Recruiting in San Francisco

Eric Soni went from working in human capital consulting to working in recruitment at Robert Walters. Find out why he wanted to make a career change and what he loves about his new role in our San Francisco office.

How did you find out about Robert Walters?

“I had previously worked as an analyst in a consulting firm but after a few years decided I wanted to move into a role that was more client focused and relationship driven. A classmate of mine from university posted about a job at Robert Walters so I decided to reach out to her to find out more.

What interested you in the role?

It seemed like the people who had started the office in San Francisco had had great success in the other international offices they had worked in. For example, our San Francisco MD, Simon Bromwell, had relocated from the Tokyo office and during his time there, saw the office grow from 20 to 200 people. Robert Walters also seemed like an extremely professional organisation, where there was more of a consultative approach to recruitment, rather than a ‘hard sell’ mentality.

How has your career progressed since you joined?

I started at entry level so was very fresh and had to learn certain things from scratch. With the support of my manager, I learned how to be more client focused and gained confidence in the influencing process. I worked hard and was soon promoted from consultant to senior consultant. Last year, I was promoted to manager of the product management and growth division.

How would you describe the culture in the San Francisco office?

The office is cheerful and positive as you’d expect in California. It’s a very open, inclusive and diverse environment - we have lots of different nationalities here. Our people have a good sense of humour and are quite quirky - everyone brings a lot of energy, without it feeling like an overly ‘salesy’ office. I would say it’s very reflective of the San Francisco tech market in that it’s a little more informal. While it’s a highly professional consultancy we tend to be similar to the start-ups we support in that we don’t wear suits and we work very collaboratively.

Why Robert Walters?

The market we recruit for is extremely unique. With all the venture backed start-ups in the Bay Area, the potential pool of companies you can work with is probably in the tens of thousands - it’s a very fast-paced and dynamic market. It’s also a market where you can make a huge impact on the companies you’re working with. If you have a start-up with a maximum of 20 people, a new hire is going to have a massive impact on that organisation. So, it feels like we’re not just managing a process, but that we’re part of that company’s success.

It’s also a role where you have direct access to CEOs, venture capitalists and business heads. Every day I speak to someone who is C-suite level, which is pretty inspiring.

What do you enjoy most about working here?

It’s clichéd to say, but one of the best things about working here is the people. I also really like how we’re starting to develop a reputation as a different type of recruiter in this market. I have clients tell me all the time that they’ve never had a recruitment experience like they’ve had with us. We take the time to build relationships and that’s what sets us apart. And we’re seeing the benefits of this approach in the increase of clients we now get from referrals.”

It’s a role where you have direct access to CEOs, venture capitalists and business heads. Every day I speak to someone who is C-suite level, which is pretty inspiring.

Interested in working for a dynamic, international recruitment firm in San Francisco? Send an up to date CV to Liz Boston at liz.boston@robertwalters.com or call +44 (0) 20 7379 3333.

Read how MD, Simon Bromwell made the move from Tokyo to California to launch our office in San Francisco.