FOUNDER TO THE PROFILE
Ryan Green
Principal Consultant, Robert Walters
“A shut door is a missed opportunity.”
About
Ryan Green has spent 8 years in recruitment, beginning his career in the UK after deferring university and gaining early sales experience in Sydney. He started at Robert Half in an entry level role that quickly moved into financial services recruitment, placing middle and back office contractors under direct mentorship. At 20 years old he joined a smaller firm as its third hire, spending four and a half years building a team across middle office, back office, compliance and legal while taking on early leadership responsibilities. After moving to New York in September 2023, he focused on legal and compliance recruitment for buy side clients including hedge funds and quant firms before joining Robert Walters, where he is now a Principal Consultant. He also sits on the firm’s internal AI committee. Ryan credits his success to prioritizing relationships over transactional approaches.
Key Areas Of Focus
- 01. Recruitment
IN HIS OWN WORDS
The Q and A
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01
What do you attribute your success to?
I would honestly say relationships. In the modern world, where people are so stuck behind an email, or traditionally aggressive on the phone, and just focusing on the monetary aspects, all amounting to a transactional approach, I think that's so prevalent in the market that I do, but we're dealing with humans, we're dealing with emotions. I like to treat everyone as equals, regardless of whether they can give you something back immediately, because I feel like it always comes back eventually.
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02
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was that you cant help everyone, but you should always have the call. Whilst I am incredibly relationship orientated and pride myself on standing out side the box where necessary, it's possible to build relationships with those that will distract you from your own goals, that being said you never know when you might be able to support someone and them equally support you. Mutual respect is a big in what I do and from talking to so many candidates within my career from all walks of life sometimes you have to know how to manage expectations but remain respectful, as a shut door is a missed opportunity.
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03
What advice would you give to young men entering your industry?
You don't need to be the loudest person in the room to be successful. I have met many that would argue with me on this topic, but in my personal opinion to be successful you need to be able to listen first. Making noise, doesn't disrupt patterns until you have understood the needs of your clients. Recruitment is an industry that can offer exec level salaries for individuals that have never even gone to university. However, there is a reason why so many people exit in their first year. We deal with emotions, not a product and this means being able to build relationships and have the persistence to stay ahead of your industry. Listening to your peers, to your clients is what gives you the education to perform this role well. You need to aggressive to stay ahead of your competition, but you don't need to step on people to demonstrate your worth. With the right core values recruiters can work in any industry, but you need to know when to interject yourself and when to stay quiet. People buy into you and your personal brand and often don't care who you work for so whether you're on your own or part of a large agency you will always be the face of your own business.
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04
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Biggest challenge is our biggest opportunity. It’s technology. AI is going to strip out a lot of the transactional side of recruitment and a lot of recruiters are scared of that. I think it’s the best thing that could happen to the industry. If the admin gets automated, what’s left is the part that actually matters, the relationships and the judgement. The recruiters who lean into that will win.
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05
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Respect, honesty and consistency. Whether it’s a CCO or a candidate on their first job search, everyone gets the same version of me. I’d rather tell someone the truth and manage their expectations than tell them what they want to hear. Outside of work it’s the same thing, show up for people, do what you said you would, and keep pushing yourself even when nobody’s watching.
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