Why All Those Who Love Recruitment Should Support Professions Week

Kevin tells us why he thinks that those loving recruitment should also support Professions Week.

Recruiters do something that's special and unique: we help individuals get a job, whilst helping businesses get the talent, skills and resource they need. Nobody else helps the UKs jobs market function better than the recruitment industry.

However, we sometimes devalue what we do and I've often heard recruiters say "it's just sales and matching people to jobs", but what we do is really important for the individuals and businesses. We help and contribute to the success of our economy.

This week is Professions Week and the REC are supporting this national campaign because we see recruitment as a profession.  If you, like us, want others to view the recruitment industry as a profession,  then we need to start championing recruitment as a career of choice. We have codes of conduct, standards which are enforced, qualifications and apprenticeships that provide a clear career path. When you take all of these elements into consideration,  it describes a modern professional services industry.

So let’s go out there to the wider world of work - as a profession - and sell the benefits of working as a recruiter to the brightest and best young people. It's a wonderful career where you can earn as you learn, if you know somebody who is a self-starter, who has confidence and desire to be successful, this may be the career for someone you know. But how many young people are aware of recruitment?

The REC has started this journey with our Youth Employment Charter we already have 250 recruiters going into schools, colleges and universities providing careers advice. Over the last 18 months we have helped 20,000 young people. Who else knows what employers are looking for? Who is better equipped to provide CV and interview advice? This industry we work within. This activity also positions recruiters as professionals in the minds of the young people, their teachers and parents,  as people who make a difference.

As the industry expands over the next three years let’s take the opportunity to attract the next generation of young people to the UK recruitment industry. The REC and Institute of Recruitment Professionals (IRP) will be doing our bit but we need the industry to pull together in this critical quest.

I love recruitment because it's about what you do and not what you say that matters. So let’s collectively support Professions Week and tell young people why a career as a recruiter is something to aspire to. Talk to us through social media channels like LinkedIn and Twitter (using the hashtag #ProfessionsWeek) and tell us how you are championing the recruitment industry.

If you would like to see what other activities are taking place for Professions Week, visit the Professions Week website, the official Twitter account or Facebook page.