Working In Recruitment

Recruitment is widely recognised as a rewarding and lucrative career option.

Recruitment Consultancies vary vastly and it is important that prior to approaching consultancies you have an idea about what kind of organisation you want to work for and why you think you would be suited to a career in recruitment.

What Will You Be Doing?
Recruitment is very much seen as a sales role and your day as a recruitment consultant will be spent 'selling' in many different ways.

Firstly as an ambassador of your company's services you will be expected to approach clients on behalf of your company and sell the services of the company. This is called a variety of things - marketing, canvassing, cold calling, or business development. One thing you should be very aware of prior to going into recruitment is that a large proportion of your time will be spent in this way - either on the telephone or face to face, and if this part of the role does not appeal to you then recruitment will not be the right career for you.

Secondly you will be required to 'sell' to your candidates (the people who come to you to find a job). Again this is in many forms - writing advertising copy, interviewing candidates, briefing them about jobs registered with you.

With both of these aspects of sales you will need to build up a rapport with the individuals concerned and forge a business relationship. Communication skills, particularly listening skills are key. Subtlety and the ability to empathise with the needs of your clients and candidates make the difference between a successful and a not so successful consultant.

Hard Work
Nobody ever got rich working from nine to five, and if you want the rewards that recruitment has to offer you have to be prepared to work for them. This can often mean early starts and late finishes, working through lunch and being prepared to go the extra mile to meet the needs of your clients and candidates. Recruitment is a highly competitive industry and you need to put in the hours to stand out from the crowd.

Day to Day
Words used to describe a successful recruitment consultant

Good communicator & listener
Target driven
Lateral thinker
Solution finder
People person
Think on feet
Relationship builder
Hard worker
Sales person
Diplomatic
Persuasive
Organised
Efficient
Assertive
Tenacious
Flexible
Innovative
Team player
Straightforward
Down to earth
Depending on the organisation you work for, what is expected of you on a day-to-day basis will vary.

Most organisations will require you to work within a team and to be set individual and team targets. The attainment of these targets will form the structure of your working day.

You will be expected to make calls to clients to win business, once you have this business (jobs to work on) you will need to source candidates by advertising, using the existing database of candidates and asking existing candidates for recommendations.

These candidates then need to be interviewed by you to ascertain their suitability for the role and submitted to the client. You will very often have to advise candidates on the content/layout of their cv, their interview technique and their face-to-face presentation skills.

Often you will need to 'sell' the attributes of a particular candidate to a client, and then book the candidate in for interview.

The candidate will need to be briefed carefully prior to the interview, and feedback gained after the interview from both client and candidate.

From this point offers may be made, salaries, contracts and terms negotiated.

If the candidate is being offered a permanent role, you may have to advise them on the best way to handle their resignation and sort out a start date with them.

Sounds straightforward doesn't it?! Remember - these are people that you are dealing with and people are the most difficult product to sell as they have a tendency to change their minds part way through the process, withhold information and take advice from sources other than you! In order to deal with this 'product' you will need to have great communication skills, and put the client and candidate at ease. You will need to balance the needs and priorities of the candidates and the clients, plus think about where your fee is coming from. You need to have a good balance of commercial, professional and people skills.