How to get in…
Specialist recruitment roles tend to arise in larger employers, where staff turnover is high and there are dedicated teams to deal with recruitment. In smaller organisations, recruitment normally falls within the remit of an HR officer or similar. These positions are often filled by those who started out in a generalist HR role, before choosing to specialise in recruitment, or gaining knowledge and experience of the area during a recruitment drive.
What it involves…
Day-to-day duties as a recruitment officer will generally consist of assisting with all aspects of the recruitment process, from compiling job descriptions and posting vacancies, through to dealing with those leaving, transferring or going on maternity leave. You may also be involved with the interview and induction processes.
Recruitment managers’ work will generally focus on the same matters as the officer role, but on a much more senior level, with your main responsibilities including the development and implementation of recruitment policy and procedures, benchmarking recruitment and retention, analysis of recruitment data, selection and management of recruitment agencies.
Moving up…
As with most HR roles, a CIPD qualification will be of benefit. Gaining three years’ experience at recruitment officer level should provide you with the skills and knowledge to enable you to move into a more senior role, and there is constant demand for skilled recruitment professionals within large organisations.
As the graph shows, the difference in pay between the commercial and public sector are minimal, as are the regional differences. This makes it easy to gain a diverse range of experiences by moving across sectors and around the country.
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By Hays
