Recruitment Consultant advice

dollybird09

I've been invited to go for an interview as a recruitment consultant next week. I have no experience in this area but I do love a challenge.

Can anyone advise what sort of salary would I expect? What could I expect day to day? I've read threads here bashing recruitment consultants here but I've never dealt with any so I don't know.

Any thoughts?

mrpink6789

Recruitment is a job where you will find out within a week if you are cut out for it or not. Basic salaries are never great, its a commission based job. Starters would get anywhere between 25-35k per annum. Commission varies from company to company. Generally you'd expect to make no commission the first 6 months as this is your learning the ropes time, after that then you should be doing ok. However in this market who knows these days.

Day to day you can expect to have a couple of roles that you will search for candidates for. So you will be going through the database, monster as well as seeing CV's that come through the job websites. On the other side you may have a few CV's of candidates so you will be expected to cold call clients to see if they have any vacancies (not very pretty in this market). I suppose thats the part of the job most consultants don't like. However once you get a bit of practice its no bother.

Recruitment is a great job as long as you are good at it. No 2 days are the same and you can make a lot of money from it. It's tough now considering the way things are so unless you are going in to a big agency that deals already with a lot of companies I would hold off.

PM me if you have any other specific questions.

qwytre

Recruitment is a tough job. It is all about making commissions and money and every day\week\month\year you will have sales targets to meet. Thats all it boils down to, making money. If you are a good sales person, can deal with a lot of talking and phone calls and can deal with the pressure then you will probably be ok.

I know a few people who have\do work in recruitment and there is also a level of competition between people in the same company. It was an "easier" job 3 years ago compared to now as the market is very tight at the moment. Any half wit could make a go of recruitment during the celtic tiger years, and a lot of them earned very good money e.g. 100k per year. Its a lot harder to do that now.

Columbo

It can be a very tough role and is very sales orientated. If you are not a sales person, then it probably isn't the right job for you. You will need to be highly organised, efficient and quick!!! Don't forget, you may not be the only recruiter working on a role, so you can never put anything off. If you do, someone somewhere else will be there before you.

One of the major downfalls in the recruitment industry, imo, is that it is a first come, first serve environment. So it becomes a race to get the CV into the client first which inturn can lead to shoddy practice. eg recruiters just firing CV's out, sometimes without even informing trhe candidate.

pclancy

I did it for about 6 months for a large recruiter a few years back. Social life was great and when I actually made placements the money was good. The actual day to day grind bored me senseless though, plus the focus on targets. You must send x amount of CVs per day (even if you know in your heart they suck) you must make x amount of phone calls a day and you must arrange x amounts of interviews. If you've got tough skin and dont mind cold calling people who for the most part, won't like you and will have already been called ten times that day by other recruiters then go ahead.

The highs were great, feeling of placing someone in a job you know suits them well is amazing, plus getting the fee. The lows were very low, having a candidate change their mind on the day of starting the job etc or going to another agency just when you thought they wetre placed etc. To be honest I always wanted to try it, I did my time, realised it wasnt for me and bailed out. Sitting at a desk from 8am to 6pm also drove me mad but if you're a good people person and are tough skinned give it a shot. Don't believe the promises of massive commisions they might promise during an interview, you probably wont make much money for a good while till you get on your feet.

Palimpsest

recruitment consultants? Or does it vary from sector to sector

AARRRGH

mrpink6789 wrote: »

Recruitment is a job where you will find out within a week if you are cut out for it or not.

Columbo wrote: »

If you are not a sales person, then it probably isn't the right job for you.

I agree with this. You have to be a very particular type of person to do it. But you can make decent money (or at least, could a few years ago) if you're suited to it.

The job has nothing to do with HR.

mrpink6789

Palimpsest wrote: »

recruitment consultants? Or does it vary from sector to sector

Varies from sector to sector. Better off having a look at some profiles on LinkedIn for your sector to see who's actually been doing it for a while and has made a career out of it rather then someone who is in their second week.

Max001

AARRRGH wrote: »

I agree with this. You have to be a very particular type of person to do it. But you can make decent money (or at least, could a few years ago) if you're suited to it.

The job has nothing to do with HR.

Agree. Have seen people not suited to this type of job, burn themselves
out trying. Its all sales. The title 'recruitment consultant' is misleading.

IMHO agencies mainly exist because companies are too lazy or stupid or both to find candidates directly. HR people tend not to be great outbound recruiters.

Only piece of advice I'd offer is try to carefully consider what you're really suited for and what you have a passion for. If its sales, by all means give agencies a try, but if after giving it time you believe you're not suited, have the courage to walk away. If its HR you're interested in or a combination, you might consider an executive search company. Better base salaries and good commission/bonuses. An average starting salary for an experienced search exec would be €70k+ with OTE of roughly double that. If straight HR/in-house staffing is yr pref...its a great career and if you're sharp and manage your career well, making a six figure salary with good benefits ought not to take more than 5-10 yrs.
Been doing HR for 15 years and consulting now and bill at €1,000 a day...
...which is low compared to what PWC etc bill at. But then Im not in it just for the money.
Good luck!