How Do I Become A Recruiter When I Have No Experience?

As Head of Talent at VIQU, I am often asked “How do I become a recruiter when I have no experience?”. I love being asked this question, as I always feel excited when someone is interested in recruitment and wants to learn more. The industry receives a bad rap, but it’s a highly rewarding career that has treated me and my colleagues very well.
Getting into recruitment can be daunting. People don’t know where to start. They will talk to me about how trainee recruitment consultant positions are advertised with ‘industry experience’ as an essential. Lots of individuals don’t understand what they need to do to access opportunities like these.
So, in this blog, I am aiming to address these queries, setting out the core advice I give to individuals wanting to become recruiters with no experience in recruitment.
What makes a great recruiter?
The skills I mention below can be learnt and developed, but you should have a good foundation of these key skills to become a top recruiter:
- Communication
- Active listening
- Time management
- Critical thinking
- Reliability
- Sales
- Relationship building
- Industry knowledge
- Ability to read body language
- Resilience
- Business savvy
Recruitment has many transferrable soft skills. These can be acquired from your previous workplaces, so don’t fret if you have no recruitment experience. Your chance of becoming a successful recruiter often lies in your attitude and competency in a number of soft skills.
In addition to this, a key recruitment skill is your sales ability. To become a recruiter, you need to be able to sell recruitment services to organisations and jobs to candidates. Your ability to accurately present key information will be of paramount importance.
If you’re unsure whether you have the right basis and understanding of sales, start in an adjacent sales role, such as in customer service or retail. This experience will help you understand if you are suited to sales, and ultimately boost your profile to hiring managers.
How to become a recruiter without experience:
Find a mentor
Identifying friends or family members working in recruitment is a great place to start. Reach out to them and ask them questions about their careers. In my experience, most people like talking about themselves, so they’re normally happy to help. You could ask questions like:
- How did you become a recruiter?
- What are the pros and cons of recruitment?
- What does your day-to-day look like?
Their answers may help you to decide if a career in recruitment will suit you. If you don’t know any recruiters, consider reaching out to someone in the industry via LinkedIn or look for insights into the recruitment industry online. For instance, VIQU has a number of excellent blogs and Q&As regarding working in recruitment.
Understand the different types of recruitment
When first considering the question “How do I become a recruiter?”, it’s imperative to gain an insight into what recruitment actually is. Having this knowledge is a great way to get ahead of the competition when you do get around to applying for roles.
Understanding recruitment includes knowing the difference between contract and permanent recruitment. Additionally, it is a good idea to recognise the different job roles in the industry, such as recruitment and delivery consultants, and researchers. Not only will this help you understand what role you may like to aim for, but it will also show the hiring manager how invested you are in this career path. Whenever I hear someone actively interested and excited about recruitment, it always makes me more motivated to hear more about their background and consider them for an interview, even if they have no prior recruitment experience.
Approach agencies for experience
This is a great way of getting into recruitment. If you’re unsure whether you have enough experience to become a recruiter, approach a recruitment agency and see if they will take you on. If they don’t think you have enough experience, consider working in an adjacent industry to build up your skill profile. For instance, sales, business development, and customer service roles in call centres are excellent ways to prove that you are prepared to pick up the phone and talk to customers. The ability to deal with multiple personalities and the experience of handling difficult customers and situations will help you gain valuable experience that will make you a more suitable candidate for recruitment.
Enter a trainee or apprenticeship scheme
Many recruitment agencies will offer trainee schemes or apprenticeships, which can be a great path for those looking to become a recruiter without experience. These opportunities often come with a structured training scheme and career path.
Build a network
LinkedIn is a recruiter’s best friend. Make sure you build up your profile and start connecting with individuals you’ve worked with or have a professional connection to. Consider following recruiters, posting about the industry and clicking “open to work”. You might like to approach Rec2Recs (Recruitment specialists for recruiters) who can help guide you to find your first recruitment job. Also, consider attending network events or career fairs to talk directly to recruiters and recruitment companies to gain more insights into the career path.
FAQs for how to become a recruiter without experience
Do I need experience in sales?
If you are currently in a sales role and wish to find a role in recruitment, your skills and experience in sales will make you an attractive candidate. At VIQU, we often hire individuals with a sales or customer service background. We have also hired some fantastic individuals without direct sales experience, in cases where they can prove they have the right mindset for recruitment through their past experience, such as our ex-rugby professional colleague Gerard Ellis. However, having sales experience is a great way to showcase that you will be comfortable working in a high pressure environment where you’ll need to pick up the phone, ask uncomfortable questions at times and focus on hitting your target.
If you have no sales or recruitment experience, it’s not impossible to find a trainee scheme that will take you on, but you might find it harder. It’s a good idea to consider a job in a sales environment first, to gain the key insights I just mentioned. This experience will be vitally important for when you’re looking for a recruitment job.
Do I need a degree?
Although traditionally a business or HR degree would be advantageous, nowadays, most recruitment agencies will take you on based on your attitude and experience.
Good grades in English and Maths will help employers feel confident in your ability to communicate well with stakeholders and handle enquiries around rates/ salaries. You also often need to be computer savvy to navigate all the online recruitment tools and websites used in the industry. Recruitment isn’t just picking up the phone and having a chat like some people think!
There are multiple routes that can lead you to a career in recruitment. If you look at our Meet the Team page, you will see our recruiters have a mix of backgrounds. From ex-professional athletes, to law graduates to ex-military, we accept trainees from a range of backgrounds.
Is working in recruitment challenging?
Some people are turned off by the idea that recruitment is a Wolf of Wall Street-style atmosphere. I’ve never found this to be the case. However, let me be clear. It is a sales environment. Recruiters work tremendously hard to reach and exceed their targets – nothing comes easy. However, it’s also a very supportive environment, evidenced by our colleague Nicholas winning an industry award for ‘Most Inspiring Team Leader/Manager’. Everyone wants you to succeed, especially if you are new to recruitment, so they will be happy to help you out. Additionally, it’s important to have a willing, can do attitude and a growth mindset where you seek advice and feedback from managers, to help you improve.
Interested in starting your recruitment career with us? At VIQU, we provide all the skills, tools and knowledge to support you to be as successful as possible! Check out our internal jobs and benefits page here.
Similar articles you might like...

Working As A Recruitment Account Manager: Q&A With Adam Smith
Recruitment Account Manager, Adam Smith, explains why he enjoys the account management side of recruitment, and his reasons for joining VIQU.

From Seasons In Ibiza To Growing VIQU’s Finance Department: Q&A With Hannah Parsons
10 years ago, Hannah Parsons was volunteering her time to look after VIQU's accounts; now she acts as Finance Director across the VIQU Group.
Latest jobs
IT Support Engineer
London, United Kingdom
£200 - 225 per day
IT Support Engineer - London – 3-month contract My customer is looking for a Customer facing IT Support Engineer to manage BAU workload and help deliver EUC related projects. The ideal candidate will be comfortable...
Technical Backup Engineer
St Albans, United Kingdom
£60k - 65k per year
Technical Backup EngineerRemote (quarterly travel)£60,000 - £65,000VIQU have partnered with a leading data protection provider specialising in managed backup, disaster recovery, and cyber recovery services.They are seeking a Technical Backup Engineer to join their Service Operations team. In this client-facing role, the Technical Backup Engineer will engage directly with clients, providing support and expertise through both verbal and written interactions. Strong communication skills are essential to excel in this position.Key Responsibilities of the Technical Backup Engineer: Act as the escalation point for advanced technical issues, including troubleshooting and vendor management.Manage service and change requests, such as data restores and system updates, while maintaining monitoring tools and approving technical changes.Communicate effectively with customers, partners, and internal teams to ensure service expectations are met.Oversee application administration (Rubrik, Druva, Zerto, Commvault).Maintain technical documentation and stay up to date with relevant certifications. Essential Skills and Experience of the Technical Backup Engineer: Strong expertise in data backup and disaster recovery platforms, including Rubrik, Druva, Zerto, Commvault, and NetBackup.Familiarity with ITIL frameworks and processes to support service management.Proficiency with virtualisation platforms such as VMware, Hyper-V, and Nutanix.Experience working with cloud technologies, including Azure and AWS, as well as Microsoft 365.In-depth understanding of Microsoft server operating systems (2012–2022) and Linux distributions.Skilled in scripting and automation using PowerShell.Ability to create and maintain clear and concise technical documentation.Must possess a valid UK driving license. To discuss this exciting opportunity in more detail, please APPLY NOW for a no obligation chat with your VIQU Consultant. Additionally, you can contact Katie Dark on [email protected] you know someone who would be ideal for this role, by way of showing our appreciation, VIQU is offering an introduction fee up to £1,000 once your referral has successfully started work with our client (terms apply).To be the first to hear about other exciting opportunities, technology, and recruitment news, please also follow us at ‘VIQU IT Recruitment’ on LinkedIn, and Twitter: @VIQU_UKTechnical Backup EngineerRemote (quarterly travel)£60,000 - £65,000...
Electrical Site Supervisor (Nuclear)
Reading, United Kingdom
£0 per day + Inside IR35
Electrical Site Supervisor (Nuclear) – 6-Month Initial Contract – Inside IR35 – Reading – SC ClearedVIQU have partnered with a leading consultancy who deliver critical projects in energy, water, renewables, and manufacturing, with this Electrical...
Project Planner
Reading, United Kingdom
£0 per day + Inside IR35
Project Planner – 6 Month Initial Contract – Reading – Inside IR35VIQU have partnered with a leading consultancy who deliver critical projects in energy, water, renewables, and manufacturing, with this Project Planner role being part...
Quality Engineer
Reading, United Kingdom
Rates based on experience
Nuclear Quality Engineer – 6-Month Contract – Onsite – Reading – SC ClearedVIQU have partnered with a leading organisation within the nuclear sector, seeking a Quality Engineer to support critical projects on a contract basis.The...
