I want to work in a Recruitment Agency

Find out how you can start a career in a recruitment agency. Here we list potential job roles and some of the leading companies in that sector.

Job roles

Introduction

Recruitment agencies are used by large employers who wish to "spread their net" as widely as possible when recruiting graduates or specialists, and by smaller ones which do not have the personnel resources to carry out their own recruitment. Employers expect agencies to put forward candidates with specific qualities or abilities related to the job. This can restrict opportunities for new graduates without significant work experience - some agencies specify six months experience in a relevant field.

The work is a mixture of sales and HR recruitment and selection activities. It is fast moving and well paid and an increasingly popular choice for graduates.

Recruitment Consultant

Prospects Job Profile: Recruitment Consultant 

Also see the Occupational Profile of a Recruitment Consultant

Companies

Agencies which recruit graduates as trainee recruitment consultants.

  • HAYS largest recruitment business in the UK and Ireland, Hays are always looking for driven individuals who are ambitious to achieve results and power the world of work.
  • MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL Regularly recruits graduates from any degree discipline as trainee recruitment consultants. Offices throughout the UK and International divisions.
  • Amanda Wright specialise in HR as well as recruitment for the recruitment industry.
  • Careers in Recruitment jobs board

Web pages which list agencies

Application information from an applicant

I applied for the job online using my CV and covering letter, and received a call back out of the blue to discuss my CV and subsequently invite me to a telephone interview. 
The telephone interview was mostly about why I wanted the job, what skills and experience I had, standard interview questions. A few weeks later they invited me to an assessment centre which lasted five hours.
On the day they firstly introduced the company to us, some of the main aspects of the job and the company's history and values. They then split us into groups of four and gave us 15 minutes to produce a basic business plan for a sandwich shop in London - luckily only basic maths was required and they told us what to include, then asked us questions about our plan at the end of our presentation.
Hayes

We were randomly given a different CV each and tasked with listening to the brief of a 'client' who wanted us to find him an assistant manager for a department store.  We had to ask questions to uncover more details, such as why the job was made available - and then had ten minutes to write our sales pitch on why our candidate was the best person for the job. We were not pitching our candidate against the others, it was as if each of us applicants were a different agency each presenting their best client.  We then had to give the pitch in front of the others for 5 or more minutes to persuade the client to give our candidate an interview, and he then asked very demanding, critical questions, which often involved telling us the candidate wasn't good enough and he wasn't interested, although most of us got there in the end!
Hayes

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