger relationships.”

Hitomi feels that building relationships will continue to be a crucial part of her responsibility.

“Right now, the client I am working with is rethinking our scope of work. Instead of doing direct sourcing, our new mission is to become a bridge between hiring managers and candidates in order to provide better experiences throughout the process.

Making sure that all managers know me and trust me to take care of their hiring will be my most important task for the future.”

The BMES Onsite Hiring Management team is looking for people who’d be excited to work on improving processes and hiring results together clients. If you’re interested check out our open positions.