Recruitment Consultants

Recruitment/employment agency consultants are responsible for finding permanent and temporary work for candidates, and helping organisations fill their job vacancies.
The role is very varied, and may include:
meetings to discuss targets and jobs to work on
cold calling and canvassing a geographical area to find new jobs to fill
making contact with clients to confirm requirements and update on progress
writing job advertisements, and finding and interviewing suitable candidates
providing interview feedback and possibly making a job offer
obtaining candidate and client feedback on the recruitment process.
Recruitment consultants tend to work long hours, Monday to Friday. They often have to interview and call potential candidates outside of core business hours. The role is split between the office and going on client visits.
Recruitment consultants may be paid a basic salary of between £14,000 and £50,000 a year, or more. Performance related bonuses are normally paid on top of these figures.
A recruitment/employment agency consultant should:
have excellent interpersonal and communication skills
be a good negotiator
be able to work on their own initiative
be resilient
be interested in sales and providing a quality customer service.
Nearly 100,000 people work in recruitment. Opportunities with national, regional and small, independent recruitment consultancies exist throughout the UK. Agencies may specialise in recruitment for particular employment sectors, for example law, accountancy, secretarial work or nursing.
There are no formal entry requirements, although employers are likely to ask for five GCSEs/S grades (A-C/1-3), including English and maths. Many recruitment agencies have graduate entry programmes. Most degree subjects are acceptable. Candidates with experience of working in human resources, sales or customer services, or within the employment sector they are interested in recruiting for, may be at an advantage.
Training is typically a combination of on-the-job and more formal training. Consultancies usually provide a structured sales training programme covering topics such as communication skills, negotiating, CV writing, interview techniques and presentation skills. Nationally recognised industry qualifications are also available from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
Career progression is based on sales results, managerial potential and experience. Promotion is normally from trainee or junior level to consultant, then senior or executive consultant and office or branch manager