A career in recruitment, regardless of the sector or if working in temporary or permanent recruitment will require very hard work, perseverance and first class people skills for dealing with a wide range of candidates and clients. Recruitment is a sales job, even if a consultant is not actively developing new business, they are still required to sell the jobs to candidates and candidates to clients. Some people do think working in recruitment is about helping people to get jobs, it can sometimes be rewarding seeing someone who has been unemployed getting a job or placing a candidate in their dream job and when they thank you for it, however recruitment agencies are businesses not charities.
Often new consultants will be graduates, however agencies do recruit from a wide range of backgrounds, it is the attitude and personality of the individual that will usually be more important. Agencies will often look for sales experience for '360 degree' recruitment consultant roles (business development, managing accounts, interviewing, placing candidates etc.). People who have experience and a good record working in a target driven environment, earning a basic salary with the desire to earn commission, those who have experience dealing with corporate customers at various levels and of dealing with members of the public and those who have experience in providing excellent customer service and building long term relationships with customers are often suited to a recruitment career. Sometimes people who have worked for an agency as a temp will have gained an understanding of what the job involves and are offered positions within the agency.
A lot of people can be attracted by the fast pace and the variety of the work, it is very rare that any two days are the same and fortunes can often change very quickly. Results should not be expected straight away, therefore hard work and commitment are essential and consultants have to take the good times with the bad. A thick skin is essential! Problems can arise daily including temporary workers not turning up to jobs, permanent candidates not going to interviews, this can be testing and requires excellent customer service skills to prevent losing a client, not to mention resilience. Money is often a very big attraction, many agencies will offer low starting basic salaries but with bonuses and uncapped commission and opportunities for their staff to earn very good money. Other incentives and benefits are often provided on merit such as company cars, holidays and other prizes for high rollers and sometimes career progression can be rapid.
There are various roles within the recruitment industry but the two main positions are temporary and permanent recruitment consultants. Many agencies will take on inexperienced trainees in both roles. Temporary consultants will be responsible for managing a workforce of hourly paid staff supplied to a client for either a fixed term period, to cover sickness or busy periods or on a temporary to permanent basis. These workers may be unskilled labourers or contract skilled or professional staff including I.T or engineering workers. Temporary recruitment is often a very fast paced role with vacancies needing to be filled immediately, often workers are supplied at a low margin and high numbers of staff will need to be supplied daily to ensure targets are met. Consultants are responsible for developing new business opportunities, advertising and interviewing potential temporary workers and making sure they have enough suitable workers to meet their clients' demands. High levels of customer service is required, competition is very fierce and the clients will be taking sales calls every day from other agencies.
Permanent recruitment is often much slower moving process with consultants identifying suitable candidates for their clients' permanent job vacancies. Sometimes they are competing against other agencies and the clients' own advertising, having to be ensure they identify and are putting the best candidates forward to clients. Placement fees are often anywhere between 10%-25% of the vacancy's annual salary with consultants usually receiving a percentage of the fee in commission.
In both roles the ability to develop trust and good relationships with clients and candidates is essential,often the consultant will be asked for advice and support on interviews, salaries, legal requirements etc. and they are required to be able to deal with a multitude of vacancies at any one time. Financial acumen and negotiation skills are essential, consultants will usually negotiate fees and sometimes pay rates and salaries and must ensure they can make enough profit while remaining competitive.
Although many agencies will have made redundancies over the past few years and with some closing altogether, there are still opportunities available for trainees who are able to prove themselves. Remember, if you are going to sell candidates to employers you need to sell yourself first of all. Recruitment is a demanding career, a lot of agencies do have high a turnover of staff, particularly new consultants, as it is not suited to everyone. However the rewards are there and there are very few limits to what a good recruiter can achieve.
An article by Dougles Chan - The Recruitment Guru. Also known as the Zhuge Liang for recruitment. A recruitment coach & mentor that specialized on coaching recruitment business owners and staffing agency recruiters.
Author of 8 books. 25 years in recruitment business coaching & mentoring. Focus countries will be in Singapore, USA, UK, Australia and others.
He created the recruitment agency market tumour law, C-Marketing, V-Marketing and blog marketing for recruitment agencies and staffing agencies.
He also specialized in business, sales, marketing, digital marketing, SEO, SEM, and social media recruiting. For 1 to 1 private consulting or recruitment coaching, please check here.
He also write articles related to how to start a recruiting business.
Often new consultants will be graduates, however agencies do recruit from a wide range of backgrounds, it is the attitude and personality of the individual that will usually be more important. Agencies will often look for sales experience for '360 degree' recruitment consultant roles (business development, managing accounts, interviewing, placing candidates etc.). People who have experience and a good record working in a target driven environment, earning a basic salary with the desire to earn commission, those who have experience dealing with corporate customers at various levels and of dealing with members of the public and those who have experience in providing excellent customer service and building long term relationships with customers are often suited to a recruitment career. Sometimes people who have worked for an agency as a temp will have gained an understanding of what the job involves and are offered positions within the agency.
A lot of people can be attracted by the fast pace and the variety of the work, it is very rare that any two days are the same and fortunes can often change very quickly. Results should not be expected straight away, therefore hard work and commitment are essential and consultants have to take the good times with the bad. A thick skin is essential! Problems can arise daily including temporary workers not turning up to jobs, permanent candidates not going to interviews, this can be testing and requires excellent customer service skills to prevent losing a client, not to mention resilience. Money is often a very big attraction, many agencies will offer low starting basic salaries but with bonuses and uncapped commission and opportunities for their staff to earn very good money. Other incentives and benefits are often provided on merit such as company cars, holidays and other prizes for high rollers and sometimes career progression can be rapid.
There are various roles within the recruitment industry but the two main positions are temporary and permanent recruitment consultants. Many agencies will take on inexperienced trainees in both roles. Temporary consultants will be responsible for managing a workforce of hourly paid staff supplied to a client for either a fixed term period, to cover sickness or busy periods or on a temporary to permanent basis. These workers may be unskilled labourers or contract skilled or professional staff including I.T or engineering workers. Temporary recruitment is often a very fast paced role with vacancies needing to be filled immediately, often workers are supplied at a low margin and high numbers of staff will need to be supplied daily to ensure targets are met. Consultants are responsible for developing new business opportunities, advertising and interviewing potential temporary workers and making sure they have enough suitable workers to meet their clients' demands. High levels of customer service is required, competition is very fierce and the clients will be taking sales calls every day from other agencies.
Permanent recruitment is often much slower moving process with consultants identifying suitable candidates for their clients' permanent job vacancies. Sometimes they are competing against other agencies and the clients' own advertising, having to be ensure they identify and are putting the best candidates forward to clients. Placement fees are often anywhere between 10%-25% of the vacancy's annual salary with consultants usually receiving a percentage of the fee in commission.
In both roles the ability to develop trust and good relationships with clients and candidates is essential,often the consultant will be asked for advice and support on interviews, salaries, legal requirements etc. and they are required to be able to deal with a multitude of vacancies at any one time. Financial acumen and negotiation skills are essential, consultants will usually negotiate fees and sometimes pay rates and salaries and must ensure they can make enough profit while remaining competitive.
Although many agencies will have made redundancies over the past few years and with some closing altogether, there are still opportunities available for trainees who are able to prove themselves. Remember, if you are going to sell candidates to employers you need to sell yourself first of all. Recruitment is a demanding career, a lot of agencies do have high a turnover of staff, particularly new consultants, as it is not suited to everyone. However the rewards are there and there are very few limits to what a good recruiter can achieve.
An article by Dougles Chan - The Recruitment Guru. Also known as the Zhuge Liang for recruitment. A recruitment coach & mentor that specialized on coaching recruitment business owners and staffing agency recruiters.
Author of 8 books. 25 years in recruitment business coaching & mentoring. Focus countries will be in Singapore, USA, UK, Australia and others.
He created the recruitment agency market tumour law, C-Marketing, V-Marketing and blog marketing for recruitment agencies and staffing agencies.
He also specialized in business, sales, marketing, digital marketing, SEO, SEM, and social media recruiting. For 1 to 1 private consulting or recruitment coaching, please check here.
He also write articles related to how to start a recruiting business.
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