The recruitment industry is renowned for helping people make a lot of money and as a result, many people think that they can just walk into a recruitment job. This article has been written for those who are looking for a job in recruitment so if you know of any of these people, please pass this article on to them.
Lets start with what the recruitment industry is and is not which is important if you are looking for a job in recruitment. First of all, there are three main sectors of recruitment
- Agency recruitment
- Internal/corporate recruitment
- Job placement recruitment
and all three of them are different.
Agency recruitment is about finding people for jobs. Agency recruiters do not find jobs for people. They are the same words, in a different order with totally different meanings. We have mentioned this before in our Recruitment Tips and Tricks blogs, but still people think that a recruiter is there to find them a job. They are employed by the hiring company and will be paid by the hiring company so until candidates start paying recruiters for their services (which will never happen), recruitment agencies exist to find people for jobs.
Internal or corporate recruitment is the same as above but for only for the company they are employed by. Any type of company that has a high demand for recruitment may have their own recruitment function, where the recruiters are looking specifically for people to join their company.
Job Placement recruitment is the only sector that is focused on finding jobs for people. They are usually only working with disadvantaged or unemployed people
What does the recruitment industry look for in new people
Great with people – The recruitment industry is one of the few industries that has people as both their clients and products, therefore being good with people is essential. If you don’t like people, I suggest you find another career choice.
Tenacity – all of my recruitment career I have always said that
“the recruitment industry has the most unreliable product in the world – people”
– Steve Begg
It lies, it doesn’t turn up, it exaggerates, and in extreme cases it is not trustworthy, so you need to be able to work with this. To do so you need to be extremely tenacious and not be one who gives up easily.
Business knowledge – recruitment is a B2B (business to business) industry. You need to have enough business experience to understand your clients business, their needs and your candidates needs.
Passion/Drive – the recruitment industry is a tough gig and those who don’t have that burning desire to succeed will not make it. You cannot join this industry and think of it as a job. You need to throw yourself into it and make it your life.
Gift of the gab – have you ever heard the saying “she has the gift of the gab“. That means they are very good verbal communicators. My dad used to say that I could talk under water, and I suppose it is the same thing. You need to be very comfortable with talking – A LOT!!!
Organised – think this through. If you are working 10 jobs and each of these jobs has two people who are in the hiring process (a HR Manager and a Line Manager), that is twenty different clients you are currently working with, with 20 different expectations. Couple that with 100 applicants for each job and now you have 1,000 candidates who all believe they are right for the role and want the opportunity to prove that to you. You need to be an organised person to manage this workload as well as keep paying attention to everything else you need to keep on top of.
Where do you go to get a recruitment job?
Well, recruitment is a strange industry as it has a sub-sector called the Rec 2 Rec industry. These people are recruiters for the recruitment industry, I know right! Its like an electrician that only does the electrical work for other electricians.
Recruitment 2 Recruitment companies are very common. I am not going to try and list them here, as I am sure I will leave some out and ultimately offend someone, however if you Google them or look for them via LinkedIn, you will find there are heaps. Reach out to them and they may be able to help you through the process.
Recruitment Training
So once you get a role you need to get up to speed as quickly as possible. If you are in agency, you need to cover the cost of your employment quickly, otherwise you become a burden on the the Companies cashflow, and that is not good for either of you.
We have two training products for those in Agencies and one for Internal recruiters.
Agency recruiters have access to Recruitment Ninja (Agency) and Recruitment Bootcamp which is the Recruitment Ninja product with 3 months of coaching and support. Both of these training programs have designed to take you from an absolute beginner to a Ninja.
Internal recruiters have access to a specialised Recruitment Ninja program specifically designed for internal recruiters.
For more information on these courses, click the links above.
I hope that helps those of you who are looking for a job in recruitment. Its a very exciting industry and can provide a lot of rewards. If we can be of any more help, please contact us.
Recruitment School builds brilliant recruiters through a combination of online self-paced and assisted training programs. If you want to know more about how we can improve the efficiency of your recruitment function then contact us on 02 9119 2278 or click here.
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