“I use Listen Recruitment as my first choice agency.”
Caroline Tilley, Commercial Development Manager, Pertemps
Recruitment Consultants
Download the PDFThe UK’s recruitment market is worth £24.8bn. It is a dynamic industry that provides over 80,000 people with challenging, financially rewarding careers. In the last decade employment levels have increased as organisations are recruiting more and more to cope with their work load demands, however, fewer high quality people have been coming into the workforce, resulting in an incredibly candidate driven market providing you with so many exciting options in virtually all employment sectors.
The Role of a Recruitment Consultant
A recruitment consultant matches people seeking temporary or permanent jobs to employers with suitable vacancies. No two days are ever the same as you will be responsible for managing your own portfolio of clients and candidates and this might mean building up your portfolio from scratch through attracting business. You will do this by using various sales techniques such as telephone sales, meeting clients face to face and sending out marketing material. You must be confident in your abilities to win new business through your confident, professional approach with all levels of personnel.
Recruitment Consultants are also required to attract candidates through various sources such as advertising using a wide range of media, attending recruitment events, networking and head hunting. You will be responsible for interviewing your candidates to assess their suitability for your client’s vacancies. Should you get the match right and you make a successful placement the sense of achievement and financial reward makes this industry even more exciting.
Day to Day Activities
- Business developing new and existing employers, sometimes in person but, more likely, by telephone, to establish their precise recruitment requirements
- Attending recruitment fairs and other exhibitions or business events to expand the client base and develop new business
- Writing detailed job specifications based on the client's brief
- Negotiating and agreeing terms and conditions or pay and charge rates
- Writing and strategically placing advertisements to attract appropriately qualified candidates
- Reviewing applications, interviewing and assessing candidates and short-listing for interview according to the employer's expressed criteria
- Taking up references and completing criminal checks (if applicable)
- Making arrangements for candidates to be interviewed and preparing the candidates for interview
- Obtaining feedback from clients and candidates on performance at interviews
- Putting job offer details to candidates and taking them through handing in their notice and any potential counter offer problems
- Making service review calls to clients and candidates where placements have been made
Character of a Recruitment Consultant
The recruitment industry generally welcomes candidates from a range of educational backgrounds as it’s more about your drive and determination to succeed through good, old fashioned hard work. A career background in either field or telephone sales would be useful but is not essential as a lot of employers have excellent career development programmes.
To succeed in recruitment you will need to be exceptionally motivated. You must be able to work under pressure, have the ability to prioritise your time and be able to adapt quickly to change. You will be a team player who also has the ability to work under your own steam. The culture of the job is hard working, commercially driven and target focussed. Consequently long working hours are common and can involve working some weekends or evenings.
Salaries and Rewards
Basic salaries are variable from one company to the next, however, most Recruitment Consultants may significantly enhanced their earnings by being awarded bonuses for meeting their revenue targets. As with many sales and target driven occupations, a range of other incentives and benefits are common such as cars allowances or company car, pensions, share schemes and performance related competitions with attractive prizes.
We hope that you have found this information useful. Should you be thinking about finding yourself a new job or just looking for some market advice please do not hesitate to contact one of our consultants or telephone 01530 263902.