In Conversation With Dan Nightingale

Daniel Nightingale joined the Understanding Recruitment team in early 2016 as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant. Since then, he has gone on to achieve promotion after promotion and now heads up the Digital specialist team within our Not-For-Profit Division.

Having started a family a couple of years ago, Dan made the move to working from home long before the global pandemic made it a necessity. 

We caught up with him about how he's found the last five years in recruitment and how UR helped him balance work and home life!

What was your career journey before joining UR?

I came into recruitment quite late. After getting my degree in Sports Therapy, I went out into the world ready to cure the world of hamstring strains and tight calves! However, I found it was too much of a slow burner and became more of a side hobby. I still have clients I work with now and I work with a Semi-Professional Football club. I moved into the crazy world of eco-friendly app-based taxi services and worked my way up to Assistant Manager. Soon enough, I got a call from Understanding Recruitment and have never looked back!

Why did you choose a career in Recruitment?

I feel like recruitment utilises the best parts of my personality and skillset. I love talking with people and taking an interest in their lives, but I can also identify an opportunity when it presents itself. There is nothing better than the satisfaction you get when you find a candidate their perfect role.

What do you like best about working for Understanding Recruitment?

It sounds cliché, I have learnt from friends and co-workers that have worked in other recruitment companies, that UR is not your average agency. While we have KPI’s and targets like other agencies, the most important thing is us as the consultants. You have the ability to plan your career and almost build your own business within the business… this really drew me in.

How would you describe the culture at Understanding Recruitment?

In a word, excellent. They are constantly looking for ways to improve, either from a social perspective or from a work satisfaction point of view. For example, consultants mooted the potential of having more holiday and after some research and planning from the directors, we now enjoy unlimited holidays!

What would your advice be to your younger self?

For me personally, it would be “don’t worry about getting it right the first time”. This is true for me as a daily reminder, but also in relation to my career. Although I moved into recruitment ‘late’, it is genuinely the perfect role for me. So, although I didn’t get my career right the first time – I’m loving life now!

What have you been able to do by working from home that you couldn’t have working in the office?

In 2019, we welcomed a little baby boy into the world! Working from home has enabled me to be part of such important parts of his life that I would have missed had I been in the office. Crawling, first words, first steps – I was there for them all. It has also ignited a passion for getting out and exercising. It is so important to get away from your desk and it’s something I didn’t appreciate enough before.

Do you feel like Understanding Recruitment enables you to balance work with home life?

Absolutely. I was working from home for a long time before it was cool! My circumstances changed considerably in 2018 when I moved about 90 minutes away from the office. The directors were amazing and asked me what I would need to be able to continue working with UR and accommodated me effortlessly.

What advice would you give to people looking to move into recruitment?

Do your homework into the organisation – there are some real horror stories out there and agencies will try and tempt you with £100000000’s. That sort of money is certainly achievable and I have experienced first-hand how getting recruitment right can change your life financially, but I have only been able to do this because of the nurturing I’ve received from Understanding Recruitment (I promise they didn’t pay me to say that!).