For those who have worked/ are working in recruitment

[candles22]

Hi everyone.

I graduated in business in July 2023 and am looking to begin my post grad career. I have a particular interest in recruitment and want to start applying for jobs in this industry. However, I don't really know where to start and what my prospects will look like as I have little to no experience working in this sector. For those of you who have hired candidates before, will I find it difficult to find work due to my lack of experience? Also do you have any suggestions of how I can make my CV appear more attractive to employers?

I have 6 years of experience working in customer service and 6 months experience working in the Nurse Bank as a booking agent and doing admin work.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you .

Recruitment is a sales role essentially. There are usually plenty of vacancies advertised and places like LinkedIn are swarming with rec-to-rec recruitment consultants, who specialise in finding candidates for the industry.

Thanks you replying! Have you yourself worked in recruitment?

Bucketloads of recruitment roles for grads! Just google 'graduate recruitment consultant' Milkround, indeed etc

Look into getting a CIPD level 5 qualification, which you might not need, but it will give you an idea of how recruitment folds in to the overall business model. From there just apply for HR roles that specialise in recruitment l

The recruitment industry is very challenging at the moment, thousands of redundancies and a lot of people with skills on the market, it’s a very volatile sector to work in!

Briefly, it didn’t suit me personally. Too much sales and egos for my liking.

15 years experience in recruitment here
it’s not always “salesy”.
I have mostly worked in executive search; big companies will take on recent grads with little experience (they took me!) as researchers and you can work your way up from there. Very professional companies, nothing like a traditional agency.
recruiters can also work in house for larger companies but these are quite tricky to get into and generally less well paid.

Amazing thank you for your response, it has given me a lot of hope!

Do you have any idea what skills would be important to demonstrate on my CV?

Do you have any idea what skills would be important to demonstrate on my CV?

Being able to use Google?

https://www.michaelpage.co.uk/advice/career-advice/growing-your-career/key-skills-recruitment-consultant

I worked in recruitment after I graduated for about nine months. Worked in a very high flying exec search company first which mainly comprised oxbridge graduates and then a traditional search based company. I hated every single minute. Found both atmospheres arrogant and tense. Never been so miserable. But then in my heart I knew I wanted to teach but thiught I'd try wometinf different first. Now been teaching for fifteen years and happy as Larry.

Your experience at a nurse bank is very relevant so highlight that as well as other customer service experience , experience with various IT platforms including teams and excel.

it can be learnt on the job but the most important aspects of research/executive search work is
-confidence speaking with high calibre/senior individuals. Starting with a good telephone manner which is extremely important
-presenting data
-understanding of how companies are structured
-an inquisitive nature (eg genuine interest in companies and people and their career paths)
-team work

agency type recruiters will take on complete novices however you might find it very much a sink or swim environment with little support.

You're so rude. I'm not looking for generic answers! Clearly I was asking the previous poster because they have professional experience in the industry.

Wasn’t clear to me.

“Do you have any idea” is a very general start to a question.

“In your experience, what would be the key skills that I should demonstrate to set me apart from this who have just read the generic skill set you can find from googling?” would have been clearer.

(I’ve been in HR for decades so dealt with internal and external recruiters a lot, both as a client and as a business rep. The best ones listen. And research.)

I worked in recruitment when I graduated for about 6 months. They recruited me and a graduate fair that my uni was hosting & I was under the impression it was a 'Graduate job' that needed my degree.

Came to find out I didn't need my degree and it was Sales and target based. It was cold calls - target of 60 calls a day and I ended each day deflated. Never made target and was under a lot of pressure.

In the end I left (sacked) and joined a tech graduate scheme which led me into the high paying Tech role I have now - 8 years later.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from joining a Recruitment company, but just read reviews on Glassdoor and make sure the company will be a good fit for you. Good luck!

Thank you, this is extremely helpful.

You're right, the skills I have learnt in nurse bank are definitely relevant to a recruitment role.
My job in nursebank was a low paid band 3 role and I wasn't sure how I could make it seem more impressive. Even thought the most significant part of this role was to find and book nurses and HCAs into understaffed wards.

Candles
Even thought the most significant part of this role was to find and book nurses and HCAs into understaffed wards.
that sounds super tough tbh. So you can presumably manage working under extreme pressure, be very resourceful, keep going when motivation must have been very difficult. All useful traits.

I agree with the OP you were a bit rude here because she was very clearly directing her question to me as per the actual tag!

Thanks for this. I am at a stage in my life where I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. I'm going to at least give it a go but will be careful about which agencies I apply for as cold calling is not something I would like to have to do.

@candles22 to be blunt cold calling is where we all started.
I never cold called (potential) clients but I have cold called tens of thousands of candidates in my career

it’s a bit easier these days as approaches tend to be by linked in or email but you absolutely do have to be prepared to just call people randomly if they are the person you want to speak to and they haven’t responded.

Have a look at joining CIPD as a student/ affiliate. Are you on linkedin connecting with all key recruitment organisations?

I don't think @OneMoreTime23 was rude at all. I'm sure plenty of others were also wondering where the OP's initiative was. Combine the apparent lack of initiative with her seemingly thin skin and I suspect recruitment consultancy isn't going to be a natural fit for her. If the OP thinks that (or my) comment(s) are rude, she's going to have a tough time in recruitment.

(And yes, I started out as a grad in recruitment - I got out of recruitment by cold calling a large organisation about a job lead I'd picked up and sold myself as a candidate into the role. I'm now on the other side of the fence and amongst other things I recruit for my current employer and various clients).

You weren’t tagged. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I clearly was in the OP’s post at 10.59