Recruiters…what we are and what we are not. - Signet Resources

Candidates - 5th January 2016

Last month Signet Resources flung their doors wide open, running an open day, discussing what the job of a recruiter actually looks like, for people who were potentially interested in exploring a career in this area. It was an informative day for everyone who attended and really highlighted what makes recruitment such an exciting job!

Speaking with the people who had decided to come and find out what we were all about it really made me think about what recruiters actually do, what people think we do and what we definitely don’t do!

What recruiters actually do

  1. What feels like a million things at once! – Recruitment is a fast paced and exciting role to be in. You are the specialist that both clients and candidates turn to for advice and guidance on various different situations. Because of this you need to make sure you know your market inside and out, if you don’t, you will quickly lose credibility with people who are relying on your expertise. Be prepared to read trade press, keep up with breaking news and network network network!
  2. People will be your 100% focus- this might sound obvious to you, but what I mean is that it is all about relationship management. As well as developing new relationships with companies who need to hire new employees, you will be sourcing candidates and really coaching them through the interview process. The job doesn’t stop once the person has got the offer though! You will be guiding both the organisation and candidate through the offer process and being a point of contact for both parties with any hiccups along the way. If you don’t like being on the phone and meeting new people every day, this job is definitely not for you!
  3. Act as their own boss- Working in recruitment is very much like running your own business. You have targets, but how you work towards achieving these is very much up to you! You have to be accountable for your actions and be confident as to what you have to offer to organisations and candidates. No one will be sat behind you making you pick up the phone, so if you are a tenacious person and don’t want to be micromanaged, it’s an amazing environment to work in.

 

What recruiters don’t do! (Or what we don’t do at Signet Resources anyway!)

  1. We are not purely focused on the sell. – We won’t try and sell the dream and force anyone into a role that wouldn’t be right for them, or sell our services to a company who wouldn’t benefit from working with us (which doesn’t happen very often!!). At Signet we pride ourselves on our honesty and integrity and if something isn’t right for client or candidate then we will let them know.
  2. We are not HR- Although we are here to advise our clients and candidates on areas we have in depth knowledge in, we are not the HR department! We liaise with HR teams frequently, but purely to take briefs on vacancies, arrange interviews and provide contact details for contracts to be send out.
  3. We are not a CV writing service or a careers advisory centre- Obviously people do turn to us for advice on their career direction and how to write their CV and we are always happy to give hints and tips (a lot of which can be found on our website, signetresources.co.uk) but if you are spending your days crafting peoples CV’s for them, then you are not doing your job properly.

 

If after reading this, recruitment is an area you are still keen to explore, then brilliant! Working as a recruitment consultant can be massively rewarding, you are helping people forge their careers and make some of the most important decisions of their life after all. There will be amazing highs where you wouldn’t mind working through the night because you have such a buzz, and of course stressful lows where you feel like nothing is going right and it can’t possibly get any worse. The rollercoaster is well worth the ride though and you will probably work with some of the funniest, craziest and nicest people along the way! (PS we don’t dress like superheroes every day, just on special occasions!)

Signet Recruiters

 

 

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