Finding jobs is a job: Is recruiting the right career path for you?

Between constant cover letters and endless applications, searching for a job already feels like a full-time gig. Why not actually make finding jobs your job? If you enjoy constantly connecting with new people and helping them attain their goals, a career as a recruiter may be a professional path worth considering. 

Between constant cover letters and endless applications, searching for a job already feels like a full-time gig. Why not actually make finding jobs your job? If you enjoy constantly connecting with new people and helping them attain their goals, a career as a recruiter may be a professional path worth considering. 

Don’t make the mistake of assuming the life of a recruiter consists of nothing more than standing around awkwardly at job fairs and sending out mass emails to strangers. Recruitment represents an exciting, dynamic career that combines interpersonal skills and empathy with sales acumen and problem-solving prowess. To start, the role is indispensable to countless employers. Like a rigged game of Tetris, no organization is going to prosper with the wrong people placed in pivotal positions. It’s the recruiter’s responsibility to find the ideal individual for each specific role.

On the other end of the hiring ecosystem, recruiters constitute something akin to a lifeboat out in the ocean for vast numbers of jobseekers. We can all relate to feeling overwhelmed by the sheer enormity and frustrating futility of the job market. Tons of candidates have the same story; despite hundreds of applications sent and cover letters written, their email inbox looks more like a ghost town than a point of correspondence. Recruiters can help kickstart a job search back into high gear by connecting qualified applicants with relevant positions that, for whatever reason, hadn’t been on their radar. 

That means being a recruiter constitutes a whole lot more than just pushing papers and filling empty positions. A career in recruitment allows one to touch, and change for the better, countless lives. 

What does a recruiter do?

From start to finish, recruiters are active throughout the entire hiring sequence. That means posting the job listing itself, seeking out candidates to apply, reviewing resumes among submitted applications, working side by side with hiring managers and HR, participating in job interviews, and even coaching job seekers on how best to navigate each step of the process. As a recruiter, you probably won’t be making the final decision on who is offered a job, but your input will almost certainly be taken into account.

Generally speaking, a recruiter will either work internally for a singular company or as a member of a recruitment agency serving numerous employers. There are nuances associated with both variations. In-house recruiters usually have a much better sense of company culture at their employer, making it easier to identify candidates likely to gel nicely with the rest of the team. Agency recruiters who outsource their services, meanwhile, tend to specialize in specific fields like sales, marketing, HR, or pharmaceuticals, just to name a few possibilities.

How to become a recruiter 

The ideal recruiter is a people person. Forging quick connections with new people comes naturally to a successful recruiter, and not just on a base level either. Empathy is another key characteristic among seasoned recruitment professionals, as truly understanding the motivations underlying a candidate’s ambitions is key to placing them in the right role. Besides people skills, recruiters must be highly organized, in terms of both time management and attention to detail. The average recruiter sees dozens if not hundreds of resumes and applicants each and every day. That’s a recipe for a mess without a proper sorting system in place.

While earning a bachelor’s degree isn’t absolutely necessary for a career in recruiting, it definitely helps. Most recruiters major in fields including human resources, psychology, communications, sociology, or business administration. Internships in the realm of HR are another great way to gain experience relevant to recruiting. Of course, if you have a very specific recruiting niche in mind, IT recruiting for example, choosing a technology-centric course of study is advisable. 

Post-graduation, the burgeoning recruiting professional should spend a sizable portion of their time on building a robust social network. The more professionals you know, the more opportunities to connect people with positions.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming the life of a recruiter consists of nothing more than standing around awkwardly at job fairs and sending out mass emails to strangers. Recruitment represents an exciting, dynamic career that combines interpersonal skills and empathy with sales acumen and problem-solving prowess. To start, the role is indispensable to countless employers. Like a rigged game of Tetris, no organization is going to prosper with the wrong people placed in pivotal positions. It’s the recruiter’s responsibility to find the ideal individual for each specific role.

On the other end of the hiring ecosystem, recruiters constitute something akin to a lifeboat out in the ocean for vast numbers of jobseekers. We can all relate to feeling overwhelmed by the sheer enormity and frustrating futility of the job market. Tons of candidates have the same story; despite hundreds of applications sent and cover letters written, their email inbox looks more like a ghost town than a point of correspondence. Recruiters can help kickstart a job search back into high gear by connecting qualified applicants with relevant positions that, for whatever reason, hadn’t been on their radar. 

That means being a recruiter constitutes a whole lot more than just pushing papers and filling empty positions. A career in recruitment allows one to touch, and change for the better, countless lives. 

What does a recruiter do?

From start to finish, recruiters are active throughout the entire hiring sequence. That means posting the job listing itself, seeking out candidates to apply, reviewing resumes among submitted applications, working side by side with hiring managers and HR, participating in job interviews, and even coaching job seekers on how best to navigate each step of the process. As a recruiter, you probably won’t be making the final decision on who is offered a job, but your input will almost certainly be taken into account.

Generally speaking, a recruiter will either work internally for a singular company or as a member of a recruitment agency serving numerous employers. There are nuances associated with both variations. In-house recruiters usually have a much better sense of company culture at their employer, making it easier to identify candidates likely to gel nicely with the rest of the team. Agency recruiters who outsource their services, meanwhile, tend to specialize in specific fields like sales, marketing, HR, or pharmaceuticals, just to name a few possibilities.

How to become a recruiter 

The ideal recruiter is a people person. Forging quick connections with new people comes naturally to a successful recruiter, and not just on a base level either. Empathy is another key characteristic among seasoned recruitment professionals, as truly understanding the motivations underlying a candidate’s ambitions is key to placing them in the right role. Besides people skills, recruiters must be highly organized, in terms of both time management and attention to detail. The average recruiter sees dozens if not hundreds of resumes and applicants each and every day. That’s a recipe for a mess without a proper sorting system in place.

While earning a bachelor’s degree isn’t absolutely necessary for a career in recruiting, it definitely helps. Most recruiters major in fields including human resources, psychology, communications, sociology, or business administration. Internships in the realm of HR are another great way to gain experience relevant to recruiting. Of course, if you have a very specific recruiting niche in mind, IT recruiting for example, choosing a technology-centric course of study is advisable. 

Post-graduation, the burgeoning recruiting professional should spend a sizable portion of their time on building a robust social network. The more professionals you know, the more opportunities to connect people with positions.