Recruitment Career Options
When students are considering options for their chosen career the occupation “Recruitment Consultant” is not an option that is commonly discussed. Recruitment agent tends to be one of those careers people fall into for whatever reason. You might be unsure of what direction to go in as your qualifications are not at the level you require to get you on the path to your desired vocation, you might be struggling to find work and a contemporary suggests recruitment as a career that can pay well without strong qualifications. Perhaps somebody may have described you as a “people person” and that has made you feel you want to work with people which lends itself to applying for a role in Recruitment.
My Recruitment Experience
Having been in recruitment for over 12 years now I have found it one of the hardest industries to actually meet someone and say you are the “perfect recruitment consultant”. You can be the brightest individual with great personality traits and pick things up quickly but when you start working the recruitment process you flounder because ultimately you need to be a salesperson to help get a successful conclusion. Too often people entering the world of sales feel that the more they talk the more successful they will be. When I started out in sales a wise old Sales Director said the best piece of advice I can give you is “you have 2 ears and 1 mouth use them in equal measure”. What he was basically saying was in order to sell you need to listen to the needs of the customer/client find out what their situation is and deliver a solution to their requirements. In recruitment terms this will be supplying a good shortlist of relevant candidates that fulfil the criteria of the vacant position.
How to begin on your Recruitment Consultant Journey
You do not necessarily have to enter a recruitment career as a sales person you can start as a resourcer which is where you spend your time searching for relevant candidates for other consultants to put them forward on the jobs they are currently working. This is a good way of learning how to source effectively for good people but you will eventually want to work the process as a 360 degree one where you find the ideal candidates and work the role so you have the client and candidate contact to place people in their new positions. The resourcer hits a point where they ultimately find out if they can do the client contact piece which is the coal face of the job and quite commonly they realise recruitment is not for them as they do not sit comfortably with the sales process. This is one of the main factors in the recruitment industry having high turnover of staff coupled with the pressure of new consultants needing to deliver results quickly as turnover is key to the prosperity of the business.
Conclusion
I might be painting a negative picture of the industry but I want to give the reality of it as I feel honesty is important when embarking on any career, both the positive and negative aspects. The positive aspect of Recruitment is that if you work the process correctly and make sure you ask the right questions at the right time doing your utmost to get the best candidates in front of your expectant client then you can have a very good income compared with other industry sectors. You do need ‘stickability’ to get yourself in this position and plenty of long working days but it is fun as well as rewarding and if you like a rollercoaster ride of emotion on a week to week and month by month basis you will not be disappointed. I am certainly glad I was introduced to the world of recruitment.