The Job and What it Involves
A recruitment consultant is involved in attracting candidates and matching them to jobs in client companies in temporary or permanent positions. These jobs can vary from entry-level roles to directors and executives.
Recruitment consultants work together with client companies, building relationships in order to gain a better understanding of their recruitment needs and requirements. They attract candidates by drafting advertising copy and using a wide range of media. They screen candidates, interview them, do background checks, and finally make recommendations to their clients.
Consultants also provide advice to both clients and candidates on salary levels, training requirements and career opportunities.
The Main Areas of Work
Recruitment consultant’s role is demanding and diverse, they will be required to market their services to clients, obtain the brief for vacancies, interview candidates, match prospective candidates to jobs, place advertisements in the press and online and agree terms and conditions of employment with the client.
Qualities Required
To be a successful recruitment consultant you are expected to be positive and determined to get the job done, have good numeracy and communication skills, an ability to work under pressure and successfully meet deadlines and targets.
Training
On-the-job training is offered to trainee consultants for the first few months. Larger firms offer induction or skills training for new staff members entering as trainee recruitment consultants. Short courses on specific aspects of the industry, are often run in-house or by external training providers.
Qualifications
There are no set qualifications required although many places do prefer you to have GCSE’s and possible customer service experience. You receive training from experienced staff or are sent on training courses. Promotion is possible to become a senior consultant or branch manager with the option to work overseas in the larger companies.
Salary
You could earn between £14, 000 – £50, 000 depending on experience and length of service with commission added on top.
Trainee recruitment consultants start on a basic salary of £18,000 – £22,000 (salary data collected in 2007).
Recruitment consultants’ average salaries are £23,752 with managers earning an average of £30,952 excluding bonuses or commission.
Senior consultants (after 10-15 years of work experience) can earn anything between £40,000 and £100,000.
Star players
Amanda Maine-Tucker set up her own recruitment consultancy. She couldn’t afford to finish a business course in America and resorted to a secretarial course in England, moving onto McCann Erickson the advertising agency she started as a PA to a legal advisor and found she had a skill of restructuring the personnel department and the director promoted her to the post of personnel executive. She moved on to become a recruitment consultant and found that was her forte, she had a large client base and generated a vast amount of business; she moved on to establish her own recruitment consultancy ‘Maine-Tucker’.
Twins Charlotte and Evelyn Summers worked for ‘Summers by Two’ as a director and top sales person; within a year of deciding to start their own business they were making a profit. The recession has helped their business as they have applicants being sent in by the dozen; the Summers understand skills are essential with businesses being so selective and therefore use only the best candidates. They have kept their promise in deciding to keep the company small to maintain the personal service so many clients desire.
Victoria Wall has always known she wanted to go into recruitment; she took a business degree and applied for several recruitment jobs and was offered one Wall believes in selection rather than simply filling in vacancies and set up her own business plan. Wall understood email has replaced typing letters so secretaries had more time to administer, organize and make decisions for their boss creating a higher standard of service. She set up VWA Consulting, a company focused on assessment and training. “I’m a passionate believer in psychometric testing for assessment and development purposes,” she says.
INFORMATION
Website
AlljobsUK
Careers in Recruitment
CIPD Training Directory
European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA)
fish4jobs
People Management Online
Recruit2Recruit
Recruiter
UK Recruiter
Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR)
Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
ENTO (Employment National Training Organisation)
Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)
The Daily Telegraph, Telegraph Group Ltd, Daily
The Guardian, Guardian Newspapers Ltd, Daily
The Independent, Independent News and Media Limited, Daily
Personnel Today, Reed Business Information, Weekly
Personnel Review, Emerald Group Publishing, Bi-monthly
The Personnel Manager’s Yearbook, A P Information Services, Annual
Personnel Practice, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 2005
Recruiter, Centaur Media plc, Fortnightly
Recruitment Consultant, Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC),
Recruitment International, Recruitment Publications, Monthly
The Times, Times Newspapers Ltd.
Tags: job profile, psychometric testing, Recruitment consultant
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