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Job description: Resourcer
As a Resourcer, it will be your job to support the principal recruitment consultant with tasks like candidate name gathering, interviewing, candidate management, database maintenance and ensuring quality assurance compliance.
Typically, you'll be carrying out these types of duties every day:
- Source and select candidates
- Network and advertise to potential candidates
- Identify skills to match appropriately with vacancies
- Negotiate contracts and new starter packs
- Deal with general queries relating to contracts, pay, logistics etc
It's up to you to find the right applicant for each position, and that means screening lots of potential candidates before recruiting them. You'll be liaising with a whole range of people, getting as much information as possible to make the perfect match.
There are two main routes into being a resourcer. The first is within an employment agency, where you could specialise in recruiting for a particular industry - say, IT or Engineering. Or, you could work in-house within the human resources department of a company, and recruit for internal positions.
You could be dealing with permanent, contract and temporary placements, and finding suitable candidates at a range of different levels.
Hours/Environment
Being a resourcer is usually a Monday to Friday role, 9am - 5pm.
Although the role is mainly desk-based, you'll get to meet clients and candidates both on and off site.
Skills and interests
To be a good Resourcer, you must:
- have good communication skills
- be able to gain people's confidence and put them at ease
- be persuasive, persistent and patient
- be of smart appearance
- be able to cope with pressure
- be flexible and adaptable
- have a mature personality
- have good organisational and administrative skills
- have the ability to prioritise
- have good IT skills
- be able to work to deadlines
Entry
Depending on the type of Resourcer position you go for, academic qualifications aren't essential, but having good GCSEs/S grades would give you an advantage and make you stand out from other applicants. Resourcers working on executive placements tend to be graduate level.
Experience is a great advantage, as with most jobs, but there are plenty of opportunities to start in a junior Resourcer role and work up. Once you've been on the job for a few months, up to around six, you may be able to train as a Consultant within a recruitment agency environment.
Training
Joining a large agency, you're likely to find in-house training programmes to give you the skills you need to progress on your career path. These may include a combination of on-the-job training and courses run by the recruitment agency staff themselves.
External courses are also popular and plentiful, and are generally run by the industry body Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).
The REC offers two awards, available through distance learning:
- The Foundation Award in Recruitment Practice. Ideal for the first two years in the industry, or if you wish to refresh basic knowledge and skills. If you want to embark on a career in recruitment or set up your own agency, you could also take the Award.
- The Certificate in Recruitment Practice. With at least one years' experience, you can go for the Certificate; or if you have less experience, but have studied for A levels/H grades, a degree or equivalent.
The REC also offers a range of professional development short courses covering subjects such as sales, interview techniques, employment law, finance and management.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development offers a Certificate in Recruitment and Selection too, available through distance learning, plus a range of professional development short courses in interviewing techniques, employment law and psychometric testing.
An NVQ/SVQ Level 3 in Recruitment Consultancy is another option to think about.
Opportunities
There are thousands of recruitment agencies in the United Kingdom. And they all deal with different industries and specalisms in the job market. If you're interested in a particular field, or your expertise lies in a specific area, there are many opportunities to drill down to this level of detail with your work as a Resourcer.
If you start your recruitment career in a general agency, without focusing on a specialist field, you can transfer your skills over if you decide to follow a more structure path.
With experience, and typically with larger companies, the potential to move up the career ladder can feel more structured. Promotion into a consultancy, business development or management role is a real possibility - especially if you're consistently delivering, or exceeding, targets and making a big impression on clients and candidates alike.
Or if you prefer the idea of going solo, then you could choose to set up your own agency.
Annual income
As a Resourcer your basic salary would range between £15,000 and £18,000 a year. Once experienced as a Consultant your salary could increase to between £20,000 and £40,000, depending on the organisation, plus commission.
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