Overcoming The Experience Gap In Recruitment Consultant Jobs
There is an age old problem of hungry (not literally, but possibly!) graduates looking to prove a point or a chance in the recruitment industry. A quick search online and you can find hundreds of recruitment vacancies, which you are sure you can do a good job. However when you look at the adverts for recruitment jobs, the agencies always specify that they will only consider applications from candidates who have experience.
As a freshly graduated candidate, it's important to understand what experience means to your potential new employer and why it is so important. A recruitment consultant (or somebody wanting to be one) is either going to ask these questions in an interview, or should be aware of them.
1: What has this candidate done before?
2: Is their past work relevant to what they are applying for?
3: If it is relevant, how closely related is it?
4: Is there evidence that they did well?
There is logic behind the four above questions. The logical one is that history tends to repeat itself. For example, if a candidate for a recruitment consultancy position dropped out of university when the pressure mounted, they are likely to do so again. On the other hand, if a candidate had previously been a prefect or head pupil, a hall chairman at university or could boast of awards, there is a strong chance that the candidate is a "winner". A "winner" of sorts is likely to have leadership qualities and will be able to produce results, they may even be management material in the long run.
To go back onto the subject of overcoming the experience gap, or lack of experience, how do you do it? Well if you don't have direct experience, you need to be aware of what transferable skills that you posses. These skills should be the component parts of the role that you are applying for, ideally which you can demonstrate from a previous situation or a different context.
An example to give could be that you were one a committee when there was a need for a new member. You could have sat down and wrote a specification for the type of person you were looking for and then scoured around for people to fit the criteria. Once you'd made a shortlist, you could have had a chat with them to asses who was the most suitable.
This would be an ideal fit for a recruitment position, the process that you would have followed in the above example is very similar to the recruitment process.
The above example could seem a bit contrived, but when you break down the component parts of recruitment vacancies and the tasks involved, you will be able to find examples where you have achieved things such as these in other contexts.
For some added encouragement, many recruiters are always a little wary of when a supposedly successful recruitment consultant tries to move sideways into an identical role. Perhaps they have baggage, or aren't as eager or hungry to prove a point as a fresh graduate. Don't be afraid of displaying your eagerness to get an opportunity in an interview.
To summarise
1: List what you believe that your potential employer is looking for
2: Find examples of the components of the role that you are applying for
3: Make the interviewee aware that you are eager and don't carry any baggage.
If you have an interview and your not successful, don't let this put you off. A good interview technique takes practise, very few graduates land the first job they apply for.
Good Luck
This article is written by Jonathan Walker of UK Careers, specialising in Recruitment Vacancies and Recruitment Agency Jobs.
