A lot of people have "heard" that you can make a lot of money by being a recruiter, however there are some personal downsides to the industry which have a more personal perspective. If you decide to enter the employment / recruitment field, here is what you are bound to see - especially in this economy. Note: they are all sad.

1. People who will never get in this country but they work harder than most Americans - regardless of what your political views are (mine are quite conservative and feel that more foreign professionals at this unemployment rate cannot be tolerated), when you see the work foreign professionals put in to gain entrance to this country is quite astonishing.

These hopeful Americans have learned to speak multiple languages, have skills which range from marketing to sales to all types of programming. These are skills which 99% of Americans do not have. However, and I agree with this to an extent, no company will take the risk of bringing in somebody from Southeast Asia.

2. Having people towards the end of their career who are trying to get back into the work market - this can often be hard to watch as many professionals towards the end of their career have a very tough time getting a job. Additionally, these individuals have lost a lot in the stock market and, although I wish I could do something about it, there is little to no market demand to hire these individuals. This administration is in for quite an eye-opener when they truly realize the extent of this economy and the extent that older professionals have been hurt by it.

3. Having to tell people that they did not get the job after all the work that they did - to get a senior or executive level job these days, not only is it competitive, but there is a lot of work involved. It is very hard to inform somebody that they did not get a job after hours upon hours of interview preparation, interview presentations and multiple meetings both phone and in-person.

4. Desperation calls and emails - we cannot take these calls and often recognize the name behind the emails, however it is not pleasant to see. Some people will call and email recruiting firms every week and, although there is nothing we can do, it is sad to see as the unemployment rate is not providing any assistance to them. Also, these all too frequent and somewhat bothersome contact methods don't get them far, but you can't help feeling sorry for these individuals.

5. Companies taking advantage of the bad economy and not wanting to pay proper compensation - recruiters get calls all the time from companies who want free sales representatives. Personally, I am very turned off by this. Nobody should exploit the labor of others. It also says something as to their character.