Recruitment Consultant: Job Profile and Role

Finding employment typically involves at least two parties: the applicant and the future employer. However, it is not usual anymore for a company’s CEO or its owner to be involved in the application and employment process. Today, this is the job of HR (human resources) or the job of a recruitment consultant.

The latter is what we will focus on in this blog. Maybe it is your dream job to work as this intermediary between job candidates and employers? Continue reading and you will find out all there is to know about the job of a recruitment consultant – from your expected annual salaries to your employers and the qualifications and skills you need. You will furthermore find out what a typical working day looks like and how you can improve your skill sets.

Short Summary

• As a recruitment consultant, you liaise with your clients regarding their hiring needs and requirements.
• As a recruitment consultant, you are responsible for “sourcing” the right candidates that match your client’s expectations and needs.
• As a recruitment consultant, you conduct job interviews to find out if your chosen candidates are suitable for the job they have applied for.

Job description

Being a recruitment consultant means that you work as an intermediary between a company (the employer) and a job applicant. It is down to you to first find out what your client needs regarding hiring and competencies in their staff. After you have gained this information, you start candidate scouting by using online job platforms. You also conduct job interviews after you have reviewed resumes. Besides, you may also be responsible for negotiating work contracts when it comes to salaries and working hours. Again, you function as the bridge between the two main parties involved.

Responsibilities

• Understanding Client Requirements
• Employing Recruitment Methods
• Client Relationship Management
• Selection Process Development
• Screening and Interviewing
• Candidate Presentation
• Negotiating Contracts
• Feedback/Follow-Up
• Candidate Sourcing
• Job Specification

Different types of Recruitment Consultants

• Executive Search Consultant
• General Recruitment Consultant
• Graduate Recruitment Consultant
• Diversity and Inclusion Consultant
• International Recruitment Consultant

Salary

Your starter salary in recruitment consulting typically starts at ￡16,000 to ￡21,000. With work experience – and if you are working full-time – it can increase to ￡29,000 and sometimes even ￡40,000. Naturally, this also depends on your employer and the company size. Besides, your annual salary as a recruitment consultant in the UK is influenced by your location. You will likely earn more when working in a big city or metropolitan area.

Working hours

Working in recruitment consultancy tends to mean that you work between 38 and 40 hours a week. Your job tends to be office-based, although you may be asked to attend client meetings at the respective companies as well. It is furthermore possible that you will work evenings, for example, when attending client and other business meetings. If you work remotely or even as a virtual recruitment consultant or international recruitment consultant, your working hours may not fit a classic timetable since you can work with clients in different time zones. It is a possibility that you need to factor in travelling as well.

Employers

Even though you work as an intermediary between an employer and potential candidates, you still have your own employer. Typically, this is a recruitment agency that places you with another client. You may also work in an in-house recruitment team which is similar to the job of HR. Speaking of HR: another employment option is HR and management consultancy firms. Moreover, you can look into self-employment/freelance work and start your own recruitment consultancy company.

How to get a Job as a Recruitment Consultant

To become a recruitment consultant in the UK, you need to follow the same steps as any other job applicant. This means that you first have to finish your chosen education and then work on your CV and resume. In the next step, you browse the (online) job portals or contact the company you want to work for. After you have been invited to a job interview, you should prepare accordingly – which, naturally, also involves polishing your skills and researching your future employer. In short: you need to do everything that your future job candidates also need to do when starting their job hunt.

Qualifications

A university course, an apprenticeship, working towards this role, or direct application: take your pick from these options to become a recruitment consultant in the UK. Keep in mind that you will need preceding qualifications, typically A-levels or GCSEs to enter two of the options we have mentioned, for example, A-levels in economics, English, and psychology, and four to five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), including English. Your hard skills should extend to the software you will use, such as JobAdder, Bullhorn, BambooHR, and Recruitee.

Skills

Have you maybe already guessed which skills you need if you want to work in recruitment consulting? Yes, communication and interpersonal skills will be two of the most important competencies you have. And since you will closely be working with job applicants, you also know the following: always check the required skills when browsing the job ads – something you will likely also tell future employees. For now, we will tell you three more skills you should have when working in this job.

Negotiation

You know by now that you will negotiate employee contracts when working in a recruitment consultancy. Needless to say, therefore, that negotiation skills must be a part of your competency portfolio. But what are negotiation skills? They are a combination of other competencies, for example, problem-solving and communication skills. You also need to be persuasive and know the limits of your negotiation partner. For example: when discussing an employee’s salary, you need to know which money your client is prepared to pay and ensure that, eventually, you reach a satisfactory agreement.

Sensitivity

Closely connected to this first skill are empathy and sensitivity. It will benefit no one if you enter discussions like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Being brusque also does not help when scouting for and screening candidates for a job. To perform an excellent job and function as an outstanding intermediary, you need to be able to change perspectives and see every aspect of the recruitment and hiring process from everyone’s individual point of view.

Business Management

An astute business management sense helps you to be a brilliant recruitment consultant – not only if you decide to start your own consultancy firm. Business management skills not only include financial aspects, but they also extend to planning, organising, and supervising – all skills you need to apply daily. As with negotiation skills, business management includes communication and problem-solving skills.

Career Path

Every job has a career hierarchy, so to speak – this applies to the job of a recruitment consultant as well. Typically, your career path looks as follows: you start with the position of a trainee recruitment consultant before becoming a recruitment consultant. Depending on your overall performance, you can advance to the position of a senior recruitment consultant or move into business management, HR management, or start a recruitment consultancy firm.

Educational Background

Your most beneficial approach to becoming a recruitment consultant is completing an undergraduate degree, such as a Bachelor’s degree in human resources, public relations, or business management. Having this degree is valued by lots of employers since it shows that you have a high learning aptitude and research skills.

An apprenticeship can be beneficial as well since you gain practical experience – just not an academic degree. Which education you choose is entirely up to you – and an apprenticeship like an intermediate recruitment resourcer apprenticeship may even be the qualification you need to earn an academic degree later on.

Entry Level

Like the candidates you work with in your job, you find your entry-level position by browsing the (online) job adverts. After having secured your first job in recruitment consultancy, you start as a trainee recruitment consultant. What’s more, you can gain your first experience in this field by doing an internship, for example, when still being at uni or working another job entirely.

Continuous Learning

Further training and qualifications should be a part of your continuous learning if you want to excel at your job. As a recruitment consultant, you can look into several options to further your career and your knowledge. For instance, you can earn a Certificate in Recruitment Practice (CertRP) or a Diploma in Recruitment Practice (DipRP), both of which are offered by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). You should also discuss the possibility of internal training programs with your employer.

A Day in the Life of a Recruitment Consultant

Your working day in recruitment consultancy has several exciting daily tasks in store for you – and as with any other office-based job, it’s way more than checking your various inboxes. Let’s take a closer look at some of the jobs you perform and who you will interact with.

Client Consultation

Before you start looking for suitable candidates for your client, you need to find out first which needs and hiring requirements he or she has. Therefore, client consultations are an important task of your day. Here, you can discuss anything from employment types (part-time, full-time, temporary) to the needed qualifications and skills of potential applicants. Naturally, you also talk about which positions are vacant and looking for an employee.

Candidate Screening

After you have gathered all the relevant information, you start searching and scouting for candidates. When you have found several potential employees for your client, you need to screen them by checking their resumes and the rest of their applications. This can be followed by phone calls with either all candidates or a select few to further enquire about their skills and qualifications for the job they have applied for.

Shortlisting Candidates

This is followed by conducting the first job interviews with a select group of candidates who have made it through your screening process. In these one-on-one meetings, you find out if they actually suit the job post and your client’s needs and expectations. The applicants that do meet all the requirements are then shortlisted – and this list, including a write-up of the job interviews and a highlighting of their respective skills and qualifications – you forward to your client.

Tips for Thriving as a Recruitment Consultant

There are several ways to thrive in recruitment consultation – be it working on your soft skills or earning further qualifications and doing more training. In this section, we will look at three tips that help you get to the top or to whichever step on your career ladder you want to reach:

• Postgraduate degree
• Screen and match
• Platform knowledge

Postgraduate Degree

If you already have an undergraduate degree, for example, a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, you should think about a postgraduate degree. Typically, a Master’s degree benefits you even more since it has more “panache”, aka prestige. Viable options can be the subjects you have already studied for your undergraduate degree – so, for example, business management, human resources management, or even communication and psychology.

Screen and Match

Scouting and sourcing for candidates are all well and good – but you also need to screen and, even more importantly, match said candidates to the clients who may potentially be their employers. To achieve this, you need to employ your empathy and sensitivity skills – not to forget your interpersonal ones, and an in-depth knowledge of your client and his or her industry. By having all these “facts” at hand, you can then make the perfect match – and ensure that you will thrive. 

Platform Knowledge

Long gone are the days when job ads were posted in newspapers or industry magazines. Today, most job searches and applications take place online – therefore, job platforms spring up like mushrooms (and yes, we are one of them you definitely MUST know!). If you want to thrive as a recruitment consultant, you need an in-depth knowledge of all these platforms: how they work, how candidates can apply and upload their CVs and resumes, and which companies are currently looking for staff. 

Frequently Asked Questions