Recruitment Consultant

Recruitment consultants work to find the right people for the right vacancies. They use a variety of methods to ensure that companies fill positions.

As a recruitment consultant, you’ll work closely with employers to match candidates to job descriptions. You’ll assess the requirements of a role, then seek applicants that would suit the position. You’ll be part of the process from start to finish, often supporting applications, screening candidates, being part of interviews and receiving regular feedback from employers. You’ll also support candidates in the application process, such as helping them identify their key skills and strengths that would suit the role.

This area of work is also referred to as talent acquisition.

Your methods could be recruiting with a set list of interested candidates who have already expressed their availability, or you could reach out directly to talented individuals who you think would be great for a particular role. You’ll usually work within a recruitment agency, though some specialist recruiters also work independently. You’ll often specialise in recruiting for a particular industry, such as education recruitment consultant jobs, though some agencies offer coverage across multiple areas.

Your responsibilities when working in recruitment will vary depending on your level of experience, the structuring of your agency, and a client’s requirements. Common responsibilities include:

• Keeping up with key performance indicators, such as ensuring an expected number of filled vacancies is met.
• Meeting with employers (clients) and taking a detailed summary of the roles they are looking to recruit, such as understanding the skills, experience and personal attributes required to fulfil the role.
• Organising and facilitating interviews between candidates and employers.
• Organising interviews, occasionally taking charge of early stage interviews to assess a candidate’s suitability for more lengthy discussions.
• Planning applicant processes, such as creating applicant questionnaires or screening processes such as written tests.
• Planning recruitment campaigns to fill vacancies - this could be smaller campaigns such as advertising an individual vacancy, or running large scale recruitment events for bigger companies, such as attending graduate recruitment fairs.
• Providing information and answering questions for prospective applicants, such as explaining working hours and conditions, as well as sharing information on potential salaries and flexible working.
• Providing regular updates to recruiters for their campaigns.
• Reaching out to potential candidates directly (also known as headhunting).
• Retaining a good knowledge of the industries you recruit in to ensure you’re familiar with commonly used terms and modes of working.
• Screening applicants to roles, such as reviewing CVs and test answers, before offering further states of interview.

A recruitment consultant salary varies considerably depending on your recruiting industry, as well as your location and level of experience. Recruitment consultant jobs in London, for example, will attract higher salaries. Many recruiter salaries are advertised with bonuses based on performance called ‘on target earning’ (OTE) - so your actual take home pay will vary depending on your achievements within the role.

The recruitment salary in the UK is around £26,000 with a yearly bonus of around £9,000. A senior recruitment consultant salary could earn closer to £32,000 basic salary, with many positions advertising anything from an £80,000 - £100,000 OTE.

If you choose to start as an apprentice recruitment consultant, your salary will be £4.81 per hour if you are 16-19 in the first year of your apprenticeship. In subsequent years you’ll receive minimum wage for your age.

While there isn’t a set path into recruiting, you will usually need to be a graduate to be considered for roles. There are a variety of degrees that would set you in good stead for recruitment consultant jobs. These include:

• Business degrees
• Communications degrees
• Digital Marketing degrees
• Economics degrees
• Education degrees
• English degrees
• M…