Making recruitment a career of choice, not chance

Jo Faragher

Many recruitment professionals will often say they fell into the job, perhaps intending it to be a stopgap to earn some money before embarking on a long-term career.

But a number of industry bodies and employers are working hard to turn this situation around, and are slowly beginning to position recruitment as a worthwhile career choice for talented school leavers and graduates.

That’s why it’s encouraging news to hear the success of a recent recruitment intern programme set up by trade body APSCo this summer. It attracted 24 students to 14 recruitment companies. At one company, it’s estimated interns brought in around £65,000 in extra revenue.

Elsewhere, the Institute of Recruiters has for some time pioneered an apprenticeship in recruitment, alongside a number of other HR qualifications and ways to build hiring skills. The REC has also offered industry-recognised accreditations for many years, although not always at this junior level.

Together, these skills-building initiatives can help to formulate a clear career path for young people entering the recruitment industry. Not only that, but schemes such as these gradually add to the professionalism and reputation of agencies, broadening out their skill sets beyond ‘bums on seats’ to a more value-add, consultative approach.

One intern remarked how he had never really understood what recruitment entailed, but that learning about the opportunities for progression and the variety of day-to-day life as a recruiter had made him consider it as a career option.

Recruitment has, in the past, gained a reputation for being an industry where anyone can set up in business, and where consultants have more interest in their commission than in finding the right candidate for their client. Widening the pool of talent – not to mentioning opening people’s eyes to the reality of the job these days – can only help overcome this perception.

Building up a pipeline of engaged, ambitious recruitment professionals who have chosen this career could seal the future for agencies for the better.