How to Get a Job in Recruitment

If you've just got your A Level results or finished your degree, and are considering a job in recruitment, this is the blog for you! As a recruitment consultant you’d be joining an invaluable industry with great career opportunities across all economic sectors, areas of the country and the chance to work further afield.

The question is, how do you get that first job in recruitment? 

Apprenticeships in recruitment A great way to launch your career in recruitment is through becoming an apprentice with a recruitment company. As a recruitment apprentice you’ll earn a salary through working alongside experienced staff while receiving industry-specific training and vocational qualifications. You’ll be given the chance to make a real impact for candidates and clients, and stand a good chance of securing a job at the end of your apprenticeship.

With the opportunity to put what you learn into practice and receive mentoring from senior members of the organisation, apprenticeships are ideal for those looking to get straight into work and bypass university. Interested? Read what recent apprentices have to say about their experience.

Be industry focused If you have an interest or degree in a certain field, for example digital, tech or engineering etc but are more attracted to recruiting for the sector than working within it, a great way to land your first job is looking at agencies and companies specialising in that field.

Your expertise and insight will be valuable in developing trust with clients and candidates, so don’t be shy in mentioning this within your CV, cover letter and (hopefully) interview for a recruitment role within a sector specific organisation.

Shout about your skills! There are key skills that separate decent recruiters from great recruiters. Make sure you know what they are when writing your CV and highlight why you have what it takes to become a great recruitment professional. A good way of highlighting your attributes is to link them to educational or personal achievements in your personal or career statement:

Determination: Highlight any challenges you’ve overcome and how you achieved this.

Confidence: Recruitment is all about sales and match making, two aspects that require confidence to work well. If you’ve had to give presentations, lead projects or been a team leader in a previous role make sure you include details of this in your CV.

Organisation: Are you able to manage several projects and deadlines while delivering great work? Perfect, explain how and when you have done this.

Strong communicator: Recruitment is a people-centered industry and you’ll be required to talk to candidates and clients from a wide range of society with ease. Providing information about how you worked as part of a team and across various groups of people will help highlight your communication skills.

Positive outlook: Adding that you have a positive outlook in your personal statement is always a good idea in showing that you’ll be able to take the knocks as well as highs a career in recruitment entails.

Get yourself out there! Sadly your first job won't just fall into your lap, you'll have to put yourself out there if you really want to get hired. Recruitment is all about confidence and people skills, so taking the initiative to of arranging meetings with recruitment agencies you're interested in working for is a great way of potentially securing your first role.

What are you waiting for? Get your CV polished and start contacting agencies today!

Find out more Read more about a career in recruitment on the IRP website, and why not also watch our interviews with junior recruiters to find out just what a career in recruitment looks like.