How to become a recruitment consultant in Australia
Everyone remembers the buzz that comes with landing a new job.
Now imagine being able to share this feeling by helping other jobseekers find and secure their dream jobs. This, along with helping businesses hire skilled employees, is what makes being a recruitment consultant such a rewarding role.
If you enjoy using your communication skills to help people solve career problems, then being a recruiter could be a great fit.
Read on to find out how to become a recruitment consultant in Australia and why it’s such a strong career move in our all-time high skills-short job market.
Related: What does a recruitment consultant do?
What is the role of a recruitment consultant?
The primary role of a recruitment consultant is to find work for skilled candidates and secure top talent for businesses.
Hiring the best-fit employees for an organisation has always been a challenging job. Why? Because it’s a task that determines the overall success of the business.
As a recruitment consultant, you help facilitate these valuable connections and placements.
Part of the time, you’ll work with candidates to assess their suitability for certain roles and guide them through the recruitment process. And you’ll also build relationships with employers to understand their recruitment requirements and help them find skilled employees.
The good news is, it’s possible to become a recruiter without any prior experience.
In fact, the only must-haves are a passion for helping people, exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, and a great work ethic.
Related: Wondering if becoming a recruitment consultant is a good career? Find out more about joining the Robert Half recruitment team.
What qualifications do you need to become a recruitment consultant in Australia?
In most cases, you won’t need a tertiary degree to become a recruitment consultant.
However, some companies or agencies prefer to hire candidates with relevant qualifications or bachelor’s degrees. This is especially true if you transition to a finance or technology-specific practice group.
Most recruitment companies also offer on-the-job training and mentorship.
At Robert Half, we want to help jobseekers and hiring companies make successful matches. And we’re also committed to training our own recruitment consultants to become the very best in the industry.
That said, there are certifications and other qualifications that will improve your skills and help your CV stand out when applying for a recruitment role.
Examples include:
- Holding your Senior Secondary Certificate of Education
- Any sales-based work experience
- VET courses, such as a Certificate IV or Diploma of Human Resource Management
- A relevant bachelor’s degree, such as human resource management, behavioural science, or psychology
- Training courses offered by an industry body, such as the Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association Australia and New Zealand (RCSA) or Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo)
Though in reality, many recruitment consultants stumble into the field without a set plan, and never look back.
This was the case for our Associate Director Adam Queay:
“I was originally a candidate of Robert Half, coming from an accounting practice in Brisbane. A senior manager approached me on LinkedIn, identifying that my motivations didn’t align with what I was doing in accounting and opened a discussion about recruitment consulting. I’m still thankful to that manager for introducing me to Robert Half all that time ago.”
How to decide if becoming a recruitment consultant is the right career move for you
While working as a recruitment consultant is fast-paced and exciting, it’s not for everyone.
The most successful recruitment consultants:
- Have good intuition and understanding of people’s qualities
- Are outstanding communicators
- Have great analytical and decision-making skills
- Are tactful and discreet when dealing with people
As a recruitment consultant, you’ll get the satisfaction and joy of building relationships and connecting people with great jobs. Plus, given the diversity of the role, it’ll teach you skills that will help you throughout your entire career.
However, if you shy away from competition or are reluctant to work to targets, becoming a recruitment consultant may not be the right option for you.
Neither is it a 9-5 role.
After all, not all jobseekers will be available during normal business hours. You may also need to travel frequently to meet with candidates and clients.
Most importantly, do your research. Checking out the different recruitment roles available will help you decide if it’s a good career move for you.
And talk to people in the industry if you can.
First-hand information will give you far better insight than any article or job description. A personal referral from a fellow recruiter may also help you get a start in the industry.
Technology Recruitment Consultant Lachlan Miles explains why it’s a good fit for him:
“After many years working in hospitality, I realised the part of the job I loved the most was fostering relationships with our ‘regulars’. So, transferring these skills to a career in recruitment was a natural career move for me.”
“I’ve always enjoyed a challenge – and matching candidates with clients is not only challenging but mentally stimulating as well. But there’s no more satisfying aspect of my job than seeing our own relationships with candidates and clients become a relationship between the candidate and client after a placement has been made.”
It’s great hearing from a candidate I’ve placed about their journey with the business so far and their plans for the year ahead – both personal and professional. It’s also fulfilling to hear the client side of this, about how helpful the placed candidate has been. These success stories are the reason I joined recruitment and also what keeps me here.”
Related: How to choose a career path with Robert Half as a recruitment consultant.
Choosing to work as a recruitment consultant at Robert Half
Now that you understand how to become a recruitment consultant, perhaps it sounds like an ideal career move for you.
If so, you should consider joining our recruitment team at Robert Half.
We’re committed to investing in your success. Plus, you’ll get all the training and development needed to become one of the very best recruitment consultants in the industry.
Next steps
If you have outstanding communication skills, a great work ethic, and experience in the finance, technology or business support industry, get in touch with our recruitment team today.
We’ll get you fully trained as a recruitment consultant in a matter of months.
