The UK Recruitment industry is the largest in Europe and is currently worth over £24billion, consisting of around 15,000 agencies. Recent reports suggest that this industry is set to go through another massive growth period. Recruitment is an exciting sector to work in and the role is a varied one with excellent financial rewards and incentives. But you must be prepared to put in the hard work to be successful and to reap these rewards.
Whether you are a recent graduate looking to make your first step into recruitment or you are looking for a change of career, you will no doubt find our information below helpful in deciding if recruitment is the right career path for you.
As a graduate or trainee, the roles available to you within the recruitment industry vary slightly and we have outlined the differences below. We are confident that with our unique and well established relationships with the top recruitment agencies across London and the surrounding areas, we are best equipped to ensure your first recruitment role is the right one for you. Our team would be happy to discuss these roles with you in further detail.
Resourcer / Delivery Consultant / Researcher
Our clients are consistently recruiting graduates, trainees and second-jobbers for their entry level positions. Depending on your background and often your own preference, you could be placed into one of a few roles initially. The first example of this is a Resourcer or Delivery Consultant position (you will find the same roles are given different titles depending on which company you choose) or a Researcher position (which you tend to find in executive search firms).
This type of role means you will be working alongside a more experienced consultant or a team of experienced consultants, and your job will be to resource candidates for their roles. You will focus on generating candidates via a variety of different methods including advertising, job board and database searching and headhunting. You will not be cold calling clients or business developing while you are in this role. Your aim is to find a candidate with the required skill set, conduct an interview with them either by telephone or face to face, and build a good rapport with them. Once you are confident you have found a good candidate for the position, you will pass them across to your senior consultant and they will do the rest.
Typically you would expect to stay in this role for between three - six months where you will then move into a full cycle recruitment role. This means running your own desk and bringing in new clients. You may find you enjoy the candidate aspect of the role and do not want to move into the more sales focussed side. If that is the case, one of the ways you can progress is into an Account Manager position which involves delivering candidates to existing large accounts.
You will earn commission in this starting position, typically a fixed amount of money paid when a candidate you have found is placed.
Some people find the resourcer role works best for them initially, as it gives a full understanding of the market and the candidates you will be placing before progressing into the full cycle position.
Trainee Recruitment Consultant
This role is the full cycle recruitment position and after you have received training you will be building and managing your own desk straight away. This role is usually more suited to candidates who have some sales experience, however this is not always the case as we place a number of graduates into these positions. The trainee recruiter will be doing everything from cold calling clients and generating new business to setting up interviews and collating feedback, to finding candidates and closing the deal. You will be working towards the same commission structure as the experienced consultants in the business which can go up to 40% in some cases, but your targets initially won't be as high as of course you are a trainee.
This can lead to a Business Development role, managing a team and everything through to Director level positions.
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What makes a successful Recruitment Consultant?
Confidence – you must be confident speaking on the phone as you will be engaging with managers and Directors of businesses. Put simply, you need to be a bit fearless!
Persuasive – you will need to use your persuasion skills to ensure your client interviews your candidate and to control the process for both parties.
Financially motivated – this should be one of the top drivers for getting into the recruitment industry, as it is the biggest reward for your hard work.
Hard worker – you must be prepared to work outside the standard office hours. The only way to earn top money is by going the extra mile!
Relationship building – you should possess good people skills and the ability to build a trusted relationship with your clients and candidates. You need to use these skills to advise your candidate and client at each point in the process.
Listening skills - it sounds simple but it is one of the most important traits of a successful recruiter. If you don't listen to your candidate your competitor will end up placing them!
Drive – the beauty of this industry is that you control your earnings. In order to succeed in this competitive industry you must have the drive and self motivation to be the best and make it happen!
Proactive – this is a fast paced industry where you will need to work quickly and think outside the box to find candidates and new business before your competitors do!
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What will I earn?
The typical starting salary for junior level positions in the recruitment industry is anywhere between £17-22k. All professional agencies offer an excellent commission structure alongside this, where you will see yourself realistically earning up to £50k in the first year and up to £80k in year two. We will talk you through how this works in more detail at interview stage as commission structures will vary depending on the client.
Training
All of our clients provide exceptional training. Depending on the client, this can range from large group training schemes and graduate academies to one on one, on the desk training. We will discuss this in more detail with you before your interview.