What is an Employment Recruiter?

What is a recruiter? An employment recruiter is someone who solicits individuals to fill a particular job. Some recruiters (known as headhunters) work for a recuitment agency and endeavor to help fill jobs for multiple organizations at once. These types of recruiters find candidates for a variety of different employers.

Other recruiters work for an organization's human resources department.  These are in-house (known as internal recruiters) recruiters who source candidates for their own company.

What Recruiters Do:

Recruiters seek out, screen, and interview candidates before presenting them to the client. Typically, the recruiter will source applicants, review resumes and applications, and create a short list of the most qualified candidates for the hiring manager to review.

All recruiters search for qualified applicants for jobs. Some recruiters work directly for employers, while others work for a recruitment agency.  Job responsibilities vary depending on the type of firm the recruiter works for and the type of job the recruiter holds.

In addition, recruiters accept resumes from applicants who are seeking assistance in getting hired. Many recruiters advertise their availability so the job seekers can contact them directly for assistance in getting connected with a hiring company.

When the recruiter finds a candidate that is a good match for a job, the applicant is referred to the company hiring manager.

Different Types of Recruiters

The following are examples of the various types of recruiters that work to connect organizations with candidates for employment.

Headhunter
A headhunter is the term used to describe individual who works for an employment agency that recruits qualified personnel for various jobs.

Headhunters actively seek qualified applicants for jobs using LinkedIn, social media, online databases, networking and other sources. Here's how headhunters work.

Executive Recruiter
An executive recruiter specializes in hiring executive personnel. These types of recruiters work solely with high level executives seeking management positions, and the companies seeking employees for leadership roles. 

Internal Recruiter
An internal recruiter works in the human resources department of a company or organization. These recruiters hire employees for their own company. They may also perform other human resources duties when not hiring new employees.

Information Technology (IT) Recruiter
As you can tell from the name, IT recruiters specialize in hiring individuals to fill information technology positions in a variety of industries. Here's information on recruiting for information technology roles.

Legal Recruiter
A legal recruiter specializes in hiring individuals to fill a variety of legal jobs, including attorneys, paralegals, and law firm management positions. The recruiter may focus on one or a number of legal specialties, including law firms and corporate legal departments.

  They often specialize in different categories, such as associate, partner, or counsel recruitment, while others work to satisfy other hiring needs of the firm like advertising and administrative tasks.

Management Recruiter
A management recruiter specializes in hiring individuals from a variety of business sectors. Management recruiters may focus on hiring corporate executives, but they may also fill middle management and sales positions.