Pros
I'm a couple of years into my Staffing/Recruiting career and I'm grateful and fortunate to have found Executive Alliance. Agency recruiting is tough. There's often tremendous pressure to perform and to do it quickly. EA is comparatively patient and offers a wealth of resources to help you succeed. Taking advantage of those resources, deploying them effectively, and engaging in the necessary behaviors to create success is up to you. With no real geographic restrictions, you can build your desk as you see fit provided that you respect the others' clients. The splits that I've been invited to work on have been viable and successful. Leadership is engaged, helpful, and will shoot you straight. There's no phony smiling or empty platitudes. Every criticism that I've received is valid and designed to help me focus on the things that I need to work on.
Cons
Same as any agency. It's a heavy lift at the beginning and it takes time to build a sustainable revenue stream. Results are often weeks or months away from the efforts that first went into them, so continuous effort and patience is key. There are also a few downsides that come with smaller organizations, and that's to be expected.