What is a recruitment consultant?

Answer 1

A recruitment consultant is a person who offers advise and guidance to a firm on recruitment processes. Such a person is essential and works closely with the human resource management.

RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT JOB DESCRIPTION

A career as a Recruitment Consultant can be amazing! It is hugely diverse where one day is never like the other. In its very simplistic form, your are tasked with finding people for jobs. Like an estate agent matches people to houses, a Recruitment Consultant works with companies looking for staff and people (Candidates) looking for a new job. When a person starts work at a company, the company pays the recruitment consultancy a fee which is typically between 15% and 30%. Of course there is way more to it than that but this is the premise. Here is a more detailed Recruitment Consultant Job Description.

Being a Recruitment Consultant is also a bit of a balancing act ensuring that you have enough jobs as well as enough candidates to fill them. One thing that should be made clear is that Recruitment is ultimately a sales career. You will be responsible for calling companies to see if you can help them find new staff and then fulfilling that need by finding the right person for the job. You will be 'selling' your company's service to the client as well as 'selling' the opportunity to the candidate and furthermore 'Selling' the candidate to the client. There are targets based on how many interviews you create, new jobs that you are asked to fill and ultimately how much money you bring in for the company.

Recruitment is target driven but also highly rewarded (and fun!). Entry level roles start at £18-22k basic with generous commission structures that vary from 10% - 35% of whatever you generate from finding new jobs for people. Basic salaries rise quickly with experience and success. On Target Earnings can typically double your base salary if not more.

Recruitment Consultancies vary widely from small boutique companies that specialise in a niche area (Finn Grace Rec2Rec for example purely place candidates into Recruitment roles) through to international generalist companies such as Adecco.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF A RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT

• Developing new and existing relationships with companies to assist in fulfilling their requirements for full time, temporary or contract staff
• Sourcing candidates through advertising, online database search, headhunting and referrals
• Interviewing of candidates both face-to-face and on the phone to find out about what they are looking for
• Headhunting candidates through direct and indirect contact normally to fulfil a specific role
• Developing a strong understanding of your market to enable you to converse with clients and candidates about their industry
• Utilising of social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter to source candidates and clients and build relationships
• Face to Face and telephone contact with new and existing clients to ascertain what they are looking for in a new member of staff
• Negotiation of fees paid by the client
• Writing of adverts to attract the right candidates for use on jobsites such as Reed, Monster, etc as well as in specialist trade websites, your own website and press.
• Matching of candidates to positions and working with both parties to sell the opportunity / candidate to see if both company and candidate wish to see each other
• Preparation of candidate for an interview ensuring that they know about the company and the role and what the company is looking for
• Preparation of the client ahead of an interview to ensure they know who they are meeting and their background.
• Taking feedback from both parties following an interview and progressing further where successful
• Negotiating salary and benefits on behalf of the candidate when successful
• Requesting references from previous employers

RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT SALARY

Recruitment Consultants are paid in two ways. There is a basic salary and then you receive commission based on anyone that you place in a role. Entry level Salaries start at c£17 - £22k with experienced and senior consultants up to £40k basics and beyond. Commission is based on the amount of money that you generate for the company. This can range from 10% to 30% and beyond. A consultant may bill £200,000 in a year although there are many that bill way beyond this figure.

Recruitment Consultancies often incentivise their staff to overachieve. Each company has their own incentives but its not unusual to have days out at the races or activity days such as go-karting. Some companies offer weekends away and its not unusual for these to be in places like New York, Las Vegas, etc for the very successful members of the team.

WHO IS SUITED TO A CAREER IN RECRUITMENT?

Recruitment attracts a huge range of people although they all share some common traits. You should certainly be a people-person as you will spend a lot of time interacting on the phone and face-to-face. Being target driven and happy to work under pressure is also a huge benefit.

Career progression can be very quick for those that are successful so ambition is also a key trait of the recruitment consultant. To be a fully rounded Recruitment Consultant, you have to be incredibly organised as you have many different tasks to do on a daily basis. Modern recruitment software helps with this but you still have to be organised to ensure you hit your KPI's.

Recruitment Consultancies vary massively. Some organisations are like a trading floor with many consultants and lots of noise while others are much quieter. Although the role is the same, its worth considering what environment is suited to you.

Simply put, if you are personable, driven, organised, tenacious, a great presenter, a sales person, consultative, administrative, high energy, persistent, professional, gregarious, goal orientated, problem solver, confident, self-motivating, organised…..you would be perfect!

Finn Grace are a specialist Rec2Rec consultancy. We specialise in finding new career positions within the recruitment industry. From Entry Level roles for Consultants and Resourcer through to Recruitment Consultants and Senior Management. We work with a huge range of companies throughout the UK including many smaller brands as well as national brands.