Recruitment consultant CV template, guide, skills, 2025, tips

A Recruitment Consultant’s day typically revolves around sourcing suitable candidates through channels such as job boards, contacts, social media, and professional networks.

In today’s competitive jobs market, hiring managers can be flooded with 100’s of applications for these much sought after and well-paid positions. That’s not the only obstacle prospective candidates have to overcome. Employers typically use automated Applicant Tracking Systems to weed out less qualified candidates. To not only stand out, but also get past the ATS, you’ve got to produce something special.

In this guide you’ll learn how to explain your primary achievements and list those experiences which will contribute to your success in this exciting field. You’ll also get access to expertly written recruitment consultant CV’s that you can review and uses as a guide to writing your own one. Combined these resources will maximise your chances of getting in front of an interview selection panel.

By: Iejaz Uddin – Updated 7 November 2024

Page overview:

Recruitment Consultant CV examples
CV Structure
Guide to writing a Recruitment Consultant CV
Contact details
Write a CV personal summary
List your work experience
Describe your skills
Include an Education section
Hobbies and interests
Recruitment consultant CV Frequently Asked Questions

Recruitment Consultant CV examples

Samantha Lewis
Address
Phone: 0123 456 7890
E: info@dayjob.com

PERSONAL SUMMARY

A proven Recruitment Consultant who has a track record of finding the perfect match for her clients and candidates. Samantha can work with both employers and individuals to place people looking for work into suitable roles. She displays professionalism in all her interactions with others and can be a perfect ambassador for any recruitment agency. Also has the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment where she has to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

In her current role she supports existing accounts and grows new clients through building and maintaining a robust network of suitable candidates to service their needs. At work she takes a proactive role in managing the entire end-to-end recruitment process. As part of her duties she develops new client relationships through outbound business development, networking, lead generation and client meetings. With colleagues she has a reputation for ensuring a seamless experience for candidates and clients alike.

Through her career she has gained in-depth knowledge of the entire recruitment industry and extensive experience of advertising vacancies, reviewing CV’s, screening candidates and conducting interviews.

On a personal level she is a superb communicator who can build rapport and establish relationships quickly. Additionally, she is a naturally competitive individual who is highly motivated by career progression, financial rewards and hitting targets. Is resilient and tenacious by character and able to deal with the rejections and setbacks that are common in this industry.

Right now, she is looking for an exciting career opportunity with a company that has a work place where she will feel truly valued and suitably rewarded.

CAREER HISTORY

Recruitment Agency
RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT 2019 – Present
Responsible for liaising with clients to understand their recruitment requirements and then searching for, identifying and finally approaching suitable candidates on their behalf.

Duties:

Helping clients to find suitable candidate to fill their vacancies through online advertising and sourcing techniques including online job boards, social media platforms, networking events, and searching recruitment CRM databases.
Involved with the marketing department to devise job adverts.
Placing adverts in relevant market journals and publications, job boards and local press.
Making phone calls to candidates who are judged to be eligible.
Conducting phone interviews with prospective candidates.
Describing the work duties, salary and benefits of a particular vacancy.
Doing background checks and verifying the references, work experience and academic qualifications of applicants.
Screening, testing and assessing candidates.
Developing a relationship with interviewees.
Receiving and reading through the CVs that job seekers have sent in to the recruitment agency.
Arranging interviews with candidates who have been short listed for a position.
Drawing up short lists of suitable candidates.
Involved in negotiating the salary between the client and the candidate.
Attending job fairs on the companies behalf, standing at a stall and talking with graduates and job seekers.
Attending network events and using marketing to attract suitable and potential candidates.
Updating the recruitment agency database with the details of potential candidates.
Assisting applicants with their interview techniques.
Calling up a candidate and informing them if they have been successful or unsuccessful in their application.
Cold calling companies to generate more business for the recruitment agency.
Attending meetings with clients at their offices.
Ensuring the compliance of any temporary worker or contractor placed.
Giving clients advice and guidance on appropriate pay rates, training and career development.
Building own database of clients and contacts.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Recruitment competencies:

Possess in depth knowledge of the recruitment industry.
Experience of filling both temporary and permanent positions.
Experienced in daily time planning.
Have a business to business sales background.
Can produce mail shots and marketing literature to develop business areas.
Strong track record of customer and applicant control.
Experience of social media sourcing.
Extensive knowledge of how businesses work.

Personal:

Enjoy working in a highly pressurised with demanding sales environment.
Excellent interpersonal skills and able to communicate effectively.
Focused on results and goals orientated.
Professional, intuitive and analytical in approach to issues and projects.
Able to run own desk without being micro managed.
Promoting all available employees through candidate marketing calls.
Confident and diplomatic when talking to people.
Quick, efficient and having a sense of urgency about important matters.

KEY COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS

Head hunting
Negotiating contracts
Interviewing
Marketing
Positive attitude
Eye for detail
Desire to win
People skills
Ability to sell

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

Evesham North University 2005 – 2008
BA (Hons) Business Studies

Coventry North School 2003 – 2005
A levels: Math (C) English (C) Physics (B)

REFERENCES – Available on request.

Guide to writing a Recruitment Consultant CV

You need something very special to stand out in the highly competitive HR industry. Your chances of landing the top job depend on how well your CV is aligned to the recruiter’s job description and requirements.

Any CV you submit must not only show you understand the needs of both candidates and employers, but also display your ability to connect the right people with the right roles. Also, remember that when applying for a recruitment consultant job, your CV will be reviewed by experienced hiring managers. They’ll look at your CV with extra scrutiny and hold it to a higher standard because you’re already in the HR industry.

That’s the bad news, here’s the good news.

As an experienced recruitment consultant, you have the advantage of reviewing 100’s of job applications on a monthly basis. This talent acquisition exposure will have given you a good idea of how hiring managers find the best candidates to fill their open positions. You can now put into practice this knowledge for your own career advancement.

Readability: Use sufficient spacing, margins and font size to ensure it can be quickly scanned by time constrained recruiters.

Target your CV: Increase its effectiveness by customising it for each job that you apply to. Throughout your CV always focus on those experiences, skills, accomplishments and qualifications that most resonate with the job you’re after.

Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords (from the job description) throughout your CV by naturally weaving them into sentences.

Provide evidence: Use statistics, figures and percentages when mentioning obstacles you’ve overcome, the solutions you’ve implemented, and the results you’ve achieved.

Guide overview

CV structure
Contact details
Recruitment Consultant personal summary
Work experience
Skills section
Include an Education section
Hobbies and interests

CV Structure

With competition in the UK jobs market fierce, you need to do everything possible to stay ahead of the pack. Although it may not seem obvious, but by laying out your CV effectively you can increase the odds of beating the competition.

Not only can a streamlined layout keep the look and tone professional, it can also improve its readability. Think of the structure as the foundation on which to build your CV.

Tips for structing your CV:

Prioritise: Position the most important and relevant sections at the top of your CV and the least important ones at the bottom.

Keep formatting consistent: No matter which layout, font, text size, spacing and grammar you use, keep it consistent throughout the page.

Headers: For section headings use a slightly larger font size or bold text to make the CV easier to navigate. Clear headers also help Applicant Tracking Systems to read your CV correctly.

Page margins: Keep your CV nicely spaced by having at least a 1 inch margin on all four sides of the document.

Page numbers: If your CV is longer than 3 pages then number each page (in case pages get separated).

Date order: Keep to the chronological CV format where you start with your recent roles, competencies and qualifications first.

CV Layout

If your CV appears disorganised, then so will you.

It’s therefore vital you create a CV that looks good. The way to do this is have a well laid out and simple design where key facts can be quickly spotted and digested.

Furthermore, always consider the reader when laying out your CV. Try to make their life as easy as possible by having a basic format that can be easily navigated. Do this by sticking to tried and tested conservative formats that exude a sense of professionalism, expertise and seriousness about your job application.

Ultimately the best layout for you depends on the job you are applying for and the amount of experience you have. Here’s a list of the most popular ones to choose from:

Reverse-Chronological CV: The most commonly used form of CV that focuses primarily on employment history. It displays your most recent experience and achievements first. Ideal for people with a solid work history and record of career progression.

Functional CV: Concentrates more on a person’s skills rather than their work experience, job titles or employment dates. Suitable for career changers, recent graduates and those with career gaps.

Combination / Hybrid CV: A mixture of both a chronological and functional CV. Used by job seekers who want to show off their skills and work experience in equal measure.

CV Length

The shorter your CV the more likely it is to retain the readers interest.

Hiring Managers are human, just like everyone else they can quickly lose their focus when reading a lengthy document crammed full of text. There is therefore absolutely no need to send across your autobiography. Employers want to see facts not fiction. Give them what they want by presenting your most pertinent information as concisely as possible.

Related: How long should a CV be?

CV Contact Details

Your CV and job application is useless if the recruiter cannot contact you. That’s why the importance of correctly listing your phone, email and address should not be underestimated.

This small but vital section has to be prominently placed and error free. The last thing you want is to pass the difficult job screening stage and then miss out on an interview because the employer can’t get hold of you.

Furthermore, because this section sits at the top of your CV, it’s the first thing an employer is likely to notice. This means it has to be laid out professionally, so it introduces you properly and sets a positive tone for the rest of your CV.

What contact information to provide:

Your name: This tells recruiters exactly who you are, so must be prominently displayed above everything else.

Mobile number: Make is easy for recruiter to contact you by correctly listing your current phone number. Remember that if you’re applying for an international role to include your country code.

Email: At all costs avoid submitting nick names or social emails and instead provide a formal email that includes your first name and surname.

Address: As virtually all jobs are applied for online it’s not necessary to give your full postal address. Just the name of the city or town where you live will do.

LinkedIn: If you include this in your contact details then make sure your profile not only mirrors what you have said in your CV but is also current and formal in its tone.

What not to include in your contact details:

Age
Date of birth
Marital status
Nationality

Write a Recruitment Consultant CV personal summary

Do not underestimate the power of a well-crafted introductory profile. Written properly it can make you sound like the right person for the job.

As the first paragraph a potential new employer usually reads, your personal summary has to be spot on. The golden rule is to keep it short and sweet by ensuring it does not go over 5 lines. There is absolutely no need to include everything you have every done, instead, only say what is necessary.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach for writing an enticing personal summary, there are certain rules you should follow. The main ones being that it should be clearly worded, mention your strongest points and be targeted at the job you are applying for.

The 3 main parts of a personal summary:

1. Introduce yourself.

2. What you can do for the employer.

3. Your career goals.

Recruitment Consultant CV work experience

Apply for your next job by using your past work experiences to reaffirm your suitability for the position. The more your experiences correlates with the role, the more chance you have of being selected for it. Mention everything relevant from paid employment to volunteering, apprenticeships and inter placements.

In a results-based industry like recruitment, you’ve got to be able to prove what you can do. This is why you should back up any career claims with statistical evidence and figures. Remember anyone can say they are achievers, but not everyone can prove it.

Focus on recent jobs: Concentrate more on current roles rather than those over 5 or 10 years ago. For these explain in detail your job duties, responsibilities and achievements. For older roles, just give the bare minimum of employer’s name, job title and dates.

Bullet points: Break down this section further by using bullet points to list individual duties and responsibilities.

Include work achievements

Have separate headed sections for what you have done and what you have achieved. If you’ve boosted the company’s performance or numbers in some way, emphasise them in a different field.

It’s good practice to back up your record of filling roles and expertise in talent acquisition with dates, facts, figures and statistics.

Examples of achievements:

Sourcing candidates: Helped 3 senior recruiters to find and select 42 suitable candidates over a 2-month period.

Clients: Increased the number of clients who used the agencies service from 21 to 32 in 2023.

Award: Recognised as Top Recruiter of the Year by exceeding placement targets by over 200% for Dayjob Recruiters in 2023.

Interviews: Developed a faster method of pre-screening clients through interviews, which ensured only high-calibre candidates were presented to clients, leading to a 80% client satisfaction rate.

Negotiating: In charge of managing all the agencies direct negotiations between clients and candidates in areas such as salary, working conditions and contract terms.

Recruitment Consultant skills

Further cement your suitability for the role by mentioning your expertise in a particular task. Remember that employers tend to hire people who have the right mix of hard and soft skills.

Below is a list of highly relevant skill sets specific to the recruitment industry. They can convince a prospective employer that you have what it takes to be effective at your job.

In your CV show you can:

Source and place people looking for work into suitable roles.
Create a recruitment strategy that delivers results.
Quickly scan CVs to identify candidates that are the best fit for a position.
Complete thorough background and reference checks to ensure a candidate is who they say they are.
Put together a comprehensive candidate persona for each vacancy.
Build long-term and profitable client relationships.
Utilise applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter out undesirables from 100’s of CV’s, resumes and cover letters.
Simultaneously handle multiple priorities and work to tight deadlines in a competitive environment.

Areas to focus on when writing a Recruitment Consultant CV:

Matching the best candidates to the best jobs.
Your ability to cultivate meaningful relationships with both clients, employers, and candidates.
How you can source suitable candidates using channels such as job boards, social media, networking events, and referrals.
Experience of the entire recruitment process, from the initial candidate engagement to employment and onboarding.
Your commitment to staying abreast of industry trends and best practices in the recruitment industry and field of talent acquisition.
Ability to offer effective CV, interview, and general career advice to candidates.

Hard skills for your CV

Recruitment campaigns

Determining and clearly defining the objectives and targets of a recruitment campaign i.e. the job role(s) that need to be filled.
Identifying the target audience and type of candidate the campaign is to be aimed at, for instance the required experience and qualifications.
Selecting the social media platforms and online job boards on which to launch the campaign.

Sourcing candidates

Headhunting suitable applicants through referrals and contacts.
Conducting cold calling and lead generation activities to identify potential candidates for open positions.
Tactfully approaching suitable candidates who may already be in work.

Candidate vetting

Carrying out comprehensive candidate screenings through interviews and assessments to ensure they meet the clients’ requirements.
Screening CV’s and conducting initial interviews to assess candidate qualifications and fitness for a role.
Running background checks on a candidate’s employment history, education, criminal record, credit history, proof of identity and right to work.

Interviewing

Helping applicants to prepare for interviews with prospective employers.
Communicating with candidates through phone calls, video calls, email, and networking events.
Holding virtual and face to face interviews with potential employees.

Recruitment processes

Knowledge of how to negotiate profitable but fair contracts with both new and existing clients.
Maintaining accurate administrative records of both candidates and clients.
Presenting suitable candidates to clients in a professional manner.
Inputting a job applicants’ CVs and contact details into a database for future reference and searching.

Administration

Recruitment agencies are hectic and busy places, where tight client deadlines have to be met, candidates interviewed and paperwork filled in. Therefore, highlight your proficiency in coordinating administrative operations in order to ensure office effectiveness and efficiency.
Knowledge of recruitment and human resources management administrative practices and procedures.
Strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise tasks effectively.
Proficiency with content management systems.

Soft skills for your CV

Communication skills

Adapting tone, language and style for different situations.
Always being respectful and polite to others, even in heated conversations.
Smartly dressed, articulate, presentable and well mannered.
Capacity to recognize and understand the emotions of the person I’m communicating with.

Teamworking

Can work effectively as part of a diverse team of specialists.
Find it easy to develop effective working relationships with colleagues and professionals in other agencies.
Able to operate as part of an entrepreneurial team to maximise the recruitment agencies commercial performance.

Resilience

Have the drive and persistence needed to over come daily rejections.
Not stopped by barriers.
Passionate about everything I do and is not someone who just goes through the motions.
Willing to work beyond normal working hours to complete a project.

Core skills

Below is a list of short keywords and phrases that can be used to draw a recruiters attention to your ability to fill niche roles or vacancies that clients have failed to recruit for. The skills below can be in your CV as a stand alone bulleted list or inserted into sentences.

Finding candidates
Negotiating contracts
Interviewing candidates
Head hunting
HR Management
Negotiating
Screening candidates
Background checks
Job advertising
Communication skills
Recruitment trends
Recruitment databases
Candidate vetting
Performance reviews
Candidate attraction
Employment processes
Succession planning
Employee relations
Performance management
Marketing capabilities

Include an Education section

Many job seekers see this as the easiest section of their CV to write. This is not entirely true.

Even if you have years of experience and tons of skills, it’s always good practice to carefully write up a professional looking education section that includes your academic achievements.

Apart from schools and colleges you attended, it’s also the place to list your related certificates, diplomas, and general degree courses. Do this in reverse chronological order. There is no need to list unrelated short training courses.

Whether it’s a vocational course like a BTEC, an industry certification or a university degree, a relevant qualification proves to the employer that you have know-how about their industry. This in turn can be all it takes to give you a competitive advantage over other equally matching candidates.

You will also impress a prospective employer with your ability to learn and pick up new skills. If you’ve done exceptionally well in particular subjects or come top of the class then be sure to make this prominent.

What academic qualifications to focus on:

If you’ve graduated from a prestigious and highly regarded university.
Obtained excellent academic results.
Professional qualifications or formal certifications that are a pre-requisite for the position you’re applying for.

Recruitment consultant degrees

Although you can get into this field with a degree in any discipline, employers prefer candidates to have one in a subject such as:

Human resources
Marketing
Public relations

However, as some recruitment agencies specialise in a particular field, they may require a degree that is relevant to their specialism such as law, accountancy or engineering etc. Any qualifications in communications or sales are a plus.

Hobbies and interests

Give your CV a boost and make it more individual by including this valuable section that tells the recruiter what you do in your leisure time. Apart from everything else, it’s a great way to build a more personal connection with a potential employer.

This is an optional field where you can explain what you do outside of work. Although not as important as other sections, if candidates are evenly matched it can be the ‘final straw’ that helps you to beat the competition and move on to the next step of the hiring process.

When deciding which hobbies to list always consider their relevancy to the job you are applying for. Will they help you or hinder you by taking up valuable white space that you could better use?

Hobbies to avoid

Exclude hobbies that can have an adverse effect on your application by showing you as immature, unprofessional or a dangerous thrill seeker.

Where to place hobbies on your CV

They typically go at the bottom of your CV, below everything and just above the last ‘References‘ section. This way you avoid overshadowing the main sections of your CV.

Recruitment consultant CV Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the main role of a recruitment consultant?

Their main role is to create and build a bank of people to fill vacancies either right away or in the future. They do this by sourcing, screening and then shortlisting suitable candidates.

Aside, from this they must also market the services of their agency to their potential clients. This involves spending a lot of time cold calling employers looking for staff.

Furthermore, with so much information at their disposal, they must be good administrators who can keep and maintain records of clients, employers, and vacancies.

2. What is the most important recruitment skill?

The first and foremost requirement is being able to build relationships with job seekers and employers.

Although being a strong communicator is a requirement for many roles, it is especially valuable in the recruitment industry. This is because you not only have to talk purposefully to candidates, but also negotiate terms with business savvy employers. You will also be acting as the intermediary between with these two parties.

All these tasks require an ability to quickly build trusting bonds with people from all walks of life, including high end decision makers.

3. What qualities make a good recruitment consultant?

Being able to find the right candidate for a vacancy, requires a thick-skinned operator who can spend all day on the phone and bounce back from setbacks.
Personality wise, you need to be someone who is pleasant to work with and who gets along with people from all backgrounds and cultures.

Confidence

Self-confident person who believes in their ability to reach their goals. They display a positive attitude through their behaviour and body language as well as how they speak and what they say. All of this rubs off on their colleagues and also inspires them.

Professional

Always representing their employer’s brand in a professional manner when meeting with third parties.

Determined
A resilient sales professional who can work in a fast-paced, challenging and highly competitive industry.

Organised

In the complex and ever-changing world of recruitment, you need to be highly organised, and detail orientated. It’s the only way to stop yourself from being overwhelmed by having to juggle multiple clients, job openings and CV applications as well as maintain a database of candidates.