Good question and one that we are asked from time to time by both candidates looking for work and client companies looking for the right people. Both candidates and clients have different needs and there are always a number of factors that come into play when deciding to work with a recruitment consultant. These include your location, what sector you are in (Tech and IT Recruitment are huge at the moment), seasonal fluctuations, market trends, health (Covid), the economy and of course finance.
But, what is a recruitment consultant?
In order to make the decision, we need to make sure that everyone understands the actual definition of a recruitment consultant; what they do and for who. There are lots of official definitions in Google, but primarily, recruitment consultants are are responsible for attracting candidates for jobs and then matching them to temporary or permanent positions with the client companies they work with. Recruitment Consultants exist to help candidates in a number of ways, but mainly it is about taking time to listen to their desires, needs, motivations and even perhaps what’s not right about their current role. They then take this information on board and then match the right role for the candidate to the right employer.
The other side of the job of a Recruitment consultant is to assist employers to identify, select and recruit staff for their vacancies. Recruitment consultants partner businesses to help them find the most suitable people for their roles. At Simple, for example. we identify the best possible job applicants and prepare them accordingly for interview at the right business.
Recruitment consultants are also responsible for a number of elements that facilitate the job and candidate search such as
CV writing
Identify and develop client business relationships
negotiating contracts
headhunting
interviewing and assessing prospective applicants
candidate matching
screening candidates
salary advice
drawing up shortlists of candidates for clients to interview
organising interviews and selection events
making arrangements for the advertisement of vacancies (on and offline)
helping applicants to prepare for interviews
relationship building
In short a recruitment consultant is a sort of match.com for jobs!
According to the REC’s latest industry status report, the wider recruitment industry contributed £35.9 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2020/21. This means that recruitment is a huge part of businesses. Sectors like health care, social assistance and manufacturing have the highest levels of recruiting difficulty and experts in the form of recruitment consultants play a vital role in the matchmaking process.
One of the sector’s best known recruiters recently said in an interview that “working closely with the correct recruitment partner is imperative whether you are a client or candidate. Picking a consultancy that takes the time to assess your skills, experiences, characteristics and circumstances, in order to effectively match both company and candidate together, adds huge value to any process.”
Start the ball and, if you are looking for work, please start by registering with us. If you are looking for your next amazing employee, get in touch with one of our experts. After all, we find jobs for people and people for jobs!
