PageGroup Reviews

Pros

Michael Page offers great training and development, it can take your career in a number of different directions and to a number of different locations. The Dublin office is small and unique in that you can focus on billing and making bonus! You also have the creative license to take on temp and perm and choose your industries within your discipline across the Island of Ireland. We have great craic as a team and celebrate success with breakfast clubs, dinners/drinks and loads of internal incentives to ensure the sales environment is motivating and rewarding.

Cons

Recruitment is not for everyone - we are a sales company so you do have to have a sales mentality. Page Group will support where necessary, around training and development but if you are not motivated or energised by making money and business development then the job is not for you.

Pros

depending on the manager; you have a great team young environment work hard play hard

Cons

sometimes you hear about managers sexually harassing the employees

Pros

The PG Dublin office is growing and there are lots of opportunities for you to take control of your own destiny. There is also lots of experience in the room and everyone shares similar goals. Anyone capable of managing their own time while getting results is given great autonomy and flexibility. The training is recognised as some of the best in the industry and you get lots of exposure to the wider business outside of Ireland. The organic culture means that you can progress based on revenue targets regardless of your age/hours worked etc. Depending on an individuals preference there are opportunities to manage people or become a senior individual revenue contributor and focus on your personal ambitions (bonuses, responsibility etc). As a multinational business, there are many examples of successful recruiters joining other PG offices around the world. At least a third of the current team have international recruitment experience.

Cons

Similar to other businesses within the industry, the team work long hours. However, the model is focused on results/output and there are plenty of employees who manage their time effectively to ensure a healthy balance of work and family time.

Pros

The ability to move internationally, good incentives

Cons

Staff have recently been asked to write reviews on Glassdoor, hence the flurry of recent reviews in the past few weeks, this is due to the office experiencing 40% staff turnover within the last 6 weeks. The office does employ good consultants who are passionate about their work but poor management eventually destroys this and forces good consultants out of the business. There are serious ethical and possibly fraudulent activities occurring in the office, this is an open secret with several layers of management aware and complicit in what is happening. On a monthly basis there are fake placements created so as to give the appearance that they are hitting target, these fake placements are cancelled and reissued repeatedly for months on end, the instigators and worst offenders are the people that are meant to be giving the office direction. Surely receiving commission on the back of fake placements is fraudulent? Is this standard practice for a PLC that reports its financial performance to investors and the markets. Over the years there has been a steady stream of good consultants who have been conned into joining the office and have subsequently left after a relatively short period of time, they either leave or sacrifice their principles.

Pros

I am struggling to think of anything positive... Working here would probably make you more reticent and resilient

Cons

- no work life balance, it's like you have to sell your soul and live and breathe the place - work hours are minimum 8.30-6.30... I followed these hours and think it was frowned upon that I wasn't coming in earlier and staying later - you are expected to not take lunch - it's all about the aggressive hard sell and highly unethical selling to clients/candidates - suits grads who have never worked anywhere else - terrible database and hardly any candidates. You can't use their system for searches - it's woeful. - it's all about cold calling and cold calling the same person again and again. Your phone time is completely monitored - you are supposed to be on the phone minimum of four hours a day!!!! It's pointless and you are annoying people - just general awful culture, it's like a pressure cooking. You will succeed if you have no shame, don't mind applying questionable sales techniques, don't mind working like a dog and giving you life up to them - the bonus system.... The pooled bonus system is very ambiguous... For all the hours and stress and micro management the bonuses aren't great

Pros

I love working for PageGroup and have done for the past seven years! One of PageGroup’s main strengths is its people, who create a fun environment in which to work, all working towards a common goal and continually driving the business forward. It is refreshing to work for a company which has introduced so many exciting initiatives over the past few years which create a diverse, dynamic and extremely supportive working environment for everyone. PageGroup offers flexibility allowing you to achieve a successful work / life balance.

Cons

Not surprisingly, working in this industry can be very stressful and the hours are long at times, but hard work is always acknowledged and appreciated.

Pros

Michael Page Ireland has a strong experienced team. The existing team highlights the meritocratic culture and opportunities to grow within. Great training for anyone seeking a long term career in sales. Office has central location, which is great for building a network with clients and candidates

Cons

Long work days but there is more flexibility when hitting targets. Bonuses are not guaranteed

Pros

Atmosphere; Team; Management; Ability to learn and progress; I've worked for other agencies during my 8 years in recruitment and while it's not all perfect, it's pretty good. MP Ireland is a different animal from their other offices; they carry a huge brand from a global perspective but we're very much a boutique agency in Ireland. The office is small in numbers but loud in presence and they compete at the highest level. There's no micro-management from the senior figures and there are no egos to compete with. The hours are the hours - the expectation is that you do what it takes to achieve what the company asks of you; if you're not asking more of yourself then is recruitment / sales in any office really where you should be? The management team are hugely flexible and accommodating as long as the work is being put in.

Cons

The bonus scheme is exactly that - it's a performance related bonus with a threshold in place and it's paid quarterly but not guaranteed. Management will always make sure you're looked after but you get out what you put in. If you've worked at other agencies that operate on a traditional monthly commission scheme and you've been able to calculate your own earnings then you may find it a real challenge to see the benefit in moving to a quarterly bonus. The basic salary should reflect the market - if candidates salaries are increasing because the cost of living is increasing, then an employee of MP shouldn't have to wait for promotion to have a base salary increase - I do not believe this to be unique to MP, more a trait that's indicative to the recruitment world.

Pros

If your good, there is fantastic career advancement opportunities They are still growing and promote organic growth from within Fantastic training and life experience, you are essentially running your own desk which you are wholly responsible for No commission, quarterly bonuses

Cons

Expectation is very high. Stressful, long working hours. Bonus can be calculated questionably at times. Fully responsible for your own market

Pros

Good workplace atmosphere, decent respectful colleagues who know their markets and operated in a professional and ethical capacity and still have good fun doing so. Decent remuneration and very good benefits package. Company good at investing in its people by way of training, support and promoting its people in Ireland and internationally.

Cons

Working hours a little bit longer than competitors but still the company allows good flexibility when you might need to finish up earlier every now and then.