Is anyone employed by a staffing/recruiting company as a recruiter or business development manager? If so, can you give me some insight on the pros and cons of the position/company?

Probably just my luck dealing with them but they are basically pimps

Most staffing companies are pretty much the same. High turnover, high stress, aggressive goals/quotas, frat type environment, cultish, lots of happy Hours etc etc. However, some people really like this type of environment and flourish in it. Also, if you are good then you can make a lot of money.

There are some pros to starting out your career at a staffing agency: It will be really good training as a recruiter/sales and you will be highly marketable to other companies, if you want to transition into HR or corporate recruiting, have the personality for it. But keep in mind that the job will be really stressful and there's high burnout amongst staffing recruiters for a reason. It's a grind it out type job.

Staffing for temp/medical is REALLY tough and generally fairly cutthroat. I was lucky enough to get into an executive search firm out of school and it's basically a completely different industry.

I would make sure you really understand what the job is and what they are trying to measure. If you're doing entry level/mid career work, it can be fruitful but it's a total grind. There are some very talented people in the industry, but you also have some really bad apples that are more used car dealers than anything. (If they overly emphasize that they work hard/play hard as their pitch, I would be very careful)

I work for one of the great ones in Dallas. I know that it's great because I've seen the grass on the other side. What I do is pretty niche, specializing in engineering (mechanical, electrical, hardware/software). Just really do your research on companies.

I manage a team of recruiters for one of the big (biggest actually) staffing agencies in the world. My sentiments are the same as above. It can be tough, but if you get in with a great team, it can be really enjoyable. If you'd like to chat, shoot me an email ... username @sbcglobal.net