From School Leaver to Principal Account Manager

Annabel's Story

"I wasn't applying with the mindset of finding a career. But then I spoke with Jo, and that was the lightbulb moment."

Who is Annabel? 

Annabel joined QCS Staffing straight from school, at a point in her life when her plan was to take a year out, travel and eventually figure out university. Today, she’s one of our Principal Account Managers who spends the majority of her time meeting hiring managers, managing contractor relationships and qualifying new roles. She's living proof that a career in specialist recruitment isn't always something you plan for. Sometimes it finds you.

Where she started 

Annabel had just finished school when she began mass-applying for jobs, not with any particular goal in mind, just something to fill the gap before her travels. Recruitment wasn't on her radar. She had no corporate experience, no real idea of what to expect from a professional environment, and she certainly wasn't thinking long-term. Then she came in for an interview at QCS. "It was when I spoke with Jo, and she explained the role and the opportunity at QCS. That was the lightbulb moment," Annabel recalls. "I instantly changed my mindset. I scrapped the whole travelling idea and thought: I want to give this 100%."

The journey 

Annabel joined alongside a cohort of eight or nine others, all roughly the same age, most of them between 18 and 20. The first week was a whirlwind of inductions and introductions, and she admits she spent much of it frantically taking notes, convinced she had to absorb everything immediately.

What she didn't realise at the time was that QCS's structured training programme, the Fast Track to Delivery, was designed to revisit and reinforce everything over the first three to six months. The pressure she felt to retain it all at once? It wasn't necessary. "I think I just had to desperately take notes for everything," she laughs. "But actually, you learn it when you're sat around the people who do the job."

Her cohort became a support network. A group of people all navigating the same learning curve, who could be honest with each other about what was hard and what was clicking.

The moment she knew

"When I got to six months and I'd beaten the others on deals, I thought: I can actually do this."

Annabel is refreshingly candid about what drove her early on: competitiveness. At the six-month mark, she'd hit her targets and outperformed the colleagues who'd started alongside her. That was the moment doubt gave way to confidence.

When it got hard 

Like anyone in recruitment, Annabel had her difficult patches. She's matter-of-fact about it: the role is a rollercoaster, and you have to learn to take the losses alongside the wins. What got her through it was a shift in mindset. She came to realise that the targets she'd been given weren't arbitrary. They were based on industry ratios and evidence of what it takes to succeed. Once she accepted that consistency in her outputs would eventually produce results, the rewards started to follow.

"As long as I'm consistent with the output, the rewards will come," she says. "Some just take longer than others."

Who helped along the way

Annabel is quick to credit the people around her. Her first manager, was a standout: supportive, hands-on, and genuinely invested in Annabel's development. Lauren Potter, was the delivery manager at the time and was equally involved. And of course the trainers were central to delivering a Fast Track to Delivery programme that Annabel describes as genuinely strong.

But she also points to something less formal: the cohort itself. Having a group of people all going through the same experience, who could ask each other whether they were finding it difficult too, that peer support was invaluable.

Where she is now 

Today, Annabel is one of our Principal Account Managers, spending around 85% of her time in client-facing activity. That might mean introducing QCS to new hiring managers, conducting contractor check-ins, managing exemptions or qualifying new roles and booking interviews. Her world is built around relationships and conversations, which, it turns out, she's rather good at.

Her advise 

"You've got nothing to lose. Apply for the job. Come to the interview. At that age, the opportunity is right in front of you."

Annabel's message to anyone considering making the same leap is simple: don't let uncertainty stop you from applying. A job advert can only tell you so much. It's not until you actually speak to someone at QCS that you understand what the role and the culture really feel like.

And even if recruitment isn't where you end up long-term, the skills you develop are valuable wherever you go next. Sales training, communication, resilience, relationship-building. These things travel with you.

"Look at it as an opportunity that's right in front of you," she says. "You can grow as an individual, develop skills that will be valuable no matter what you do next. Just try it."