As a Recruitment Consultant you will have huge opportunity for career progression, fantastic earning-potential, and will likely get to enjoy a great company culture as part of a recruitment agency.
Below, we’ll explore everything you need to know about a career in recruitment, from the typical recruitment consultant career path, to the pros and cons of a career in recruitment.
What is a Recruitment Consultant, and what do they do?
Starting with a quick summary of what your role as a Recruitment Consultant will be. In essence, a Recruitment Consultant helps job seekers to find jobs that are right for them, and helps businesses to find the employees they need.
A Recruitment Consultant will work proactively, going to market for companies and finding appropriate candidates for an open job vacancy. This will involve using a network of pre-existing candidates, reaching out to potential candidates who aren’t actively looking for a job, and utilising specific recruitment softwares that most businesses don’t have.
As well as this, you will progress to working with your own clients and businesses. This will involve reaching out to businesses to enquire about their hiring needs, and selling the agencies recruitment services.
Read here for more information on what the reality of working in recruitment is like.
The Typical Career Progression in the Recruitment Industry
While every recruitment agency operates differently, this is the typical Recruitment Consultant career path. You may well skip one or two steps, depending on your performance and experience, and the opportunities within the business itself.
Graduate/ Trainee Recruitment Consultant (0 – 6 Months)
As a Graduate or Trainee Recruitment Consultant you won’t be expected to have any previous recruitment or sales experience. You’ll be taught everything you need to know in your new role.
Your main responsibilities will include:
- Finding candidates with the necessary skills and experience for a more senior consultant’s client and job vacancy.
- Candidate outreach through LinkedIn, email, and phone.
- Screening these candidates through phone/ video calls, to ensure they’re a fit for the role.
- Coordinating interviews with your manager, and potentially even the client.
- Preparing candidates for interviews by giving advice on interview techniques, the client and the job vacancy.
- Any administrative tasks that are a part of your role.
Base Salary: £20,000 – £24,000 per year + Commission
On Target First Year Earnings: £30,000 – £35,000 per year
Recruitment Consultant (6 months – 2 years)
When you progress to a fully-fledged Recruitment Consultant you will be trained on attracting and managing your own portfolio of clients, as well as candidates. This is often also called 360-degree consultancy, as you are responsible for the entire recruitment pipeline.
Your main responsibilities will include:
- Building a portfolio of candidates within your industry and market.
- Developing your own relationships with business’s clients by proactively reaching out to them to address their recruitment needs.
- Providing expert industry insight to clients and candidates on market conditions.
- Screening these candidates through phone/ video calls, to ensure they’re a fit for the role.
- Preparing candidates for interviews by giving advice on interview techniques, the client and the job vacancy.
Base Salary: £25,000 – £30,000 per year + Commission
On Target First Year Earnings: £35,000 – £45,000 per year
Senior Recruitment Consultant (2 – 5 Years)
A Senior Recruitment Consultant position is the natural progression for a consultant. You’ll have a few years more experience under your belt, have bigger targets to hit, and will be earning more.
Your main responsibilities will include:
- Have built a network of candidates within your industry and market.
- Have developed relationships with a variety of established clients.
- Providing candidates with long-term career advice and support.
- Providing expert industry insight to clients and candidates on market conditions.
- Screening candidate quality to ensure they’re a fit for the role.
- Preparing candidates for interviews by giving advice on interview techniques, the client and the job vacancy.
Base Salary: £30,000 to £35,000 per year + Commission
On Target First Year Earnings: £50,000 – £70,000+ per year
Principal Consultant (3+ Years)
As you progress in your career you have the opportunity to move into a Principal Consultant, or Managing Consultant position.
As a Principal Consultant you will simply progress to having bigger targets to hit, and billing more consistently due to your established network in your industry. You will work with absolute autonomy in the business, owning your own desk.
Your main responsibilities will include:
- Have built a strong network of both clients and candidates within your industry and market.
- Be an expert and thought leader in your market, offering insight into current marketing conditions.
- Have developed strong relationships with a variety of established clients that offer repeat business.
- Providing candidates with long-term career advice and support.
- Screening candidate quality to ensure your clients only see the strongest of candidates for a role.
- Preparing candidates for interviews by giving advice on interview techniques, insight into the client, and the job vacancy itself.
- Offer some level of support and training to Junior Recruitment Consultants within the business.
Base Salary: £35,000 – £50,000 per year + Commission
On Target First Year Earnings: £60,000 – £100,000 per year
Managing Consultant (3+ Years)
Meanwhile as a Managing Consultant you will start to have your own Junior Recruitment Consultants to train and develop. You will still be responsible for your own billing targets, as well as the targets of the members of your team.
You will provide the junior members with some of your client vacancies to fill, supporting them to achieve success, and earning a portion of the commission from these placements
Your main responsibilities will include:
- Taking on mentorship and leadership responsibilities within the business and within your team.
- Monitoring the performance of your team.
- Provide training to the junior consultants you manage and to the wider business.
- Have built a strong network of both clients and candidates within your industry and market.
- Be an expert and thought leader in your market, offering insight into current marketing conditions.
- Have developed strong relationships with a variety of established clients that offer repeat business.
- Screening candidate quality to ensure your clients only see the strongest of candidates for a role.
Base Salary: £35,000 – £50,000 per year + Commission
On Target First Year Earnings: £60,000 – £100,000+ per year
Director (5+ Years)
As a Director you will be instrumental in long-term strategy and future of the recruitment business. You will likely still be involved in some day-to-day recruitment with your own established clients, but your focus will be on the wider business goals and growth.
Your main responsibilities will include:
- Being a leader and mentor to the entire business.
- Monitoring the performance of the wider team.
- Provide training to the wider business, from Junior Consultant to Principal and Managing Consultants.
- Identifying opportunities for business development and growth.
- Be an expert and thought leader in your market, offering insight to the business and to your clients into current marketing conditions.
- Have developed strong relationships with a variety of established clients that offer repeat business.
Base Salary: £50,000 – £85,000 per year + Commission
On Target First Year Earnings: £70,000 – £100,000+ per year
Certifications or Qualifications For a Recruitment Consultant
Unlike many other high-paid professions, a career in recruitment doesn’t require any specific degree or certification. They certainly don’t hurt your ability to become a recruitment consultant, as they show your entrepreneurship, desire to learn, and work ethic: All great traits for a recruiter.
Recruitment businesses however, are much more focused on soft skills than any specific knowledge that a degree provides.
Essential Experience For a Recruitment Consultant
To enter the industry as a Trainee or Junior Recruitment Consultant you don’t need any specific experience.
Experience in sales, marketing, recruitment or any other customer-orientated role is obviously an advantage. Or even a role where you have experience dealing with customers, or conversing with people on the phone.
Here at Dynamic we regularly take people with no recruitment experience, and give them the training they need to become efficient recruitment consultants.
Top 5 Skills a Recruitment Consultant Needs
1. Communication
Effective communication is absolutely essential for a Recruitment Consultant, to build relationships with both candidates and clients.
You’ll need strong written communication skills as you reach out to hundreds or candidates, and email clients: Having messages full of spelling errors or poor grammar won’t make you look like a professional.
And strong verbal communication skills are essential for selling candidates a new job when hesitant to leave the comfort of their current job, negotiate candidates offers, and sell your agency’s services to new potential clients.
2. Determination and Perseverance
Recruitment is a job where you may hear 10 “No’s” before you hear that all important “Yes”. It can be disheartening to hear rejection after rejection, from candidates and clients.
Which is why determination and perseverance are so essential in recruitment. Because all it takes is that one person who does want to speak to you, who is looking for a job, and you can place them into a role: Making you some commission and have a huge positive impact on that person’s life.
3. Time Management
As a recruiter there are a million things you can be doing at any point. There’s always someone you could be contacting, or someone that wants your attention, and you’re always multitasking.
Which makes having or developing good time management skills essential. You will need to prioritise the tasks most essential while managing your time efficiently to make the most out of your work day.
4. Ambitious and Motivated
A career in recruitment is hard but rewarding: Which makes being ambitious and motivated incredibly useful skills for a recruiter.
Being ambitious and motivated to put in the extra hours and make those calls when nobody else is, is what will separate you from the other recruiters, allowing you to earn higher and make more placements.
And while being the first person to reach out to a new candidate on the market or a new potential client with a job vacancy isn’t everything, it can be the deciding factor.
5. Relationship Building and Management
As a recruiter you don’t just need to be able to communicate: You need to be able to create lasting and meaningful relationships with clients and candidates to ensure long-term success.
You need to build trust and rapport with both parties to ensure a successful placement: So that if a candidate has problems within the process they feel comfortable talking to you, and that clients will trust you to fill their job vacancy.
Pros and Cons of Being a Recruitment Consultant
Becoming a Recruitment Consultant is a difficult but extremely rewarding career path. But it takes plenty of hard work and effort to get started in the career. So there are plenty of pros and cons of being a recruitment consultant to consider.
Pros of Being a Recruitment Consultant
- Massive earning potential, early in your career. In most careers, it can take years of experience, training, and progression to start earning six-figures. In recruitment, it’s not unheard of for ambitious and talented recruitment consultants to be earning six-figures in their third year.
- Huge variety in your work. No two days are the same in recruitment, and you’re constantly learning.
- Sociable work and company culture. You’ll be speaking to people and making connections all day, as well as enjoying a social atmosphere in the office and regular social events.
- Rewarding, and we don’t just mean financially. To some people, a new job is just a new job. But to others, getting a new job can make a massive difference to their lives, and you’ll play a huge part in that.
- Company incentives and holidays abroad. Recruitment agencies regularly run company incentives to reward their consultants hard work and success. These can be trips abroad or company social events.
Cons of Being a Recruitment Consultant
- Starting your career in recruitment is a challenge. Starting any new career is a challenge, and recruitment is no exception. In your first year as a recruitment consultant there’s a lot to learn, you’ll have to work hard, and there will be plenty of highs and lows.
- It’s hard work. Recruitment is a career where the more you put in, the more you get out. To earn the big money, you’ll have to work hard and put in the hours.
- The long hours. As a recruiter you need to be available when is best for your candidates and clients. And sometimes that means outside of regular work hours or on weekends.
- You’ll need good support. When you’re working long hours and working hard, it’s essential to have a good support network of friends and family as you start your new career.
If you’re interested in a career in recruitment, you can have a look at our careers page and open vacancies here. We’re always looking for ambitious recruiters to join our exciting Dynamic team!