A guide to recruitment apprenticeships

Author: icould

Have you ever thought about the roles involved in the selection process?

Job ads, CVs and application forms, interviews…you may be familiar with the stages of applying for a job, but have you ever thought about the roles involved in the selection process? If you like dealing with people, then a career in recruitment could be for you.

Apprenticeships are one way to start your career in recruitment by combining real work with training. So, what type of apprenticeship recruitment jobs are out there?

What is recruitment?

A career in recruitment is all about filling job vacancies with the best person for the job, and helping to manage the different stages of the selection process. These roles are often part of a company’s human resources (HR) department.

HR departments have a range of responsibilities and can also look after things like staff training and development or deciding how staff are paid and rewarded.

Sometimes recruitment is looked after by an agency. Recruitment agencies tend to specialise in particular types of work or industries. Agencies can help fill temporary roles or permanent positions. They charge a fee for placing candidates.
Whether you’re based in an HR department or an agency, working in recruitment is all about providing a link between two main groups of people:

Job candidates – the people who are looking for work or who have applied for a job and
Recruiting managers or clients – the people who are looking to fill a vacancy in their team

If you enjoy dealing with people and can communicate clearly at a range of levels, then recruitment can provide a rewarding career.

Tell me more about recruitment apprenticeships

There are different types of recruitment apprenticeship available. You can choose an apprenticeship which will just focus on recruitment or you can choose a more general HR apprenticeship which will also cover other areas of HR.
Check carefully what your chosen apprenticeship covers, but the kinds of skills you can expect to develop include:

Reading CVs and application forms and suggesting people to put forward for jobs
Meeting candidates
Interview skills
Learning how to support recruiting managers and understanding what they are looking for
Helping draft recruitment adverts and job descriptions
Dealing with enquiries
Aspects of recruitment law

There are different levels of apprenticeships available in the recruitment sector, so you can choose the one that’s right for you. They include some intermediate and some higher apprenticeships in recruitment:

Recruitment resourcer apprenticeship (level 2)
Recruitment consultant apprenticeship (level 3)
HR support apprenticeship (level 3)
HR consultant/partner apprenticeship (level 5)

Where do I find recruitment apprenticeships?

Visit the government’s Find an apprenticeship service
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for people working in HR and has lots more useful information about apprenticeships.
The Institute of Recruitment Professionals lists details of approved providers of recruitment apprenticeships
You can also try researching companies you’d like to work for and checking out the vacancies pages on their websites.