Recruitment vacancies and the graduate experience gap

But, agencies are specifying that they will only consider experienced candidates for their recruitment vacancies.

For would be recruitment consultants fresh out of University it's important to understand what 'experience' means to an employer and why it's so important. If you are looking to recruit for recruitment vacancies, or indeed an other roles in the recruitment sector, there's few simple questions to answer regarding your candidates.

• What have they done before?

• Is it relevant to what I want them to do now?

• If it is relevant, how closely related is the previous experience?

• What evidence is there that they did it well?

The simple reason for this, is that in recruitment, history has a habit of repeating itself. If a potential recruitment consultant dropped out of University when the going got tough, the chances are, a couple of bad months and they'll be gone. Alternatively, if some was school prefect, hall chairman at Uni, along with an international junior sports achiever, the chances are your dealing with a 'winner' with leadership qualities who will produce results with the potential for management. This stuff is really very consistent.

So, returning to our challenge, how does this help you get over the experience gap when approaching recruitment vacancies. Well, you may not have direct experience, but you need to show 'transferable' skills. These are basically the component parts of the proposed role, perhaps demonstrated in a different context. So for example, perhaps you were on your Hall of residence committee when they needed a new social secretary. You all sat down and wrote a spec as to what sort of person would suit, and then set about scouring your hall to find people that fit. Once you got down to a final few you invited them along for a chat to assess who was 'up for the challenge' and made a decision. This is remarkably similar to a recruitment process.

This example may seem a little contrived, but when you break down the component parts of recruitment vacancies and the tasks involved, you will be able to find examples where you have achieved things such as these in other contexts.

To encourage you here, I am always suspicious of why a successful recruitment consultant would want to move sideways to an identical role. Surely a hungry newcomer with a point to prove will achieve more? Don't be shy to point this out to your potential employer.

Summary for applying for graduate recruitment vacancies

• List what you think you potential employer is looking for

• Delve into your memory for examples of the components of the role they want you to do.

• Remind employers that you're hungry and not carry the baggage of an experienced consultant.

• Don't be put off after one job interview, apply for several recruitment vacancies at once, few graduates get the first job they apply for.

Good luck