A first-week checklist for new joiners in recruitment firms

A new recruiter joined an agency on a Monday and was given a login, a desk and a list of twelve open mandates. By Friday she had sent three resumes to a client, one of which had been submitted by a colleague the week before. The client noticed. The two recruiters argued over who owned the candidate. The new hire left after the first month, saying nobody explained how credit worked.

A recruitment firm sells judgement and speed. Its new joiners must absorb a client list, a tracker, a fee model and a code of conduct with candidates before they make a single call. The sheet below squeezes that into five working days. A set of notes follows on who ticks which line.

Name: ________   Desk: permanent / executive search / overseas / volume / back office
Team lead: ________   Buddy: ________   Joined on: ________
DAY 1 (team lead)
[ ] Logins issued: ATS, email, job boards, LinkedIn seat, phone line
[ ] Tour of the desk, pantry and the call area; who sits where
[ ] Told the firm's own rules on candidate consent, data use and confidentiality
[ ] Shown the live mandate list, each with client name, JD, fee basis and cut-off date
DAY 2 (buddy)
[ ] Sat through three screening calls, then three intake calls with clients
[ ] Shown how to write a Boolean search and save it in the ATS
[ ] Told the credit rule: who owns a candidate, a mandate and a shared closure
DAY 3 (team lead)
[ ] Took one mandate; drafted the JD summary; sourced ten profiles
[ ] Made five screening calls with the buddy listening; feedback written
[ ] Told the replacement clause and notice-period buyout process for offers
DAY 4 (buddy)
[ ] Submitted two shortlists to the lead for review before the client
[ ] Updated the tracker with call outcomes, offers and drop-off notes
[ ] Learned how invoices are raised and when a placement counts as closed
DAY 5 (head of desk or owner)
[ ] Short talk: targets, incentive slab, doubts about pay or credit
[ ] Weekly numbers shown: calls made, resumes submitted, interviews, offers
[ ] Agreed goals for week two, with a date to review

Many industries train on a process. Recruitment trains on judgement under a deadline. The joiner needs to hear a few good screening calls and an intake call with a client before making his own. He also needs to understand the unwritten rule that a candidate who was submitted by someone else is off limits until the lead says otherwise.

• Team lead: access, mandate list, first mandate and shortlist review.
• Buddy: calls, Boolean search, tracker habits. A colleague a year ahead is better than the head of desk.
• Admin or finance: invoice flow and the closure rule, in ten minutes on day four.
• Head of desk or owner: the final talk, plus the signature on the sheet.

Keep the sheet in the joiner's file. Compare sheets across the year. If everyone's day-two items sit blank, the buddy system is not working.

1. 1

   Teach the credit rule on day two

   Say who owns what, in words and on a single page. Arguments over candidates are the most common early irritant.

2. 2

   Let the joiner hear before he speaks

   Three screening calls and three intake calls before his own. He picks up tone and the questions that matter.

3. 3

   Review the first shortlist yourself

   Check resumes against the JD, reasons for each submission and any notice-period problem. Do not let an unreviewed shortlist reach a client.

4. 4

   Explain the money plainly

   State the fixed pay, the incentive slab, the closure definition and the day payouts occur.

5. 5

   Hold the Friday talk with someone senior

   Ask about doubts. Offer a goal for week two. Write it down.

• Sending a resume without the candidate's written consent. The sheet carries the consent rule on day one.
• Quoting a notice period the candidate has not confirmed. The sheet asks for it in the tracker.
• Promising a salary the client has not approved. The lead reviews every shortlist before it leaves.
• Cold-calling a person already in the client's own pipeline. The mandate list shows no-go names.
• Forgetting to chase a no-show after an interview. The tracker has a drop-off column, read on Fridays.

Walk the joiner through a real offer-letter cycle if one is live. Let him see how a buyout, a counter-offer and a last-minute withdrawal play out. One live example teaches more than a slide on job-board hygiene or InMail templates.

• Permanent desk: add the offer drop-off routine and a talk on counter-offers.
• Executive search: add confidentiality of a retained assignment, long-list and short-list formats, and how reference calls are handled.
• Overseas recruitment: add the candidate document checklist, medical and trade test steps, and the rule on fees and promises.
• Volume or walk-in drives: add the venue roster, registration sheet and show-up call routine.

Desk design is covered in the pages for permanent recruitment agencies and executive search firms. Other strains on this trade sit on the recruitment firms overview. To turn the sheet into routine, start with onboarding design.