Recruitment Consultant Role

What is the work like?
As a recruitment consultant, you would help employers to find suitable staff, and help people to find suitable jobs.

Your work may involve:

taking vacancy details from employers
‘cold calling’ companies to generate new business
interviewing and testing job seekers to build a pool of people ready to fill vacancies
matching candidates to suitable jobs
screening and shortlisting candidates before employers interview them
building good relationships with employers so that they keep using your agency
keeping in touch with job seekers on your agency’s books
meeting targets for the number of vacancies taken or the number of people placed into jobs
keeping records of clients, employers and vacancies
negotiating your agency’s fees
‘headhunting' – finding and approaching candidates for executive or specialist jobs.
You could work for various kinds of employment agency, dealing with permanent or temporary work at all levels for many industry sectors.

What qualifications and experience will employers look for?
Employers will ask for a good standard of education, but your skills and attitude are often more important than your academic qualifications.

Good sales skills and an excellent telephone manner are important, so you will find it useful to have experience in customer service, sales or marketing.

You may need relevant experience and qualifications to work in an agency that specialises in a particular industry such as IT, engineering or nursing. Agencies that deal with high-level executive jobs may also prefer you to be a graduate, although this is not always essential.

What further training and development can I do?
Once you are working for an agency, you will mainly develop your skills on the job. Some large agencies run their own structured in-house training programmes for new entrants.

Your training may include working towards the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Level 3 Certificate in Recruitment and Selection, or the following qualifications from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC):

Certificate in Recruitment Practice – aimed at people new to the recruitment industry
Diploma in Recruitment Practice – usually for recruitment consultants with at least a year’s experience
Foundation Degree and BA (Hons) degree in Recruitment Practice.
You can study for all of these qualifications by distance learning. The REC Certificate in Recruitment Practice is also available by short fast-track courses at study centres around the UK.

The Recruitment and Employment Federation and CIPD both offer a range of short courses to help you with your professional development throughout your career. See websites for more details about each organisation’s qualifications and training