Top tips from big money recruitment consultants

This article comprises of a set of hints to improve your earnings as a recruitment consultant. To be successful a recruitment consultant must possess great attention to detail and be able to make good decisions. The recruitment consultant will have a large number of candidates and a relatively small amount of vacancies to fill at any one time. It goes without saying that there will be a fair amount of fallout. This fallout can be separated into preventable and unpreventable categories. If you can focus on limiting the amount of preventable fallout, your pay packet will be significantly larger. Having conversed with numerous experienced consultants and being one myself, I have outlined some of the best tips to follow below.

Firstly, post jobs on job boards the minute you hear of them. Recruitment is highly competitive. A new vacancy will likely find the desk of many recruitment consultants as well as yours. The first people to get the adverts up will likely receive the choice pick of the candidates. Be last and you'll simply find your calling candidates already aware and submitted to the role. In recruitment the early bird certainly does catch the worm.

Keeping in touch with your candidates after you have found them work is a very worthwhile thing to do. If the candidate leaves within the first few weeks, you won’t get your fee from the client. Not only is this bad for your wallet, but it also will damage your reputation in the eyes of the client, insofar as you appear incapable of providing suitable candidates. A quick call after a few weeks will not take much time, and if the candidate is struggling, a little pep talk from you may make the world of difference.

Being upfront with salary expectations will save you time and money. More often than not, candidates have a minimum amount of money they will work for; by being upfront with each other you will be able to find them the most suitable opportunities. It can be quite embarrassing if you provide an excellent candidate for the position, but is surprised by the lower than expected salary offered by the employer at interview.

A fourth point is perhaps the one average recruitment consultants take for granted: keep your admin side up to date. Make sure that interview details are confirmed with candidates verbally and in writing. It will reflect poorly on your communication skills if the candidate turns up late for an interview, because the details you agreed were incorrect. Mistakes are part of human nature, you cannot avoid them, but you can certainly minimise the risk of them by simply being professional.

Similarly, you should always converse with your candidate on the day of their interview. Call on the morning of the interview to check they are ready and still attending, and also give them a call later on to see how it went. It is in part common courtesy and in part looking after your customers.

Building relationships with your candidates and clients is one major thing that will improve your chances of earning more fees, working as  recruitment consultants. Follow these tips and you will minimise the preventable fallout of not matching vacancies with good candidates.