• Recruitment consultants must find suitable candidates who match their clients' needs.paper work image by bluefern from Fotolia.com
  
  A recruitment consultant connects candidates to jobs available at the companies with which she works. The consultant's job is therefore split between meeting with her clients and identifying the type of candidate needed for the role, and finding that individual. The recruitment consultant is also involved with the interview process and negotiating a deal between the parties.
  
  

Find and Screen Candidates

• The recruitment consultant has to find candidates who match the specifications required by his client company. The consultant must choose the media most appropriate to locate potential candidates; for example, to recruit a journalist, he might place a print advertisement in the daily newspaper. Once candidates become available, the recruitment consultant must do background checks and interviews to weed out unsuitable candidates.
  
  

Advice and Feedback

• The recruitment consultant should be an expert in her field, and part of her role is to dispense advice about careers and human resources matters to both clients and candidates. For example, a client will need to know if the pay rates it offers are competitive with the rest of the industry; a candidate likely will want to know details about a particular role, such as opportunities for career advancement. Following an interview, the recruitment consultant may need to follow up by giving feedback or resume advice to a candidate.
  
  

Job Offer Process

• The recruitment consultant is heavily involved in the job offer process. At the start, he'll arrange meetings and interviews between candidates and clients. Once the client has chosen a candidate, the consultant may also negotiate salary and other terms of the employment contract.
  
  

Understand Clients and the Field

• The recruitment consultant's field is ever changing, and the consultant has a duty to constantly stay up to date with new thinking in human resources. She must learn quickly about the background and requirements of any new clients she takes on, which in some cases will involve researching the client's industry and work culture.
  
  

Networking

• One key to success as a recruitment consultant is the ability to network, and the consultant must do this on a regular basis to grow and maintain a client base as well as to meet potential candidates. For example, the consultant might head to a career fair to speak to students looking to enter the job market, or he might host a client entertainment event to attract new business.