Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Job Placement Consultant Assistant

🎯 Role Definition

The Job Placement Consultant Assistant supports placement consultants and career services teams by sourcing, screening, coordinating and tracking candidates to achieve timely, high-quality placements with employer partners. This role blends candidate-facing career guidance, employer engagement support, administrative recruitment operations, and data-driven reporting to maintain an efficient talent pipeline and improve placement outcomes. Ideal candidates are organised, service-focused, comfortable with applicant tracking systems (ATS), and able to balance candidate care with employer priorities.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Recruitment Coordinator / Recruitment Administrator
Career Services Intern or Campus Recruiting Intern
HR Assistant or Talent Acquisition Intern

Advancement To:

Job Placement Consultant / Placement Specialist
Senior Placement Consultant or Senior Talent Consultant
Recruitment Manager, Employer Engagement Manager, or Career Services Manager

Lateral Moves:

Talent Acquisition Specialist
Employer Relations Specialist
Career Coach / Career Counselor
Client Success Manager (for staffing/outsourcing firms)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Source and proactively engage candidates through LinkedIn, job boards, university career portals, referrals and social media, building and maintaining a qualified pipeline tailored to client or program needs.
Screen inbound resumes and applications to evaluate qualifications and fit, conduct structured phone or video screening interviews and record assessment outcomes in the ATS.
Coordinate full-cycle interview logistics between candidates and hiring managers including scheduling, briefing stakeholders, arranging technical assessments and ensuring timely feedback loops.
Prepare, review and post accurate job descriptions and vacancy listings across internal portals and external job boards, optimizing content for discoverability and clarity.
Conduct candidate intake and career counseling sessions to clarify objectives, align expectations, advise on CV/resume improvements and provide interview preparation and soft-skill coaching.
Maintain and update applicant tracking system (ATS) and CRM records with candidate status, notes, interview feedback, document uploads and placement history to ensure data integrity and reporting readiness.
Proactively source passive candidates using Boolean search, X-ray techniques and talent mapping to fulfil hard-to-fill roles and support high-volume recruitment initiatives.
Screen and coordinate pre-employment checks such as references, background verifications and credential validations in line with client or organizational compliance policies.
Facilitate offer management by preparing offer letters, communicating salary and benefits information, coordinating negotiations with candidates and documenting final acceptance.
Support onboarding activities by liaising with HR and hiring managers to ensure timely completion of paperwork, orientation scheduling and candidate handover for a smooth start.
Build and maintain strong relationships with employer partners, hiring managers and external training or education providers to understand hiring needs and job specifications.
Track placement KPIs and generate regular recruitment dashboards and placement reports demonstrating time-to-fill, placement success rates, source-of-hire and candidate pipeline health.
Assist in designing and executing campus recruitment events, career fairs, employer information sessions and assessment days, handling logistics, registrations and post-event follow-ups.
Manage candidate communications and expectations throughout the placement lifecycle, providing timely status updates, constructive feedback and post-interview coaching to improve conversion.
Support salary benchmarking and market research activities to provide clients and candidates with competitive compensation guidance and labor market insights.
Maintain confidentiality and ensure compliance with data protection (e.g., GDPR) and equal employment opportunity requirements in all candidate and client communications and records.
Collaborate with training and development teams to identify upskilling opportunities and refer candidates to relevant courses, apprenticeships or credential programs to enhance employability.
Assist placement consultants with account management tasks including preparing client proposals, compiling candidate shortlists, and maintaining employer contact records.
Execute targeted sourcing campaigns for volume hiring projects, leveraging advertising, referral programs and community outreach to meet aggressive hiring goals.
Conduct proactive follow-ups with placed candidates and employers in the first 30–90 days post-placement to monitor satisfaction, address issues and ensure retention.
Support continuous improvement by documenting recruitment process flows, sourcing templates, candidate scorecards and interview guides to increase placement efficiency and quality.
Coordinate logistics for assessment centers and technical evaluations, including test administration, proctoring, and scoring, and compile assessment summaries for hiring managers.
Assist in maintaining and optimizing job posting budgets, vendor relationships (job boards, assessment providers), and procurement of recruiting tools and subscriptions.
Develop and maintain talent pools and segmented pipelines (by role, skillset, geography) to reduce time-to-fill for recurring hiring needs.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc recruitment data requests and produce exploratory candidate analytics to help consultants refine sourcing strategies.
Contribute to the organization's placement strategy and candidate engagement roadmap by sharing market intelligence and candidate feedback.
Assist in translating employer hiring needs into operational recruitment plans and job briefs for placement consultants.
Participate in weekly sprint planning, stand-ups, or recruitment team huddles to prioritize roles, unblock tasks and report candidate progress.
Create and maintain recruitment collateral such as candidate welcome packs, employer one-pagers and how-to guides for interviewers.
Troubleshoot candidate system access issues, provide basic ATS training to new users and coordinate with IT for escalations.
Support employer satisfaction surveys and candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS) initiatives to drive continuous service improvements.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficient with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) such as Greenhouse, Lever, Bullhorn, Workday, SmartRecruiters or iCIMS; able to maintain clean candidate records and run saved searches.
Skilled in sourcing tools and techniques including LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean search, X-ray searches, and job board management.
Strong MS Office skills with advanced Excel for basic analytics (pivot tables, VLOOKUP) and Google Sheets fluency for collaborative workflows.
Experience using CRM systems and recruitment databases to nurture talent pipelines and manage employer relationships.
Familiarity with pre-employment checks, reference verification workflows and compliance requirements in recruitment.
Competent in drafting professional job descriptions, candidate communications, offer letters and onboarding documentation.
Ability to prepare and interpret recruitment metrics and dashboards (time-to-fill, offer acceptance rate, source effectiveness).
Basic knowledge of employment law, equal opportunity practices and data protection (e.g., GDPR) relating to talent management.
Comfortable using online assessment platforms and coordinating technical/skills testing.
Experience with calendar and scheduling tools (Outlook, Google Calendar, Calendly) to coordinate multi-stakeholder interview processes.

Soft Skills

Excellent interpersonal and verbal/written communication; able to coach candidates and liaise with hiring managers professionally.
Strong organizational skills with attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple vacancies and competing priorities.
Customer-service orientation with empathy for candidate experience and responsiveness to employer needs.
Resilient under pressure, adaptable to changing priorities and capable of working in a fast-paced recruitment environment.
Negotiation and influencing skills to manage offer discussions and alignment between candidate expectations and client budgets.
Problem-solving mindset and initiative to identify bottlenecks and propose process improvements.
Team player with collaborative attitude, willing to support colleagues and share best practices.
Time management and scheduling discipline to ensure interview timeliness and candidate engagement cadence.
High degree of integrity and discretion when handling confidential candidate and client information.
Continuous learning orientation and openness to feedback to refine sourcing and placement approaches.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree or Bachelor's degree preferred; high-school diploma with relevant work experience may be acceptable.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, Communications, Education, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Human Resources Management
Business Administration
Psychology
Communications
Education and Career Counseling

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

1–3 years in recruitment, career services, campus placement, staffing, or talent acquisition support roles.

Preferred:

2+ years working with ATS/CRM systems, demonstrated experience in candidate sourcing and coordination, and familiarity with employer engagement or campus recruiting programs.