'Day In The Life of a Recruitment Consultant'
|
 |
What really happens within a busy recruitment agency? What hope does your resume and application have of making it past a recruiters inbox? What emphasis does a good resume really have in the process?
Take a look inside one of Sydney's busiest and most respected Recruitment Agencies and learn how important a truly fantastic resume really is!
"Monday morning equals Monday team meeting. Our team of four Account Managers and myself, the Recruitment Consultant all burst in to the conference rooms, coffee's, resumes, and job specs in hand."
 |
Our agency is comprised of approximately 8 small teams. Within each team there are approximately four to five Account Managers to one or two Recruitment Consultants. Account Managers generally look after the clients / employers and the Recruitment Consultants look after the candidates / job applicants. Each team has specialty areas of skill and ‘preferred supplier' contracts. Preferred supplier contracts are an agreement that the Account Manager has negotiated to be the first point of call for any recruitment requirements within that organisation. This gives the Account Manager the first lead, and a higher success of making a ‘placement' within that organisation before the job specification is sent out to multiple recruitment agencies. |
"The Account Managers take some time explaining their most pending and important roles to fill. I am madly copying down all the details on my ‘hit list' as I like to call it."
 |
Recruitment Account Managers tend to be very social, vibrant and motivated. They have to be in order to do this job day after day. The Recruitment Industry can have a high burn out rate. They tend to have an incredibly high expectation of their Recruitment Consultant although it's always with the best of intentions. They have worked hard for their preferred supplier contracts and they are going to deliver on them no matter the cost. |
"I have come across a few really interesting candidates in the following week which I think the Account Managers might be interested in, 5 in particular. They have quite rare and firm experience and skills. I have taken copies of their resumes and passed them out to the Account Managers. "
 |
As we work for am IT Recruitment Agency, we can recruit for some very specialized roles so it's always good to keep on top of the active and potentially very interesting candidates before they are lost to another agency. |
"After discussing my gold star candidates I have to give the Account Managers a very firm and clear status update as to what roles I am currently working on, how many more roles I will be able to take on this week, and what I am having success with and what roles I am about to abort."
 |
I can have up to 20 plus positions to fill per week. It is up to me to prioritize what I feel is ‘fillable' and is worth my time and energies and what is going to sit on the back burner for a while. Account Managers will always assume their roles are far more important than everyone else's, so it's the Recruitment Consultants role to keep them in line! |
"30 minutes later our meeting is concluded and we all pile in the lift to head back up to our office.
No time to waste, I fire my PC up to read last night and this morning's emails. Most mornings I will have around 100 emails to sift through. On top of this, I will have responses coming through on our email clients ‘bulletin board'."
 |
Each and every job application is initially screened by our wonderful Administration team. They look at the applications and resumes in to make sure the very basic requirements are met which is pre-screening. They will also do a quick tidy up of the resumes to help the Recruitment Consultants a little. If an application passed the grade, it is then posted to the bulletin board for all the Recruitment Consultants and Account Managers to see. Their details are also added to our database, or their details are updated if they have previously applied for a position with us. If the basic requirements are not met a ‘Dear John' email or letter is sent thanking them for their application although it has been unsuccessful. |
"The bulletin board shows some promising responses this morning for a recruitment drive I have been working on with my boss who is the State Sales Manager. We have 20 positions available in the Helpdesk support area all for one company. The roles have to be filled and placed swiftly and efficiently."
 |
It takes me less than 1 minute to scan each resume. We advertised these positions 3 days ago and already I have received 220 applications that have made it through the pre-screening process. I know exactly what technical skills and experience I am looking for. If I don't see what I am looking for the resume and application goes back to the Administration team for a ‘Dear John' letter. |
"I have culled the promising resumes and passed back the ones that don't make the grade. Time to print off the resumes and start making calls."
 |
Every first call back is required to establish communication skills and confirm technical (in the case of IT jobs) skills, employment history and availability. It is usually a quick phone call, lasting under 5 minutes. |
"I have come up with 5 suitable candidates as a result of my calls backs. Their resumes now have red pen scribble all over them."
 |
A Recruitment Consultants role is to support and present the candidate in the best light. Most of this done with a lot of resume clean up. ¼ of a Recruitment Consultants day is spent preparing a candidates resume for the client. |
"I quickly update the 5 candidate's files and details on the database so the other Recruitment Consultants will know that I am considering them for my position so they will know to contact me before they contact the candidate. I now rush (everything is a rush in this Industry!) over to my Account Managers office to show them my findings. After a brief discussion with the Account Manager, we have decided who I would like to interview and not. I call those 5 candidates immediately back either organising an interview or letting them know their application has been unsuccessful."
 |
A Recruitment Consultant spends the best part of their day interviewing candidates. Some prefer to do their interviews in the morning while they are fresh and some prefer to do them in the afternoon. |
"My work for these roles, in particular - is done for today. I have spent an hour assessing resumes, contacting candidates, scribbling all over their resumes, discussing the candidates with my Account Manager and then scheduling interviews with the promising candidates."
 |
As a Recruitment Consultant can have up to 20 active positions active at one time – generally a short period of time is spent searching, contacting and doing ground cover each day. Usually 1 -2 hours per active and urgent job. |
"Reception calls through to let me know that one of my candidates has just arrived for an interview. Time to race down stairs with his resume in my hand. This interview is for a position listed with another of my Account Managers."
 |
Recruitment Consultants look for good presentation and communication skills in an interview. That is the basic purpose of the interview. We want to make sure that we are sending someone presentable and professional to our client as it reflects very badly upon our Agency if we send anything less.Although we do not conduct physiological testing, we will present scenarios and questions which help us to gauge the individual and the experience that they may claim to have.We will confirm every aspect on your resume. Looking for the candidate to demonstrate and confirm the information in front of us.We will discuss the position, requirements and the company. Providing information that will aid the candidate to present and be successful if he/she is invited for an interview with the client.Lastly, we will discuss the process of this particular job specification, time frames and what the candidate will expect from ourselves. |
"With the interview now completed I feel confident in preparing his resume for my Account Manager to forward to her client. I have lots of notes from the candidate and lots of work to do on his resume. "
 |
Resumes and job applications coming from a Recruitment Agency need to be of a very high standard. A certain format and lay out must be seen in each resume. An Account Manager will usually send resumes to a client in blocks of three or four. |
"After spending a 30 minutes on this candidates resume it is now ready to be sent to the client with the additional candidates resumes that I prepared yesterday. This is the exciting part. Once you have done the ground work, submitting the resumes to client and waiting for feedback to pass back on to the candidate is exciting. It's make or break time!
The rest of the afternoon will be spent between interviewing and sifting through job applications via the bulletin board.
We may receive some feedback this afternoon regarding the resumes we just submitted to the client. The candidate I interviewed this morning is really excited and keen to hopefully secure an interview with the client. They are a great employer so I understand his motivation. He is a great guy and I am quite sure he will do really well with the client if he receives an interview.
Positive thinking!
Now, time for me to head back to the bulletin board .... "
All content Copyright - 2010 - www.yourresumewritingservice.com. If you wish to use any content, please contact me first.