A job arranging jobs

By Graham Trickey, Editor, Prospects, February 2007.

You may already have used recruitment consultancies and employment agencies to help you find work. But they could also be valuable to you in another way – as a potential employer.

Agencies are significant employers in their own right, often with opportunities available to graduates. Getting into recruitment work has the distinct advantage for some job seekers of being dependent on personal qualities rather than degree and A-level grades.

The purpose of the work is to match employers with those who are seeking employment, either temporary or permanent. The initial assumption may therefore be that this is an extension of the activities of the human resources manager or careers adviser, talking to job seekers and assessing their suitability for the types of work or particular vacancies that the consultancy deals in. But this is only part of the picture. In fact recruitment consultants have most in common with sales teams, because they are not just placing people in jobs but finding the jobs in the first place, which means selling their consultancy services to companies that may be looking for staff. As in sales more generally, targets and commission-based earnings loom large. An ambition to succeed in sales is essential.

Sales experience

Sarah Evans is director of client services at Discovery Recruitment and Training, which places graduates in sales and other jobs with leading companies. She emphasises the value of tele-sales experience for would-be consultants. ‘As a graduate going into recruitment you do need to be prepared to do a lot of cold calling. Much of the work is over the phone initially, getting appointments with companies and then also selling face to face.’

Even so, recruitment consultancy is more than straightforward selling, says Sarah. ‘You’re not just selling a product, it’s much more about selling a service and, having done the initial sales process and won the business, it’s then about delivering upon that as well, so finding the candidate and matching them up with the right position. Only at that point do you experience a success.’

Consultants have to be motivated by sales targets, but says Sarah: ‘The particularly nice part is that you are actually finding people new positions and, especially in graduate recruitment, helping people get started in their careers. Getting thank you letters and calls from people once you’ve found them the job that they’re really looking for is definitely satisfying.’

Outgoing and resilient

As with any sales role, recruitment consultants need to be able to put across a convincing case, get on easily with people and be sufficiently resilient to withstand the many rejections from companies. A second sort of let-down comes if you have guided a candidate all the way through a company’s selection process, only for them to pull out just before starting a job. Result: no commission.

As well as being able to handle such disappointment, the consultant needs to be able to dispense it although with sensitivity, providing feedback and advice following unsuccessful applications, and, when necessary, explaining to some individuals that the consultancy is unable to help them. ‘It’s all part of being a good recruitment consultant, giving people advice and making sure that their expectations of getting a job are realistic,’ Sarah explains.

The final requirement is good organisation. The consultant may not only have to arrange interviews with potential client companies, but also with job seekers and finally between job seeker and employer.

For graduates looking for work in recruitment, vacancies are advertised from time to time. Apart from general graduate and other websites, there are also specialist sites such as www.recruitmentcareers.co.uk, and www.rec.uk.com/rec/details-of-members/career-in-recruitment.aspx represents the recruitment industry. Anyone taking a job in recruitment should check that the business is reputable and adequate training is on offer. If so, you may never need to ask an agency for job-seeking help again.